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RE: Basic questions, Ground Options, RSG benefit
Some people go a little overboard on the grounding issue. I have heard some
argue that your coil won't perform at all unless you use an array of (3) 8'
ground rods placed in a triangular configuration and equipped with a salt
water injection system. This simply isn't true.
I've had great results with one 8ft ground rod driven vertically down into
the dirt. I attach the coil to the ground rod with about 10 ft of 2ga
welding cable because that is what I had handy. You don't need anything
near this large. Something like 8ga "monster cable" should work great.
I have had the opportunity to inspect a couple of professional Tesla Coils.
These coils can produce arcs in excess of 12 ft and typically use a 6-8 ft
section of copper pipe driven into damp soil. The pros have even used
braided ground wire with no apparent loss of performance. (There was a
thread about a year ago saying that braid was useless at RF freqs).
Small TC's work great when placed on "ground plane" of any conductive
material. Larger coils tend to like ground rods. Brian Basura and I have
also had great results using a water pipe when we operating at a temporary
location.
Making arcs in Huntington Beach, CA
Ross Overstreet