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Can it be done?

dompower

Sep 22, 2013
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Sep 22, 2013
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Can you plug in a 10amp, 12volt manual car battery charger into an outlet controlled by a 600watt light dimmer to control the output down from 10amps to a lesser amp rating? I Want to use the charger as an adjustable power supply for a hot wire foam cutter. Thanks, I'm a beginner in electronics.
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
5,364
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Jan 9, 2011
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5,364
It is not a good idea to use a dimmer to drive a transformer because there could be assymmetry between positive and negative parts of the waveform. This could lead to saturation of the core and large currents flowing.

You can do this if you put a resistance in series such as a light bulb in one mains wire to limit the current.

There is a thread dealing with this.
" Hot Wire Cutter Power Supply"
 
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