Re: How do I increase amperage in electrical induction?

Hello, Ryan.

Thanks for your question.  But I am afraid the question is not clear.  So 
I will make some assumptions and we'll get you on the right path.

When you say you are powering one coil with 6 volts, I think you are doing 
this with a power source of 6 volts that is a transformer, changing the 
120 volts alternating current (120vAC) to 6vAC.

You then attach the 6vAC to a coil (coil 1) and try to couple coil 1's 
magnetic field through coil 2 to light a lamp.

With no lamp attached, coil 2 might have an oscilloscope read 2 volts, but 
it won't read 2 volts with the lamp attached.  More like 0.1 volt or 
less.  Am I correct?

This is because you are trying to transfer energy from coil 1 to coil 2 
through a magnetic field both coils share.  The fancy name for this is 
mutual induction.

Michael Faraday (whom the British honored by putting his picture on 
currency) said a changing magnetic field inside a coil would induce a 
voltage at the coil ends.  But, to light a lamp, the field must be strong 
enough in coil 1, and coupled enough to coil 2 to transfer enough energy 
to do that lighting.

This isn't easy.  For one thing, magnetic lines of force hate traveling 
through air, but they like ( not love ) traveling through iron.  This is 
why almost all mutual induction devices use iron as their path.  Indeed, 
your 6 volt source was probably this kind!

So, you say, I'll take a 60-penny spike and wind both coils on it.  That 
should work, right?  Wrong.  Magnetic lines are ornery.  They have no 
beginning and no end, and all they want is an easy path.  And guess what?  
No easy path, very few lines. Make the path easy, you get lots of lines 
and lots of energy transfer from coil 1 to coil 2.

So you saw the tip and head off the spike and bend it into a circle and 
weld the cut ends together.  You have just created a 'transformer core'.  
You are trying to make a transformer.  But this is just the beginning of 
solving the problem.

You see, mutual induction devices, even simple ones, are products of 
sophisticated engineering.  There is the problem of 'eddy currents' solved 
by electrically insulated laminations.  Silicon steel is chosen as the 
material because it conducts magnetic lines well.

What it's like is trying to make your own incandescent lamp in your 
garage.  You couldn't do it.  I couldn't either!  Even if we had access to 
glass blowing, tungsten, inert gas, and the engineering to determine what 
the filament dimensions could be, we'd have to give up.  We'd buy it from 
the store for a dollar, and not even think about the 30-odd geniuses who 
worked on all the bits the lamp incorporates.

If you want to make a transformer, you ask a company that makes 
transformer cores like Arnold, to send you a separable one.  You wind coil 
1 on one half, and coil 2 on the other.  Then you slide the two halves 
together.  Arnold has made sure the magnetic path would be good.  I don't 
know whether Arnold has an educational group within its corporate 
structure, but for a worthy fellow like yourself, I would start one.  
Here's their website:
 http://www.arnoldmag
netics.com/corp/history.htm

Hope your Montana winter is kind.

Larry Skarin

PS:  I just read the stuff on this site.  I am in Rochester, New York, 
USA, and I had no idea Arnold had located its headquarters here.  And I 
think I'm well-informed.

Cheers,

LS