RE- TV Power supplies

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
Subject: RE- TV Power supplies
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 01:11:02 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Robert Michaels[SMTP:robert.michaels-at-online.sme-dot-org]
Sent: 	Sunday, November 16, 1997 7:54 AM
To: 	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: 	RE- TV Power supplies

TL>From:  Alan Hancock[SMTP:alan-at-sky-dot-net]
TL>Subject:  TV Power supplies

TL>I haven't started my first coil and may be showing my ignorance, but I
TL>have seen a few diagrams for power supplies using TV flyback
TL>transformers.  I f the Flyback transformer will power the coil, why not
TL>use the television receiver's power supply?

        Not particularly directing this at you, Alan, but --
        your question innocently (I'm sure) evokes a round of
        foggy-thinking which has plagued This List lately:

        Read-my-lips: (Or actually Read-my-posts)

                Tesla coils are ac devices

                More than that they are  =high-frequency=
                ac devices.

                Take dc data tables, dc measurements, dc instruments,
                dc techniques, and -- %$#%!!^%&*&#$

                    Where  --  %$#%!!^%&*&#$  translates to
                    either:

                    1)  "Take them with a very large grain of
                         salt"   [more intelligent, I suppose]

                                 - or -

                    2)  A certain suggestion which quite frankly
                        is  anatomically-impossible (and
                        hygienically inadvisable).  [will make
                        me feel a lot better if you do]

                                - - - - - - -

        The power supply in a tv, taken as a whole, outputs  =dc=.

        While high-voltage  =dc=  can be used to make a very nice
        Tesla-coil, there is a contradiction in terms if the dc
        comes from a tv:

        Why generate a high-frequency voltage (in the flyback),
        then convert it to  =dc=  (in the remainder of the tv
        power supply), and then convert the  =dc=  back into high-
        frequency voltage in a Tesla circuit?

        That's going around in circles!

        Also --

        The high-voltage dc in a tv has very little power behind it.

        In the primary of a Tesla coil, power is  =much=  more
        important than is voltage.

        And -- the only intelligent way to use the tv's  =dc=  is to
        make a disruptive-discharge Tesla-coil.  The semiconductors in
        a tv are in no way equipped to deal with the concomitant
        voltage spikes, surges, potential reversals, and transients.

        Any such efforts are apt to result in smoke, flame, and
        a short evening.

                                        Ac only on the Tesla List,
                                        = please =  (and no Mylar!)

                                        Robert Michaels
                                        Detroit, USA