Im going to start working on my coilgun again, however, i need a faster charger. to reach the 400v fast i want to use mains to charge the capacitor bank, via an AC doubler, works fine now on a 5W inverter, but takes forever to charge the back.
On the other hand mains scares the hell out of me, so i want to restrict the output to around 50W. I absolutely do not want to run a charger of mains straight, even if its with a fuse/breaker, im also concerned i might damage the capacitors because of the high currents. Anyway, this is mostly just irrational fear and i acknowledge that, but still ill never run something ive made off anything other than inverted 240v, not unless i wont directly touch it or have to leave it running unsupervised.
To accomplish this, what do i do? is there a testing circuit i can buy so i can screw around like i do with my short protected PSU, which also has settable maximum current, or do i simply use a heavy duty resistor and a fuse?
Or do options for 1:1 type transformers exist that output 240v but with limited output current capacity, I have other things here and there id like to test with current limited mains incase of a short or sudden drop in resistance for other reasons, or in certain motors to delay overheating.
Im not incompetent, or unknowledgeable, mains is just something im afraid of and would like to avoid. Im fine working off a 300W inverter, even though the electrocution risk is the same just about, but i simply cant do mains.
(the 300w inverter considers the bank a full short even at a 600W peak allowance, so it wont charge it, and its my good car inverter so i dont want to risk anything)