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Re: Why do my caps keep blowing?
Dave,
My caps are made from a single sheet of poly .06" thick. There are 48
plates in each cap box. The total capacitance is .026 uf. These caps
have been in service since November of 1997. They see some real abuse.
the voltage across the plates is often as high as 20 Kv. I would make
your plates a little thicker. For 12 Kv. you should run at least two
caps in series with a total plate thickness of .06 ". This should be
indestructible.
paul m
>Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 05:01:19 -0700
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Why do my caps keep blowing?
>From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>
>Original Poster: "David Hosking" <davidhosking-at-bigpond-dot-com>
>
>
>Hi all,
>I am making my first tesla coil and am having trouble with caps blowing
up.
>I am making them from 1mm thick poly (10layers of 100um)
>They are vacuumed & filled with fresh transformer oil.
>When I place 12kv30ma a.c. across them (0.008uf) with no load to test
them
>they puncture through the middle of the poly within 5 minutes.
>Perhaps I shouldn't test them like this?
>I clean everything with alcohol and wearing rubber gloves during
assembly
>then vacuum them for 4 days.
>What should I do?
>What is the life of one of these caps anyway?
>When I have constructed my coil I want maximum life out of the caps so
how
>long should I set for each coil run?
>Thanks in advance for the help.
>David Hosking.
>email <mailto:davidhosking-at-bigpond-dot-com>davidhosking-at-bigpond-dot-com
>
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