RE: PVC Wire for a secondary?

["John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

All -

I believe this coil was so successful in spite of the low number of
secondary turns was because of the superior PVC insulation (thickness)
compared to the usual magnet wire. The output(spark)  of a Tesla coil is
equal to the input minus the losses. The losses of the PVC were obviously
low compared to the usual magnet wire.

The JHCTES Ver 2.3 program pointed this out by showing a recommended
insulation thickness in the outputs based on the estimated secondary volts.
The practice for coilers has been to use magnet wire and a lot of secondary
turns. This works for small coils where the voltages are relatively low.
However, for large coils the secondary voltages are much higher which
requires more insulation.

John C.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2000 9:34 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: PVC Wire for a secondary?


Original Poster: "D&M's High Voltage" <dmshv.davmckin-at-gte-dot-net>

David,

I've used 3 KV PVC insulated wire for a secondary for a big coil
that I built about 10 years ago.  It was a 20" dia. x 45" winding
length (about 50" for the overall form).  It was 14 Ga. stranded
and had a total of 262 turns.  This may break all the rules (very
high Q, few turns, high primary currents, and a 7/8" thick very
heavy secondary form that was PAINTED BLACK) but it
produced solid 12 foot sparks.  It had 5 acrylic disks down

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