Yes Filaments are prone to break with vibrations and flexing from the on/off. I have been using mine through a transformer for Isolation and have used the same Iron for 5 + years. It works fine and I use it daily at work. It will be on an hour or two if I don't forget to turn it off. The Auto Transformer would be the best, but its the hard thing to find cheap. I don't have one so I used a light dimmer.
Larry Taylor KF6JBG
----- Original Message -----
From: JanRwl@...
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Making the simplest board
In a message dated 9/27/2004 12:47:41 AM Central Standard Time,
cvrcsoaring@... writes:
Use a Lamp Dimmer or a small autotransformer to turn down the power to your
Iron. They will last along time and you can adjust the heat. Works great!!!
Larry: You suggest two methods here, the effects on the life of a
heating-element or light-bulb completely different! If the "Lamp Dimmer" you mean is
the triac-duty-cycle control kind you buy at Home Depot, the "chopping" those
cause make a lamp-filament or heating-element vibrate, often even AUDIBLY,
and this will NOTICEABLY shorten the useful life! My front-door light is left
on during dark hours, and the bulb goes out three or four times per year.
Once when the dimmer failed, I temporarily installed a plain switch, and the
bulb lasted more than a year. Of course, it was a pain to remember to switch
it off during daylight hours, so I eventually fixed the photo-switch/dimmer,
and same thing, again, very, very soon after "working again". Moral:
Chopped 60 Hz. is TERMINAL to lights and heating-elements! Though initially more
expensive, an autotransformer (Variac) would EXTEND the life of either, of
course! JRR
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