"Bob Engelhardt" wrote in message
...
I've been thinking: how much better would pure (regulated) DC be? For a
given magnetization, would the current be less? Or would the heating be
less?

A previous Reply said that the DC voltage only has to be about 5% of the
AC voltage to reach the same level of magnetization. In that case the
200v secondary would only need 100v DC. I'm using more than that, but
I'm wondering if it's because the unfiltered DC has so much ripple.

Anyhow, I could build a 100v regulator, but would it be worth it?

Thanks,
Bob

I seriously doubt it would be worth it. The MOT is acting as an
inductor in this case and it will be smoothing out the current ripple
as it is. If you have an o'scope add a 1 ohm resistor in series with
a MOT leg and attach the scope across the resistor to monitor the
current. You'll need to float the scope (or isolate the AC source
to the MOT) as both sides of the resistor will be hot. The
waveform will have much less ripple than the excitation voltage
waveform.
Art