[Amps] transformer talk

[Steve Thompson]

TexasRF at aol.com wrote:
>  
> I don't have the answer Bill but there is this to consider:
>  
> In the capacitor filter, current only flows about 20% of the cycle. This is  
> very much not a sine wave and I wonder how rms even applies in this case. 
> There  has to be some terrific harmonics in that waveform!
rms applies to any waveform - if the voltage/current are sinusoidal, 
then the 1.414 or .7071 factors apply. Where the waveform is a series of 
short peaks, then there isn't a simple numerical factor to use - the rms 
value has to be calculated by looking at data points over a time period, 
or measured using something that does the equivalent electronically.

Your example of 5x the current for 1/5th the time leading to 5x the heat 
is a much better way of getting the point across!

Steve