Re: First VTTC light, and a few questions

[Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Ralph,

Thanks for the info on the tubes. Like I said, I'm starting to get the
itch to build a vacuum tube driven coil. Over the past 12 or so years
that I have been building coils, I have never really had the desire to
build a vacuum tube coil till recently. I figured a vacuum coil could
not produce enough power to throw the 8 ft sparks that I craved and 
they were more of a challenge to construct. Now that I have handily
handily surpassed the 8 ft barrier with a spark driven coil, I feel that
I am ready to take on the challenge of a vacuum tube coil. 

About your inquiry regarding my 2200v, 1A plate xfmr, I picked it up
last year at the Teslathon fleamarket in Richmond. The only thing
manufacturer label that I can find on it is as follows:
    
                                              KEPCO INC.
                                              FLUSHING, N.Y.
                                              100-1281

This "beast" is a 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" x 9" cube that probably tips the scales
~50 lbs. The vendor at the fleamarket labeled it 2200 volts, 1 amp. I am
not sure if this is a truly acurate rating, but I have tested it and measure
its output around 2100 volts with 120 volts in. It will make one heck of a 
plasma flame between its HV output terminals and dim the lights thru the
whole house when shorted. I am currently using its HV thru a MO diode
and controlling its input thru a variac to charge a cap bank of (10) 2500 uF
400 VDC/475 volt surge electrolytic caps in parallel and then discharging
their 2000 joules with an aluminum bar. WOW!  Well, I hope that's enuff
info for you from the plate xfmr.

So long,
David Rieben