Sparks in Georgia

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Sparks in Georgia
From: "Payne, Will E" <will.e.payne-at-lmco-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1998 19:27:51 -0600
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com
This is a progress report from Crossroads, Georgia, a thank you to all whose
comments and suggestions helped me get this far, and appeal for peer review
and further comment.

Since destroying my two NSTs I have switched to a 15 kV potential xfmr and
SW caps driving my 4.5 in x 30 in secondary coil and 8 x 24 in stovepipe
toroid.  I have breakout and can drive 30 in streamers or 16 in hot sparks.


CURRENT CONFIG:
Secondary :  880 t of #20 Cu wire on PVC pipe 4.5 in dia x 30 in long.
Top Load  :  Toroid, 8 x 24 in stovepipe
Primary C :  Inverted cone, 30 deg, 10 in x 48 in, 23 t of #6 Cu, wood form,
tunes at 6 turns.
Power     :  70:1 PT, ballast = 4|| HW elements 1500 VA ea, 240 VAC in.
Capacitor :  Hawg Capacitor, 7 gal cider juggs in #3 washtub, about 17 nF
Spark Gap : Aspirated, hollow electrode static gap.

Recent Improvements:

Capacitors.  Now using Sodium Hydroxide for electrolyte in SW caps, for a 50
% improvement.  About 17 nF total in seven glass gallon cider jugs.
According to the CRC Handbook, thats the most conductive electrolyte short
of using acid.  The plastic soda bottles had too many incipient defects to
be reliable.  Also they are actually 3 ply:  virgin PET, then regrind and
post consumer, then virgin PET again.  The middle layer has who-knows-what
in it.  Thanks to Mike Foster, Kip, and Cabbotttt for SW cap suggestions.

Using the PT.  have 4 ea || of 1500W 240 V water heater elements for
ballast.  Actual power unknown.  The PT is rated for 1500 VA probably quite
conservative.  It always runs dead cold, even after several 10 minute runs.
The water gets hot, I will set up to do some calorimetry and get reliable
power data soon.

Spark Gap.  Using single static gap of 3/4 in copper pipe end to end,
aspirated with a shop vac via a PVC pipe manifold, similar to what Gary Lau
uses.  Works pretty well in my system.

Anyway, thanks to Gary, Terry, Cabbotttttt, Malcom and many others who took
time to review and suggest improvements and experiments.  Many of them
worked well and have been retained.  Of course, I'm just getting started, so
if I'm doing anything wrong please tell me !


> ----------
> From: 	Tesla List[SMTP:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> Sent: 	Saturday, October 24, 1998 13:02
> To: 	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: 	MOT Experiment
> 
> Original Poster: "Gregory R. Hunter" <ghunter-at-enterprise-dot-net> 
> 
> The other day I wired a DMM set on AC Amps function in series with a 115V
> 600W MOT and measured its magnetizing current.  To my surprise, the thing
> drew 2200ma with no load!  Core CCA is about 2.4 square inches, and based
> on the turns-per-volt of the low voltage filament winding, I calculated
> its
> primary turns at 132.  I'm no EE, but over 2 amps of magnetizing current
> seems excessive.  If I use four of these to achieve 8KV, they will draw
> almost 9 amps of current with no load.  I like to tinker with MOTs because
> they are cheap and plentiful.  Unfortunately, they also appear to be on
> the
> very edge of saturation!  I'd still like to try to make a Tesla coil power
> supply with MOTs, even if they are wasteful.
> 
> Greg
> 
>