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Step 4Wind the new transformer secondaries
We wound 20 turns of 10-guage wire on each transformer. That's just about how much wire would fit into the available space. It took a little over 20 feet of wire each.
tip: draw tally marks on your table to keep track of the number of windings.
How does a transformer work?
The primary winding is an electromagnet connected to alternating current.
The humming magnetic field of the primary induces a current to flow in the secondary winding. If both windings have the same number of turns, the output voltage is the same as the input.
(minus a smidgin due to eddy currents, resistance, etc.)
If the secondary has more turns than the input, its output voltage is higher. That's the type of transformer you started out with.
OUTPUT VOLTAGE = INPUT VOLTAGE * (NUMBER OF SECONDARY TURNS) / (NUMBER OF PRIMARY TURNS)
Our primary has 100 turns and gets connected to 100 volts AC. We're winding 20 turns on the secondary, so we'll get about 20 volts out.
The available POWER STAYS THE SAME regardless of what the output VOLTAGE is.
POWER (WATTS) = AMPS * VOLTS
If the primary is made take 1000 watts (100 volts * 10 amps) out of the wall, we'll be able to take 1000 watts out of the secondary. With 1/5 of the windings, we can draw 50 amps out of the secondary.
That's the cartoon version with play numbers anyway.
Over here in our shed full of reality we've got two of these beasts in series and plan to short the outputs through a welding rod like Jennifer Beals.
Let's just say we're going to pull a whole lot of amps, which is why we need to wind our secondary with such thick wire.
The copper conductor in ten-guage wire happens to be 1/10" (0.1") in diameter.
Here's a table of conductor diameter, guage, and current rating.
tip: draw tally marks on your table to keep track of the number of windings.
How does a transformer work?
The primary winding is an electromagnet connected to alternating current.
The humming magnetic field of the primary induces a current to flow in the secondary winding. If both windings have the same number of turns, the output voltage is the same as the input.
(minus a smidgin due to eddy currents, resistance, etc.)
If the secondary has more turns than the input, its output voltage is higher. That's the type of transformer you started out with.
OUTPUT VOLTAGE = INPUT VOLTAGE * (NUMBER OF SECONDARY TURNS) / (NUMBER OF PRIMARY TURNS)
Our primary has 100 turns and gets connected to 100 volts AC. We're winding 20 turns on the secondary, so we'll get about 20 volts out.
The available POWER STAYS THE SAME regardless of what the output VOLTAGE is.
POWER (WATTS) = AMPS * VOLTS
If the primary is made take 1000 watts (100 volts * 10 amps) out of the wall, we'll be able to take 1000 watts out of the secondary. With 1/5 of the windings, we can draw 50 amps out of the secondary.
That's the cartoon version with play numbers anyway.
Over here in our shed full of reality we've got two of these beasts in series and plan to short the outputs through a welding rod like Jennifer Beals.
Let's just say we're going to pull a whole lot of amps, which is why we need to wind our secondary with such thick wire.
The copper conductor in ten-guage wire happens to be 1/10" (0.1") in diameter.
Here's a table of conductor diameter, guage, and current rating.
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from Kaychi.
thanks alot for the idea
"
The winding direction doesn't matter so much, so long as you connect the two secondaries together so that they add in the end, rather than subtract. You can find that out by measuring the voltage across the two leftover leads (you want it to be around 20).
The physics works out a little better if you wind the secondaries neatly. It will still _work, if it's not neat, though. You'll also be able to stuff more windings in the space if you wind neatly, than if you don't.
Cheers! I wanna see the welder, when you're done!
"
http://www.geocities.com/aaawelder/index.html