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Hot Plasma!
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This sustained arc is at least 5"~6" long! The transformer is from a Sharp microwave oven. Secondary is one loose wire which I am holding, other end is attached to the frame. No idea what the voltage and current is going thru the arc.
This thing get hot after a few seconds of sustained arc. Not suggested to keep the arc any longer than 10 secs or it will burn up.
Any idea what I can do with this thing?
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But don't forget: Electric arc is not a consumer like a filament. This is an electric short. so this is why the breaker is tripping when messing with these things. Also because this arc isn't current limited, the transformet gets very hot.
This is not an TV with few mA current capability, neither it's the mains with few hundert's V, this is 2kV, few ampere device!
And such experiment severely overheat the transformer secondary, better to keep the ballast capacitor connected...
MOT do not have intentional magnetic shunt, as the capacitor is there to serve as ballasting impedance.
MOT themselves do have an "air" gap in the magnetic circuit, it lower it's main inductance to compensate for the reactive (lead) impedance of the (capacitively ballasted) load. That is the reason, why they fry, when operated in open load: The reactive current from the low main inductance does not come from the secondary (larger, designed for this) winding, so has to come from the primary. And there it cause it's current overload (the primary current is frequently twice on open load, then when normally operating the magnetron).
This one do have the shunts. I saw them between the primary and secondary. This thing is from a 1100w Microwave oven if that helps tell you what are the rating of this MOT.
Also FGS....im not sure about the Cap....the One on mine Never Blew...mine was Metal Encased....and since it is a High Voltage Cap with a metal Case possibly there was Oil inside for insulation.
I've never been shocked by 120V before but I have gotten shocked by a ~600V CCFL inverter before, It felt like something bit you finger.
@joe_347V: CCFL run only at ~8mA high frequency, NST at ~30mA.
120V mains would shock you below 100mA (if you do not really hold something), what is assumed as dangerous, but healthy human withstand it for few seconds. But what is dangerous is the muscle response to the shock: It migh caus you to grab the object and you will not be able to release it by your will, so the shocking might then easily endure way longer then few seconds...
But the 2kV MOT would be really able to pass amps trough the body - and i'm afraid, this might really easily kill instantly...
Remember as well that those transformers are forced air cooled in the microwave, as well as being heatsinked to a degree by the chassis it is screwed to. They almost always have a thermoswitch rated at around 135C attached to the magnetron to prevent overheating, you can attach this to the frame with some 2 part epoxy and use it to reduce the probability of the unit overheating in these experiments. The switches are very reliable, and are in all microwaves.
All the Best
Colin