rich0 Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 (edited) you dont need to use a soldering iron, if you do go with the maplin 0.75A variac, all you need is 6.3mm female spade connectors Sweet deal! Will save me some time, and me fucking it up that is. also, heres some pics of a box im going to use for a single variac. Mind giving some specifics about the box? I mean, if I pop into B&Q I can ask for a box to mount a Variac on, most likely the guy will just stare at me. It happened with asking for expanding foam and insulated ducting the other day, the simplest of things. I'm assuming if I find an "ip56 rated" box, that'll be fine for this Variac. Is there something specific about these boxes or are they literally just plastic housing to insulate the electrics, available at B&Q etc? Obviously still a bit concerned if a .75A Variac is safe with my high powered fan, if anyone has the answer? Intrigued if it'd be worth going for, say, a 2Amp one just to be safe (or is this more dangerous, I really have no idea). Edited March 19, 2010 by rich0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabe jack Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 If you dont want to mess about making a variac up in a box look at this below click here jack e2a your fan is rated at 0.4A so a 0.7A variac will be fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joint hogger Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 rich, the box is ABS plastic and is rated to ip56, think it was only £8 or £9 from maplins & its dimensions are 165x125x75mm. if you look at my variac siggy, theres some close up pics of the mapins variac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich0 Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 (edited) Thank you SO much, guys. Really couldn't do this without the advice. God, I love this place. As the lower rated one is OK for me, I'll probably go for: http://www.wattbits.com/wbv0-7e-1.html , just to save myself from burning down the house. Edited March 20, 2010 by rich0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Jones Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 If you buy a one amp version you can get a couple of 1A fuses one for the supply to the variac and the other will go in the plugtop for the fan, that way both the primary and the secondary are fused correctly and the variac will not burn even under fault conditions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich0 Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 (edited) If you buy a one amp version you can get a couple of 1A fuses one for the supply to the variac and the other will go in the plugtop for the fan, that way both the primary and the secondary are fused correctly and the variac will not burn even under fault conditions Cheers for the advice but I'm a little confused. Could you clarify what you mean by 'supply to the variac' and 'plugtop for the fan'. Do you mean a part of the fan it's self? Mine is already encased in foam so that's kind of out of the question for me. I'm assuming I throw a fuse in the plug (1A?), is there a part for a fuse in the Variac or do I need a separate power supply to power the variac or something? I kind of assumes you could split the power cable leading to the fan, wire the variac in there and that was it. If this is right, should I throw a 1amp fuse in the plug if I'm using a .7A Variac? Would like it to be as safe as possible but don't really want to spend more money than I have to either. I really only need the .7A Variac for my usage. Edited March 20, 2010 by rich0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabe jack Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Wall socket - Plug (with 1A fuse) - 1A Variac - Extension lead type socket ..... Plug (with1A fuse) - Fan The part in bold is optional jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich0 Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Wall socket - Plug (with 1A fuse) - 1A Variac - Extension lead type socket ..... Plug (with1A fuse) - FanThe part in bold is optional jack That's a damned good idea. Cool to do it with a .7A Variac, right? Sorry for the massive amount of questions but I think it'll help all us confused first timers a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabe jack Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 That's a damned good idea. Cool to do it with a .7A Variac, right? Sorry for the massive amount of questions but I think it'll help all us confused first timers a lot. 1A variac would be ideal, tho you will be able to use a 0.7A The 1A fuse will not protect the 0.7A variac from damage, but will protect a 1A variac from damage if there is a problem Hope this makes sense jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich0 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 (edited) Thank you so kindly for the advice so far. It really will save me a lot of time and money. Last question is do you think if I buy a 2Amp Variac, it'd be safe to wire 2 fans to it down the line? Is there a specifically safe way of doing this or would I literally just wire in another extension type socket onto the same spot on the Variac and go from there? So, Wall socket > Plug w/2 Amp fuse > 2 Amp Variac > 2x Extension Lead Sockets > Plugs each w/ 2 Amp fuses > Fans edit: Just thought I'd explain that I'm intending to buy an intake fan down the line. Edited March 25, 2010 by rich0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabe jack Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 My 2A variac controls 1x RVK200 L1 and 2x RVK150 A1's with no probs m8 jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich0 Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 (edited) I finally got my 2 Amp Variac through and am now looking to wire it all up. I've included some photos, where I believe it is wired in correctly from doing research and trying to follow the diagrams provided with it. I read something about 'earthing' the metal casing. I currently have the earth in and the earth out, from the mains and to the fan. I also have 3 points that I believe I connect the earths to. I'm just unsure about what to connect where. I've included photos. The two points together are on one half of the casing and the one point by it's self is on the other half of the casing. I understand that I need to earth the casing, I'm just not entirely sure how. Also, if anyone spots faults with my wiring, please say so. Please help this n00b succeed in his first grow! Cheers in advance! Edited April 21, 2010 by rich0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SexiSarh Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 90% there, but struggling to get the wiring perfect! Could someone please point me in the right direction? So I have everything assembled, but smoke starts coming out the variac, however it does kind of work! When I switch the therostat it switches between variacs speeds I have swopped the "Input" (live) and the "output" (neutral) as my slow setting was on "100" and fast setting "0", swopping them sorted it but still not right. So... the wires attached to the variacs are Brown = Live (now attached to output), Blue = Neutral (now attached to input) & the other 2 wires are the variable power. Is this right? I'm 99% sure I have everything connected properly its just what goes where on the variac and the thermostat. So on the thermastat i've got the Brown/Live in that goes to the fan socket in number "2" and the other 2 variables from the variac in "live" & "3". Can someone please point out where I'm going wrong - I'm guessing its on the thermostat! Thanks SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Themadhippy Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 (edited) Are you trying to get the thermostat to switch between the 2 variacs? if so the output of 1 variac goes to terminal 2 on the stat,the other variac on terminal 3 and the output to the fan from the L terminal of the thermostat assuming the thermostat has change over contacts Edited February 21, 2011 by Themadhippy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SexiSarh Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Are you trying to get the thermostat to switch between the 2 variacs? if so the output of 1 variac goes to terminal 2 on the stat,the other variac on terminal 3 and the output to the fan from the L terminal of the thermostat assuming the thermostat has change over contacts Hey, I am using 1 fan, I was to have one variac at lets say 40% and when temps go over the thermometer it switches to say 80% (second variac. Just to add, when I take the thermostat off and connect the Live that goes to the fan to one or the other variable lives from the variac it works, so its just something i'm doing with the therm wrong. I'll try what you have just said above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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