Source for Variacs

[LGHeath]

[color=#000000]I have pretty much decided on a variac for motor control for the fine control of test depression and have looked through the forms and don

[2seater]

I have a six motor bench and I use a router speed control on one motor only. It seems to do what I need. A Harbor Freight special, $15. I am sure the Variac is more elegant, but only if you can control several motorrs at the same time.

[49-1183904562]

Larry,

the model will work fine for 2 motors and will give you a little extra on top end as the variac will go to 130vac. Still not sure why you would use this over a $20 router speed controller.

I use a variac to test my motors but have found it not much better than a cheep Harbor Freight controller.

Rick

[Tony]

A variac has one big advantage, it will not self destruct when a vacuum motor eventually blows up. Anything electronic is fragile, and if the motor dies, expect to have to replace the router speed controller as well. Every time.

A variac is so massive and huge, it can carry enormous brief overloads, until the fuse or circuit breaker protecting it turns off the power.

So basically one variac will last a lifetime. ANY cheap electronic controller is a disposable item.

A pretty good source for variacs is still e-bay in various countries.