I am in need of a Variac or auto transformer for testing phase of valve radios.

If anyone has one for sale or can suggest one at a reasonable price it would be appreciated.

Please email with what you have.

I know postage would be quite expensive so local pickup would be good but I doubt anyone would be in my area (Grenfell NSW 2810)

TIA

Ebay has heaps of suitable variacs, new & 2nd hand, quite cheap too.

Jaycar has a 500VA variac on special at $199 at the moment. You can get cheaper in China and second hand but usually safer to buy locally with a warranty.

Yes I saw those in jaycar a while back, look nice .
When I get some spare time I want to build a poor man's variac for my Tellies. I hope that in time I can learn more about electronics so I can do some repairs on my tellies.
I'm not interested in doing radios, just tellies.

Pete

I'm not interested in doing radios, just tellies.

I'm the exact opposite

Is 500VA sufficient to cater for old TVs?

To everyone who is considering a VARIAC purchase.

DO NOT BUY CHEAP IMPORTED CRAP

Stick with Aussie U.S. or British. Nothing else!

And whatever you do, NEVER operated them alone---always have an isolation transformer in series.

VARIAC's are lethal.

Variacs can be lethal because they are autotransformers. An isolation transformer is always a good idea, especially when working with hot chassis equipment as some old radios and TVs can be. Make sure your isolation transformer is capable of handling the VA rating of your variac.

Hello G,
Yes I know , I can remember you and I chatting about it.
There is one radio I like, Ive never see if before , Its a Kriesler of course! Pink and its on ebay I will pop the link in here.
As for 500VA, I have know idea , I would have to ask Ian.
Hope your well G !
Heres the link.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/253393364432


Pete

Hope your well G !

Thanks. I'm well, but my old XP Pro machine is not -- it carked it on Sunday. Am operating from an even older laptop at the moment and have very limited capability until the other machine is rescued. Am getting a new PC built.

That Krielser is new to me, too, but I can definitely see it in your kitchen.

Yes my kitchen is screaming for it!
Must be somthing in the wind G , 2 weeks ago my only computer here died! It was only a Tablet. But I dont want to fork out the money on a computer as its car Rego time!
So my wife sent me a tablet from Asia to use.
Its fine for what I'm doing

Speaking of cars! Its Toyota ute ,tray back , its a beauty not like that petrol gusseling wagon I use to have.

Pete

500VA is fine for a TV, most vintage B&W TVs top out at 150VA. The extra VAs are helpful for TVs like early EKCOs with half-wave rectifiers that tend to saturate the transformer core..

I have an Indian variac that I've used for testing new products for brownout resistance for 25 years. Its dial calibration is about 5% out, other than that, perfect.

You'd be surprised how much gear can't handle a slow application of power. Lockups happen. Not in my designs though!

Dim bulb in series is still the best way to bring up old electronics and re-form old electrolytic capacitors though. And you don't have to worry about running it unattended. By way of contrast, a 500VA variac can usually pump 1500VA into a load when a major failure occurs while it, and the load, catch fire. A tungsten filament lamp makes an excellent PTC resistor and will ensure that any excess current due to a fault developing is safely dissipated.

I have an Indian variac that I've used for testing new products for brownout resistance for 25 years

I have a few variacs, but the one I use most is a 2 amp unit made in India (*name escapes me at present) which came from North Sydney TAFE via a former staff member who bought tons of lab gear at bargain prices when they closed the Electrical Engineering school there.

It may be the same brand as yours.

* Brand is Dimmerstat.

its car Rego time!

Snap! same here. I have been running between mechanics -- car and PC -- who are a few hundred metres from each other.

That truck sounds ideal for you, given the size of stuff you collect and move around.

"I'm well, but my old XP Pro machine is not -- it carked it on Sunday."

I also have an old XP Pro machine that is OK except for the occasional blue screen of death. I took it off line when XP support finished and now work through my Dell laptop. I keep the XP machine to run legacy software especially photo editing which I have got used to, and to scan through an old printer/scanner that doesn't run on Windows 10.

Do you run your XP machine online, and if you do,how do you handle the security issue?

"There is one radio I like, Ive never see if before , Its a Kriesler of course! Pink and its on ebay I will pop the link in here."

Ah, so did you end up getting that? Damn! At least it's gone to a good home.

My father had one as his bench radio for many years. I didn't like it as a kid - something about the typically Kriesler knob looking particularly broken on that model - but it's nostalgically grown on me.

They're not that uncommon; I see one or two for sale every few months, but keep getting outbid on them. Most are fairly banged up, but that one looked to be in relatively good nick. There's also a 41-22 "Super Eight" model that's externally near-identical.