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Re: Hookup Wire




From: 	Skip Greiner[SMTP:sgreiner-at-wwnet-dot-com]
Reply To: 	sgreiner-at-wwnet-dot-com
Sent: 	Thursday, December 04, 1997 5:32 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: Hookup Wire

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> From:   ghunter-at-mail.enterprise-dot-net[SMTP:ghunter-at-mail.enterprise-dot-net]
> Sent:   Monday, December 01, 1997 1:54 PM
> To:     Tesla List
> Subject:        Hookup Wire
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Secondaries wound with plastic insulated hookup wire seem pretty rare.
>  I've only seen one small coil on a coiler's web page that used
> plastic insulated wire on the secondary.  One other subscriber has
> admitted to me that his "big coil" is wound with pvc jacketed hookup
> wire.  My own little low-budget coil is wound with #22 stranded hookup
> wire.  While my sparks don't knock down low-flying airplanes, I'm
> mostly satisfied with performance.
> 
> I'm aware of some of the drawbacks of hookup wire on TC secondaries.
> For one thing, the turns-per-inch density is much lower than magnet
> wire.  This leads to lower inductance and high operating frequency,
> which is not desirable.  My 23" secondary only has 460 turns.
> Operating frequency, even with a top hat, is in the neighborhood of
> 500khz.
> 
> Also, I've heard references to lossy pvc insulation.  Since many
> coilers wind their small secondaries on pvc pipe forms, this seems
> like a pretty lame complaint.
> 
> On the plus side, hookup wire is more readily available than magnet
> wire.  It's less expensive than magnet wire.  It also seems to me that
> the stranded conductor would have lower loss at RF than solid
> conductor. Jacketed wire is tough & resistant to kinking and
> breakage--good qualities during the winding operation.
> 
> Comments, experiences (good or bad) with plastic insulated wire in TC
> use will be read with much interest.
> 
> Greg
> 
> East Anglia, UK


Hi Greg and All

I only use plastic coated hook up wire. I use either #14 or #16 ga
stranded machine tool wire. I do not find it necessary to coat the
finished secondary. My most recent coil is 24" high and 17.5" in
diameter. It contains 192 turns. Its operating frequency with a toroid
is around 260khz. It put out about 66" discharges with about 1400 watts
from the wall plug. I have previously built lower powered units with
similar outputs.

The number of turns in the secondary have very little meaning in TC
work. Inductance and Q are most important.

Good luck

Skip