RE: Good & Bad Maxwell Caps, MMC questions?

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>


Coilers have been using Maxwell caps for a very long time and no other
cap is as highly regarded.  Truly the "Gold Standard" for coiling.

That said, Maxwell does make at least two "durability" grades.  A cap is
rated for a number of discharge cycles or "shots", usually something
like 100,000, at the rated voltage.  It's possible that the cap in
question may have a lower rating.

To my knowledge, all of the caps made by Maxwell carry only a DC voltage
rating on their labels.  Rating a cap for AC involves many more
parameters, so there are other graphs and equations that must be
considered to arrive at an "AC rating" for any particular application.
The reason that other caps, like motor run caps, carry an AC voltage
rating is that the frequency of operation is understood to be a 60 Hz
sinusoid at 100% duty cycle.  Change the frequency or waveform or duty
cycle and the effective voltage rating changes.

Gary Lau
MA, USA

>Original poster: "Crow Leader by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" ><presence-at-churchofinformationwarfare-dot-org>
>
>None of the DC pulse caps from Maxwell are meant for AC usage, or even
>extended DC usage as filter caps. The load they see from a Tesla Coil
is
>going to be "very" AC and bad for them no matter how rough and tough
they
>are for DC pulse duty.
>
>KEN