Re: Safety gap and first light

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Safety gap and first light
From: Bill Fuller <wfuller-at-home-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 05:20:08 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

I agree that 2 caps in series with 120 mil dielectric is overkill. I also
knew that 60 mil -at-15KV was flirting with danger but after 6 months of waiting
patience was gone... At least I got to see it work for a few minutes:-()
I'm curious how your cap is constructed. Can you supply more details?

Thanks



Tesla List wrote:

> Original Poster: "Coiler" <mycroft-at-access1-dot-net>
>
> > For 15kV you need *AT LEAST* two
> > layers of 60 mil poly, perhaps 2 caps in series or even 2 of two layers
> > of 40 mil.
> Piffle. You do not need that much dielectric! However, don't be crazy
> enough to try and run 15KV in a single cap. I have 2 "caps" that I run
> at 14.4KV from my pig. By cap, I mean multiple plate caps in a single
> enclosure. One (that just got retired by a fumble fingered student, you
> cant drop a cap 2ft to concrete and expect the seams to hold well :/)
> was constructed of 3 units of 5x6mil (30mil) spaced dielectric in series,
> paralleled with 2 units of 7x6mil(42mil). This cap served me well for
> 2 years. The other is constructed of 3 units of 5x6mil. This cap
> is still going strong after 18months. I am in the process of constructing
> a third unit the same way (to replace the destroyed one :/). Run time
> on these caps is currently in the 40 hour range.
> Remember, the killer is overvoltage on each unit. In these caps, no
> cap sees in excess of 5KV AC (rms).