Filament voltage

[Fred_P]

The variac from ebay arrived today. I installed the cables and tried it out. (I am yet to add a fuse, but it is fine for now.)
The mains voltage was almost exactly 230V this evening, so I measured the filament voltage, and dialled in the nominal 2.50V.
Only downside is that the unit smells terribly, but I hope the bad smell will go away soon.

Thanks to Grainger for the idea, and to PB for finding the specific model on ebay.

Fred

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Yeah, we have a variac similar to that in the lab.  They are painted, then wrapped in plastic maybe a little too early, and the paint solvents stick around.  After a week or two, you'll find that the smell has dissipated.

-PB