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Discharging Capacitor
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From: Patrick J. Gustafson [SMTP:gustafpj-at-uwec.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 1998 7:01 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Discharging Capacitor
Hello all:
In order to adjust the primary coil after the TC has been running, one
would prefer to discharge the capacitor(s) to eliminate the chance of
becoming a human wire. I was wondering how others have accomplished
this without damaging anything.
I am building a TC for the Physics Dept. here, and I have to add safety
measures throughout the TC design in order to prevent any accidents from
happening. You see, the physics instructors will be using the TC for
demonstrations on magnetic fields, and who knows what instructors might
do. So I figured I could use a solenoid to throw a contact, which goes
through high resistance resistors (I have several hollow ceramic
resistors rated at 100000 Ohms at 200W, generously given to me by the
Dept.). I could series the resistors to get a current flow in the order
of milliamps, which would work. But this is just one idea.
Oh, I have also seen boxes of old vacuum tubes in the E&M lab at the
university, and was wondering what are the most common tubes used in
Tesla work? (There's about a hundred different tubes just sitting
there.) I'm sure they would sell them cheap if any are suitable for TC
work.
Practicing Safe Coiling in Wisconsin
Patrick Gustafson