Smokey transformer - oh dear

[nick mulder]

I burned a transformer a bit today ...

details withheld ! But in the interests of safety, get someone who knows what they're up to and don't rely on what you read on the net !

[neilw20]

I think you put a short on one primary(RED to BLACK) and put 240v into the other 115v primary (RED and BLACK)

Turn it off!

The red and black you connected together, I guess were on the same winding.

Identify each winding with a multimeter, measuring the resistance.
Now put them in, what you assume to be series and measure the total resistance. It should be double of what a single winding is.

If not, think again, but don't power it up until you are sure.
It might survive. Time will tell.

It is easy to get the smoke out, and hard to get it back in again.

[nick mulder]

I burned a transformer a bit today ... Still going, and no damage to the cats but details withheld ! In the interests of safety, get someone who knows what they're up to and don't rely on what you read on the net !

(thanks Neil for the reply)

[neilw20]

If you run it with the black to black, and red to red, as you did, it will eventually cook (unless you only run it on 115vAC)

[ImanCarrot]

Don't transformers have nasty chemicals in them like PCBs? (polychloro biphenols)

[vger]

No PCBs... at least not since the late 70's... and not unless they are sealed so the liquid would not leak out. They were used as a cooling fluid in large power transformers and some flourescent lamp balasts, as well as some high voltage capacitors. It also has high dielectric strength to suppress arcing.

Steve