John's phase control

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com>

I tried John's phase control set up with my 1/3 H.P. 3600 rpm sync gap last 
night.  I increased the capacitance to 109 ufd and the fuse to a 10 amp.  
When I first fire it up, the circuit draws 4.3 amps from the line.  The 
current through the fuse (through the caps) is 4.7 amps.  The current through 
the motor is 8.0 amps.  As I advance the phase control variac, the voltage 
across the motor decreases as does all the current measurements.  It doesn't 
provide much phase control as the voltage to the motor drops quickly.  It now 
looses sync at 110 volts, without the caps this number is 100 volts.  It 
appears that I need much more capacitance, maybe as much as 200 ufds?  From 
looking at others test results, it seems when I finally have enough 
capacitance in the circuit, the voltage across the motor will not decrease as 
the phase control variac is advanced, and in fact will increase slightly.  
Correct?  I have scrounged all the motor run caps I can find so further 
testing will have to wait for more caps.

Ed Sonderman