RE: Carrying a Full Load (fwd)

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE: Carrying a Full Load (fwd)
From: Tesla List <mod1-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 20:03:52 -0600 (MDT)
Approved: mod1-at-pupman-dot-com



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 07:48:14 -0700
From: Michael Baumann <baumann-at-proton.llumc.edu>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: RE: Carrying a Full Load (fwd)


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 17:33:00 EDT
> From: Alfred A Skrocki <alfred.skrocki.sr-at-juno-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Carrying a Full Load (fwd)
> 
> On Fri, 31 Jul 98 16:35:08 PDT Dave Lochhaas
> <lochhaas-at-computerland-dot-net> wrote;
> 
> >Hi to the List from Mid-Missouri,
> 
> Welcome to thelist Dave!
> 
> >These are my questions:
> >
> >1.  I have a beefy old bug zapper that's spent the last fifteen years 
> >in the garage in storage so it didn't suffer much when I took it 
> >apart.  It has a transformer that will draw about a quarter inch arc 
> >across a gap.  Can I build a small Tesla coil with this?  I've search 
> >all the websites but can't find any reference this.
> 
> Sure Dave the transformers in most "Bug zapers" are rated at 5KV at 9ma.
> Small for driving a Tesla coil but workable. I'm not sure if these
> transformers are current limited so I would use a current limiting choke
> in tesla coil usage. Remember these things don't normaly spark
> continously but are designed to have occasional discharges.

Alfred: you haven't watched a bug zapper in work, have you?
Those things *must* be current limited. I've had some really good
sized beetles and such hit mine, they sizzle and pop and burst into 
flame. Continuous discharges for 20-40 seconds when this happens are not
uncommon.
[Oh, and i did make a very small coil powered by one. It worked, sort of.
Had a hell of a time quenching the gap. Not because of current, but because
of what I did not know]