[sdiy] outlet as variac? calling all EEs...

[danial stocks]

variac is a variable ratio transformer.. it puts out a proper ac at a 
variable amplitude. light dimmers are pwm controlled. the dimmer only 
conducts for a portion of the cycle which is variable.. thus there are 
pulses of part cycles of ac.. not at all recommended for use on things other 
than lamps [if it was REALLY hefty then you could prolly run a heater in the 
same manner] - first of all , it's gonna be way noisy, and the weird 
waveforms play havoc on transformers [I heard of some bloke who did try 
this, couldnt figure out why the transformer kept needing replacing]..
Cheers,
Dan
>okay, here's a weird question.  i've got an old apartment that has kinda
>weird wiring.  there's an outlet in the living room that's on the light
>switch, but said light switch has a dimmer on it.  this has always been
>annoying for me because to use anything on that outlet, you have to turn 
>the
>lights on full bore, regardless of available light.
>
>this outlet came to mind after i realized that i need some kind of variac 
>to
>bring up my newly re-capped tube amp.  if i plug the amp into the outlet,
>and turn the dimmer up slowly, is this the same idea as a variac?
>
>what's wrong with the logic on this one?  it can't be that easy...
>
>alex

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