Re: ignition coil for high voltage source

["Gregory R. Hunter" <ghunter-at-accucomm-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Bill,

No, there's no need to reduce the 115vac.  Ignition coils are designed to
run with a primary spike of a few hundred volts.  In an old-style 12V point
& condenser car ignition system, if the points are clean and the condenser
new, the sudden opening of the points can produce a primary spike of
several hundred volts due to the very rapid collapse of the magnetic field
in the coil.  In modern electronic ignitions, such as the capacitive
discharge (CDI) system, 400V (pulsed) is a typical primary voltage for the
ignition coil.  If anything, the ignition coil is under-challenged by
115vac.  Our European cousins are using this same circuit in complete
safety with 220vac/50Hz household current.

BTW, I am using an ignition coil / cap / dimmer combo to energize an
electric fence around my veggie garden running 24-7, with no hint of coil
failure.

Best Regards,

Greg Hunter
www.angelfire-dot-com/ga3/tesla

At 12:00 PM 06/07/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>Original Poster: "Bill Parn" <parn-at-starpower-dot-net> 
>
>Hi Grayson and Coilers,
>
>I really like the simplicity of this design.  I know the dimmer
>switch is going to give the spikes of voltage necessary to get
>the ignition coil to operate, however I was wondering do we need
>a resistor of some sort to get the 120VAC spikes down more
>in the range of 18Volts or less to prevent from destroying the
>ignition coil?
>
>Cheers,
>Bill Parn
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 1:32 PM
>Subject: Re: ignition coil for high voltage source
>
>
>> Original Poster: "Grayson B Dietrich" <electrofire-at-juno-dot-com> 
>> 
>> http://www.electrophile.8m-dot-com/wallignt.gif
>> 
>> This shows a very simple means of driving an ignition coil. It can and
>> has been used to power small TC's by other folks, so while I have no
>> personal experience with applying this circuit in that fashion, I belive
>> it can be done. You may need to add a rectifier to it-- a few MOT diodes
>> in series should work fine.
>> 
>> -Grayson Dietrich
>> 
>> On Wed, 31 May 2000 18:23:02 -0600 Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> writes:
>> > Original Poster: "Jeremiah" <jmeizis-at-metallicafan-dot-com> 
>> > 
>> > Is there any way you could use 1 or maybe 2 ignition coils in a 
>> > circuit as
>> > a power supply for a tesla coil.  If there is such a circuit or a 
>> > high
>> > voltage ignition coil circuit i would be grateful for the help.
>> > Jeremiah
>> > 
>> > 
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>
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>