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Triac Power Control



Coil Gurus,

If I use only resistive ballast (heater elements) to limit my 5KW pig,
couldn't I also use a big Triac for power control?  I know Triacs don't
like highly reactive loads (like pole xfmrs!), but it seems like the heater
elements should smooth things out enough for a reasonably rugged Thyristor
to survive.  Of course, the resulting AC would be messy, but Tesla coils
don't require "clean" power, do they?  I'd use something like a 40A / 600V
TO-3.  I realize such a control won't give true variable AC voltage like a
Variac, but it should provide adjustable input power.  Has anybody tried this?

Greg