RE: Filters & Chokes

["Lau, Gary" <Gary.Lau-at-xxxxxxxxxx> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>)]

Welcome to the club!  I also found the conflicting advice to be frustrating.
After much research and simulation, I have found that an R-C network is
best.  The actual component values are not extremely critical.  R should be
roughly 1K, high power ~50-100W, ceramic covered, not aluminum.  C should be
500-1000pF.  Polypropylene-type MMC is fine but ceramic is fine too, as long
as the voltage rating is high enough.

There is no controversy over the use of dimmers on NST's.  It simply won't
work.

Gary Lau
Waltham, MA USA



Original poster: "Neil Chambers" <Neil_Chambers-at-paragon-it-dot-com> 

Hi

I am in the designing stages of my Tesla coil.

I am having difficulty in finding comprehensive and consistent information
in the design of a filter or choke system to protect my NST (10kV 50mA 240V
50Hz)

Some pages say to avoid chokes due to inductive spikes, others outline RC
filters but with no explaination of the LCR values.

Any help or pointers much appreciated!

...Also, is it OK to use a cheapo 400W light-switch dimmer to control the
input voltage to the NST?

Thanks


Neil