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Re: Defeat the SGFP Transformers!

Sounds like it might be a good time to look around for transformer cores...just
find some 2"x2"x8" ferrite blocks and put four together. I'll poke around
and see
what I can find. That way, we could have transformers that are really
designed for
Tesla use, so we could have a 20kVA unit that runs with no ballast, like a huge
neon that doesn't inevitably die! If anyone knows a good transformer design
program, I'd like to get a copy, so please tell me where to find it.

            --Doug Brunner
                <dabrunner-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Tesla List wrote:

> Original Poster: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
>
> At 01:46 AM 6/9/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
> snip........
> >
> >While I'm writing, I must convey some other very bad news for
> >Telsaphiles.  The neon transformer as we know it is gone.  In some
> >of the dirtiest political trickery seen in a long time, a few
> >manufacturers pushed through a new UL standard that they thought
> >would give them a competitive advantage.  This standard requires the
> >UL Listed transformer to trip off if any of the following conditions
> >exist:
> >
> >*      More than 15 ma to ground
> >*      Unbalanced load
> >*      the midpoint ground (what you guys think of as the ground stud) is
> >connected to ground instead of the midpoint of the neon.
> >*      The ground lead is disconnected
> >*      The hot and neutral are reversed.
> >
> >Conspiring with this is great pressure from the safety lobby to move
> >from tar potting to polymer epoxy potting.  The secondary ground
> >fault protection (SGFP) must be arranged so that it is
> >tamper-resistant.  As a practical matter that means that the SGPF
> >electronics are potted in the can in unmeltable epoxy or polyester
> >resin.
> >
> snip......
> >John
> >--
> >John De Armond
> >johngdSPAMNOT-at-bellsouth-dot-net
> >Neon John's Custom Neon
> >Cleveland, TN
> >"Bendin' Glass 'n Passin' Gas"
> >
>
> Hi John,
>
>         For the short term is sounds like there will be a flood of
transformers
> around.  However, for the long term it looks like we will have to develop
> the means to defeat or alter the new transformers for our use.  I would
> love to get a scan, copy etc. of your x-rays if possible or get them posted
> to the web.  Also, if there is any manufacturer's literature on these new
> designs, it would help to know as much about them as possible before one
> takes the saws-all and cobalt drills to them.  I would also imagine that
> this has raised the cost of the transformer considerably...  Perhaps the
> transformer would still work even with all this fancy stuff?  Perhaps they
> would just make our coils a bit safer?
>
> If anyone has info on these let's get it posted and let the fun begin!
>
> I wonder if a Tesla cap discharged into the relay would help to weld it
> closed :-))  Hopefully, we can figure out the work around before we ever
> see the first one.  Of course, the neon sign guys may do it for use if the
> thing works as poorly as I suspect...  Hopefully, the new gizmos will fail
> often and send large numbers of almost new transformers to Tesla land...  I
> bet the new designs will be dropping like flies.  Just a new bunch of parts
> to fail.  This may be a good thing for us.
>
> Sounds like a new challenge indeed!  Just what we like :-))
>
>         Terry