Cheap loadtester materials

[Pete]

Sticky this i think!

[Xeon th MG Pony]

War4ning about that fibre tap: As it ages it will decompose and release glass fibre I highely recomend you heat shrink it or other such sealing process to avoid breathing in the fibres, this decompision process takes only a fiew heat cycles to start up, long as it is protected from machanicle abration it is fine. Hence the heat shrink. Second Fuses! all ways have a fusible link set to the maximum expected amperage with a time delay blow, that way it accounts for inrush (As litle as there is with resistive loads) and assures a safe system, or if you can scavange about an old photocopiers they have lovely 3.13Amp breakers in them ideal for such things.

Thirdly a proper Ammeter would be better then a clamp unit as they will read far more true to the current flow compared to a clamp on, and much cheaper to boot.

[Xeon th MG Pony]

Geting hit with a 120/230 Shock realy sucks

ALL WAYS USE HIGH CUATION WHEN DEALING WITH MAINS!

Duble check all splices; Ensure all connections are solid and coverd properly;
All ways have a fusible link at the front end of the hot line befor the switch;
Ensure a good clean grounding path through out your system, should be no higher then .5 -1Ohm from the ground prong to the farthest test point;
All ways use cord stress relievers at junctions so if you accidently trip on the cord it doesn't tear off inside.

[Xeon th MG Pony]

Can we have an earth wire going to that copper please.

The steel wire protecter should be acting as a case ground to the heater, thus it should be cupled to the grounding loop. Glad I wasn't the only one to notice the missing ground.

[Pete]

120 i found tickles, 230 was like getting kicked in the balls but 415 gave me a free trip across the car park and made me stay down for half hour. Little bugga

[Xeon th MG Pony]

lol, 630 cooks. either case is in the right circumstance even 120 can be deadly, all ways use high cuation when working round AC mains.

[SexyMF]

Those little speed control units are not like proper variacs. They are not autotransformers. You are adjusting the firing angle for the sinewave rather than getting a full sinewave at a lower voltage.
The steel wire is covered in thermal goop and its electrical bonding to the block will be useless.
These should ideally be run via an isolation transformer.

My safety concerns lies more in peoples electrical practices more than the possibility of some gas exploding. Nobody listens when you mention the need to fuses etc.


And Xeon the ground should not be more than 1ohm.

[jinu117]

Wow, lot of safety concerns.
Let's clarify few things.
#1. Yes it is not proper variac but it works in this case. We are dealing with resisitive load in case someone forgot.
#2. If you can find proper ground portion of circuit, please please let me know as I've yet to see one reasonable place for it on this setup. Of course, major applinaces has nice shells, etc which makes perfect sense for the wire to touch in case it gets uninsulated and touches something. Unless you are running it on GPF circuit, all this does it dissipating the current through shell to ground wire. I am surprised that we talk about grounding and no one noticed this circuit is purely resistive load with no real other pathway. (I don't remember seeing toaster with 3 prongs ?!)
#3. Heatshrinking.. I didn't know about that. Thanks for letting us know
#4. Interestingly enough, AFAIK I haven't seen single variac without fuse. Maybe there exist some that doesn't....?
Here is what I would like someone who is REAL electrician to do. Write up a nice guide for us to sticky On what to be careful and what not and impact of such.
Another interesting tad bit is... it's not the voltage that kills, it's the current (amperage) that kills. Even 50v ac has potential to kill. But since our body has certain resistance, the amount of current going through it depends heavy on voltage really. It just makes higher voltage to kill easier since it is much easier for those high voltage to generate higher current through... you know what i mean -_- (cringes at the thought).
Oh, and for those who think ground is real safe, think again sometimes. In most home in US, ground is wired right on neutral to breaker box, than these two are grounded.... usually should be no problem really though.

[Xeon th MG Pony]

yes but more voltage means more current can flow so thus it is the current how ever for practicle average sense we pay attention to the voltage.

FYI I go through any place I rent with my DMM and check ground and verify its entregrity befor renting 3 places I have been to ground was hot or open.

[runmc]

jinu thanks for that guide and runmc thanks for cartridge heater , here is mine



regards

SWEET

[wdrzal]

My safety concerns lies more in peoples electrical practices more than the possibility of some gas exploding. Nobody listens when you mention the need to fuses etc.

I agree,people need not only worry about the dangers of pressure and Flammable gases, but understanding electrical circuits Too. How to wire them with correct wire gage (for current) and fuse correctly (when required)and make proper secure electrical connections.

Bad connections = resistance,resistance=heat.Heat = higher resistance which = higher heat. Which = HIGHER RESISTANCE & even HIGHER HEAT ........It's a snow ball effect until something melts,shorts or burns up all because a proper connection was not made or the wire was not sized correctly for the current...........

[LittleDevil]

SWEET

Thanks Ron!

regards

[SexyMF]

FYI: I am qualified for three-phase and single-phase electrical work. It is my profession to service industrial electronic/electrical equipment. Stuff you can't unplug.


Jinu117: This wasn't a dig at your tester.

[jinu117]

Sorry I have jumped a bit SexyMF. But honestly if you can think of good ground point, I would appreciate that. I am not those not listening type and I was seriously thinking of where to put it but none came to idea -_-; (especially knowing the ground around house hold sometimes just are netural... felt like I am subjecting more danger than putting one in).

[yngndrw]

Oh, and for those who think ground is real safe, think again sometimes. In most home in US, ground is wired right on neutral to breaker box, than these two are grounded.... usually should be no problem really though.

Okay I don't know much about how things are done in the USA seems as I'm in the UK, but there is no problem in referencing the neutral to ground. Infact that is how the ground cable works. The idea of the ground is to force the voltage (relative to us, ie the earth) at the equipment's casing to 0v. Remember that all voltages are relative, so as long as there is no potential difference between us and the case there is no problem. As such a 'live' neutral cable *should* always be safe to touch, in single phase applications.

Does that make sense ? I'm tired.

[jinu117]

Gotcha.... :")

[m411b]

Now let's connect cartridge heater to ac line.



This is how I mount it. DFI bracket here (any cpu bracket can do), in this case i use 2 3inch 6/32" machine screw in there.



Well, just sandwich our load tester between bracket and evap and mount it as you would on motherboard. I don't use wing nut for myself... Deep socket wrench with 5/16" does great for saving my hand and getting me good balanced mounting often times. Wingnut is convenient without tools but if you have proper tools, it makes even these little things easier



Now, let's wire them up. Kill-a-watt goes to ac line. Variac or load variance tool goes to kill-a-watt. Load block connects to this load variance device.
Now you are ready to power up your phase, waterblock, air heatsink, etc and see how it handles load

Few things of notes...

1) It is recommended that you install thermal shut off switch. Something that won't burn through enclosure material if you forget to shut off the load tester after you are done testing..... (I've burnt 5 enclosures so far :P)

2) Bottom of load tester insulation... I prefer something stiff so that mounting is more consistant each time. Hard refrigeration foam, the tape I used, etc works great. I suggest armaflex tape type if these are not an option instead of foam... foam tends to be too squishy.

3) Always turn load tester off when you are done.

If the load block goes to the variac, and the variac goes to the Kill-A-Watt, then where is the power comming from? The Kill-A-Watt? I see no connections to a wall outlet. Does the Kill-A-Watt provide the power? And if it does, with what? Batteries????

[Carlz0r]

Kill-A-Watt gets plugged into a wall outlet.

And I agree with checking grounds before using them. When we renovated our house, I had the job of removing all the old wiring. I found a quite a few that were just neutral, and a couple that were live.

[m411b]

DUH , I wasn't looking hard enough. I now see the plug on the back of the Kill-A-Watt that plugs into a wall outlet.

[m411b]

Well after several days of waiting for supplies, here is my Load Tester. Jinu's design of course.


For a ground I put a hole in the side of the block and used a self taping screw to secure the green ground wire. I have tested it and everything works well.

Thanx for such a simple and effective design Jinu,
m411b

[LostInSpace278]

Why not solder a ground to the cartridge sheath before you insulate your block?

With a soldering iron of course, not a torch

Edit: Since you are using a router speed control, which is not a "variac", can you also use a light dimmer?

[[XC] 2long4u]

120 i found tickles, 230 was like getting kicked in the balls but 415 gave me a free trip across the car park and made me stay down for half hour. Little bugga

230 I forgot where I was for a minute. 50,000 from a HEI spark is a nice little jolt.

[Barnsley-Bill]

This is mine im going to make 300 watt cartridge heater with a variac and amp meter.

[rockdude14]

anyone find a new place to buy copper from
Dangerden said that they havent sold any of them in a long time.

I found one other place speedy metals but its $30 after shipping.

[killermiller]

http://www.mcmaster.com/