RE Re: grounding - this d

To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE Re: grounding - this d
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Thu, 08 May 1997 01:01:21 -0500
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net
Subject:      RE Re: grounding - this d
       Date:  Wed, 07 May 1997 15:25:08 GMT
       From:  robert.michaels-at-online.sme-dot-org (Robert Michaels)
Organization: Society of Manufacturing Engineers
         To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


The Good Fr. Th. McG.:

               Your answer on the subject question (tho lengthy)
               was =really= good.   If I may, the Old Schoolmaster
               in me would like to offer up this terse summation:
               (sort of like doing a re-write of The Gospel, but
               I'm also an old heathen):

               Within the secondary of a Tesla Coil:

                        Inductance is DESIRABLE.


               Within a ground circuit or system or connection:

                       Inductance is UNDESIRABLE.



               Tech Note:
                    The smaller in cross-sectional area a conductor
                    is, the more curvature it has -- the HIGHER its
                    self-inductance.

                    The wider, thicker, shorter, straighter a conductor
                    is, the LOWER its self-inductance.


        =That= is why we wind Tesla secondaries of (say) #22 wire and
        make ground connections with (say) #2 wire, and =not=
        vice-versa.  Okay?

                                        Well grounded in theory and
                                        practice in -- Detroit, USA

                                        Robert Michaels


T>>
T>> I read about the importance of a high current ground, and the use
T>of
T>> heavy
T>> wire to connect to it.  Yet the secondary wire isn't all that big.
T>I'm
T>> using
T>> 24 gague on a 4 inch secondary - if I remember right the largest
T>wire
T>> size on
T>> a secondary I've read about on the list is 18 gague???   What I
T>don't
T>> understand is why the wire from the secondary to the ground rod (or
T>> whatever)

T>William,
T>Your confusion is understandable.

T>Think of the thing this way: The secondary of the Tesla coil needs to
T>be connected to a really really good RF ground for maximum
T>performance. The reason for this RF ground is so that the secondary
T>circuit has a good solid SOMETHING to push against real hard and that
T>(hopefully) won't move. Don't confuse what is going on WITHIN the
T>coil with what goes on BELOW the coil. In the coil we WANT
T>inductance. It is the stuff of which resonance is made (not
T>completely, but indispensible nonetheless).

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