I have an old "Adjust-a-Volt" variac. Shortly after I bought it, it started smoking and now the windings look burned for about 2 inches around the left side. Is it possible to fix this or bypass the shorted windings? I'm not sure how to detect where the bad windings are, except by appearance.
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Pictures?
Usually smoking windings are indeed a place to look for shorts. Might be easier to clean and restuff with some epoxy or varnish so that it's not shorted anymore if the winding is still intact, winding is so tight on there that putting a jumper still requires you to cut the bad section out. -
So you mean just cover the windings with, for example, polyurethane from the hardware store? Here's a photo of the windings (on the right)
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woah wtf.
that tap is the input/hot tap, the browned out section is the "boost" section and the right is the 'buck' section?
Usually if you have a short, two adjacent windings are shorted. This looks like you have a whole bunch of windings that are overheating? Means the boost output is shorted against something perhaps?Comment
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Umm… what did you do to this variac? Must have drawn some current all right… does the variac still work?Comment
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I have no idea what caused this. I just plugged it in one day and it started to smoke.Comment
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You got something that will measure AC current like an energy monitor? It probably doesn't adjust the output anymore properly either? I am a bit surprised that it doesn't blow a fuse.Comment
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make sure the output isn't shorted and you're not chasing after something that doesn't exist...Comment
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