Re: Maxwell Capacitor abuse, voltage reversal?

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Maxwell Capacitor abuse, voltage reversal?
From: Adam <adamsmith-at-mediaone-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 20:44:49 -0700
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

Re: will I need to series-parallel my 40kV maxwells...

> Original Poster: "Megavolt Nick" <tesla-at-fieldfamily.prontoserve.co.uk>
> 
> It depends very much which type they are.  With all tank caps the crucial
> thing is the Ipeak not the Vpeak therefore you should be fine up to a few
> kVA as the V peak off a 15kV neon is no where near 45kV (35kV tops).

Well, I'm not sure that the Maxwell's I'm getting are the ideal type for
Tesla Coil use, but they're all I could get my hands on.  They look like the
type "SP" shown on this site: http://www.surplussales-dot-com/Maxwell.html

The Maxwell part numbers are: 37218, 31507, 31677 and 31393, but I don't
have access to the datasheets.  Except for the 31393, these are no longer
listed on Maxwell's site as best I can tell.  The voltage ratings are just
40kV, AC or DC is not specified.  The current ratings are 25kA pulse, 25A
rms, but these are all at 20% "voltage reversal".

If someone could explain the definition of the voltage reversal percentage
to me, it would be quite helpful.  Do they they mean the peak-to-peak
voltage divided by the rated voltage?

-Adam
adamsmith-at-mediaone-dot-net