Bert gave you good advice. However, it may be your outlet is not wired correctly. What I would do is change the on/off switch from SPST to DPST so when you turn it off it interrupts both the hot and the neutral. This is what you should do for any tool like a variac where you will be expecting it to actually be off when you select off.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Cooper
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2015 9:33 PM
To: tesla reflector; Elecraft reflector
Subject: [TCML] variac question
I have a 2000VA chinese variac off ebay looks similar to a staco(. No schematic. It works fine when used normally. Varies my voltage from 0-148V. But when its switched off and left plugged in I have 0 V between and neutral and 120V between hot and ground and neutral and ground. Is this normal for a variac?
I was hooking up a electromagnet @5V with the variac off but plugged in and I got a 120V bite even when the dial is all the way to 0. That’s why I started checking it. Ive been running my coil off it with no problems.
John Cooper WT5Y
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