Another variac question...

[rumblefuzz]

A few moments of luck:
Yesterday I discovered a perfectly fine Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plate in my dad's old tape recorder, that will continue it's life in my Vibrolux reverb from now on. It sounds way better than the ruby that used to be in there.
Today I got a variac from the second-hand store for only €5,- ($6,50).



My question is about the variac: it's hella pretty to look at, but do you guys think it's a safe one to use. I'd never pay €200,- for a new one, but i thought this would be a nice way of seeing what the fuss is all about.

I've read that you can't use one of these with a tube-rectifier, like the vibrolux. Does that mean I can't even use it to go from 235V~ to 220V~, the voltage it was meant to see? How about a Hiwatt DR103? (I don't even know what type of rectifier is in there...).
The power chord that's on there has only two wires, no ground. Can I just use a seperate ground wire and connect that to the units metal housing, and use it to ground the output?

Well, that's it really. Thanks for reading!

[ChrisK]

My question is about the variac: it's hella pretty to look at, but do you guys think it's a safe one to use.

Who knows, what is it?

How about a manufacturer's name and part number?

The power cord that's on there has only two wires, no ground.

A Variac is a variable auto-transformer where the output comes from an adjustable winding tap.

An auto-transformer will have at least three terminals in its bare component form.

The Variac typically will have a three conductor (including safety ground)power input cord with a mains plug and a power output receptacle for the adjusted mains supply to the output load.

An older (and less safer) unit may have a two conductor input power cord and two output terminals.

search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=452-1000-ND


Before we can discuss how it could be used we need to understand what it is and what it's capable of.

Input voltage
Output voltage range
Power handling capability (both in VA and ACamps)
Insulation
Condition

[rumblefuzz]

Hey,

I couldn't make decent pictues of it, so I had to draw the print on the side of the unit:



On the bottom of the housing it says:

Type: 84530.01
Nr: (none)
520 VA
50 Hz
2 A max.

And on the wiper:

Nr: 69579
220 V prim.
0-260 V sec.

I can't find any manufacturer's name whatsoever, but I'll guess it has something to do with Philips since I live only 10 km from it's oldest factories (Eindhoven).

Hope this helps...