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Re: A fried xformer
Tesla List wrote:
>
> >From SSNSanders-at-aol-dot-comMon Jul 22 22:09:49 1996
> Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 08:39:58 -0400
> From: SSNSanders-at-aol-dot-com
> To: Tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: A fried xformer
>
> Tell me someone: I hooked my 15kv neon { new } transformer leads to each lead
> of a 36000v .05uf capacitor for a little while, until I heard the frying
> noise then removed it. The plates are seperate; It wasent a dead short, I
> could understand it then but I was just charging the cap and timing the
> duration of time to the degree of loss to see how much charge was lost over
> different time periods. Why would this burn up a transformer, why; why why
> why why why! Stephen Sanders.
Stephen,
A .05 uf capacitor is exactly an order of magnitude (10 times) too big
for a 15kv 30ma transformer! It was very close to a dead short!
Actually, a dead short will not ruin a new neon sign transformer unless
y0u leave it shorted for 1/2 hour or more!
I suspect the transformer was very weak for one reason or another.
Probably another firing of a tesla coil would have also sent it to that
"big pile of transformers in the sky". Used neon transformers have often
been in service for many years for 8-12 hours per day! If we get used
transformers, we must expect a degree of inherent weakness. If new, we
must realize that a minute of Tesla coil firing can be like a month
driving a sign.
Richard Hull, TCBOR