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Re: wire



At 04:36 PM 12/23/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>I would be safe to say spark plug wire, found at your local auto parts
>dealer.  It is very well insulated, and can handle a lot of juice.  It is
>what I am planning to use on my 15kv 30ma coil.
>

Whoooa!!!

	The vast majority of spark plug wire is not copper wire?  It is a goofy
carbon impregnated nylon braid thing.  It has about 15K ohms of resistance.
 It is made that way to reduce radio noise in the stereo.  That stuff will
just burn up.

Some "Hot Rod" shops have the old "good stuff" that still has nice copper
as the conductor and that is great for HV use but the gauge is sort of
small for primary tank circuit use.

Look or ask for "solid copper core" spark plug wire.  If they have it, it
will be great for many HV uses.  It won't be cheap...

I use 5kV plastic or rubber "test lead" wire.  However, I just route it
away from other conductive objects or use plastic to support it.  It will
blow through at full voltage but if I am careful it is no problem.
Digi-key or even Radio Shack has that.   I notice that a number of the
audio cables have really nice thick insulation too...

At work, we use 15kV - 18 gauge silicon rubber cable in large quantity.
That would be the ultimate, but I don't know of a nice place for us "little
guys" to buy it from...  I keep waiting for them to scrap a 5 mile reel
cause "it is dusty" :-))  Hey, works for line filters...

Cheers,

	Terry


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