Re: Ground box

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <uncadoc-at-juno-dot-com>

Hi Ray, All,  I like the use of an extremely limp/flexible/braided wire
conductor for ground and general hookup use with our Tesla coils.  We
were lucky to come across some litz type heavy cable used on diesel
grounding and glo plug hookup.  This wire has excellent conducting
properties and has excellent insulation, and is often used as THE
specified grounding carrier of hospital beds in special care units. The
wire is extremely flexible and the hypalon insulation enhances the
pliability and insulation characteristics of the cable.   The cable
consists of many, many small conductors and is very limp, I would say
that it is akin to Litz wire.  And this wire is selected for hospital use
because of its fine multiple conductor capability.  (the ability of many
small conductors in a cable to carry large amounts of instantaneous
current through the skin effect as a multiple of each small conductor).
So yes, braided wire can be used in a Tesla coil, and it may be superior
to other types of wire.   Al. 

On Fri, 06 Apr 2001 12:18:37 -0600 "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
writes:
> Original poster: "Ray Robidoux by way of Terry Fritz 
> <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <robidoux-at-basystems-dot-com>
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I am very confused as to why this list has such a dislike
> for braid. I have seen many comments like this against the
> use of braid in TC work. My experience with braid is
> that for the same amount of copper (and 90+% optical
> coverage) the braid is an order of magnitude better than
> solid wire at conducting RF energy. The reason for this
> is exactly why we use refer tubing in the primary of a
> TC. It is the skin effect, the fact that the center of
> a conductor is useless in conducting RF currents. Therefore
> you want to increase surface area in the conductor to
> decrease current density. When using braid the most
> important feature to examine is the so called
> "optical coverage". This is the amount of light blocked by
> the strands of braided wire (strand density). Braid comes
> in all sorts of optical coverage(OC), from 10-% to 90+%. One
> can imagine that 20% OC braid is useless, and in fact is
> typically used in conjunction with aluminum foil to make it's
> shielding and conducting properties better. I would not use
> any braid with less than say 90% OC. If you look at the pics
> that Terry has shown, which is going to be the better conductor,
> I find it hard to believe its the center wire which has maybe
> 1/10th the amount surface area than the braid. I would like
> to hear others thoughts on this matter.
> 
> Ray
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> > Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 8:05 PM
> > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > Subject: Re: Ground box
> > 
> > 
> > Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz 
> > <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>
> > 
> > Hi Terry,
> >            If the outer is braided, it will be probably the worst 
> > ground conductor you can get.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Malcolm
> > 
> > On 5 Apr 01, at 15:59, Tesla list wrote:
> > 
> > > Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
> > > 
> > > Hi All,
> > > 
> > > I have been using the following ground system:
> > > 
> > > http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Misc/GroundBox/Diagram.jpg
> > > 
> > > It is basically a length (40 feet) of RG-8U coaxial cable.  One 
> side
> > > has both the inner conductor and shield connected together to a 
> cold
> > > water pipe.
> > > 
> > > 
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Misc/GroundBox/PipeConnection.jpg
> > > 
> > > The other end has the shield connected to a metal box and the 
> inner
> > > conductor connected to a terminal.
> > > 
> > > http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Misc/GroundBox/InsideBox.jpg
> > > 
> > > 
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Misc/GroundBox/TerminalBox.jpg
> > > 
> > > The idea is that safety and general grounds can be connected to 
> the
> > > box/cable shield while the noisy secondary ground connection can
> > > connect to the terminal.  Thus, the base ground lead currents 
> will be
> > > somewhat shielded buy the outer conductor.  The other general
> > > grounding is through the shield.  I measure 0.2 ohms between the
> > > ground box and the AC line ground at my control box.
> > > 
> > > I know this subject came up last month and I was wondering if 
> this is
> > > seems like a good idea or not.
> > > 
> > > Comment/thoughts/suggestions...
> > > 
> > > Cheers,
> > > 
> > >  Terry
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 

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