Re: breaking in caps (fwd)

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: breaking in caps (fwd)
From: Tesla List <mod1-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 22:31:13 -0600 (MDT)
Approved: mod1-at-pupman-dot-com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:34:48 -0500
From: Jeff Corr <corr-at-enid-dot-com>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: breaking in caps (fwd)

>gradually increase the voltage until you get the variac wide open.  Many
run
>times at less than full power will help the caps shed the trapped air.

I know this seems unethical, and someone is bound to reply to this, but :

I made a rolled poly cap, submersed it in mineral oil, and just let it stand
vertically
with the top open for only 10 minutes, allowing the bubbles to come out as i
poored
more oil in.  At 5 minutes they stopped so I tapped the tube, making a few
more come
out, but not very many.  Then I sealed it shut, never vaccumming it.  I then
hooked it up
to the system, and flipped it on for 2 minutes at full power.  The caps are
only rated
at 25kv, .01256uf.  Thats not even double the voltage of the neons, which
they should be...   and yet 6 months later, with MANY hours of runtime, some
times up to 7
minutes themselves, the caps still test out PERFECT, no detectable leakage
whatsoever at 10kv.

Again I am wondering about getting jumped on here, but I must ask myself if
the traditional time spent on making the caps is worth it?  They seem to
work fine in
even a "throw together" version.  Perhaps I am just "experimenting"....
:-)

NOTE : I wouldn't try running them dry though...   :-)