Re: Current

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Jonathon,

At 04:23 PM 4/5/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello, everyone
>
>In a standard Tesla Coil Setup, I have heard people talk about three 
>different ranges of current:
>
>1) 23-400mA - This I know is the charging current, directly off the 
>transformer.

The RMS current output of NSTs up to small pig transformers.  This is the
RMS 60Hz (50Hz) current and it is continuous.

>
>2) 5-16 A - People talk about this when talking about the capacitors...Can 
>someone explain this a little more?

This is the RMS current the primary cap must be able to handle.  The
currents in the primary are very high but only for a brief "pulse".  The
RMS current represents an equivalent current that would cause the same
amount of continuous heating current in a resistor.  Since primary
capacitor heating is important, this number is critical for primary cap
specs.  RMS current is probably more important than voltage in MMC caps.

>
>3) 100-1000??? A this they say is what is traveling through the tank circuit, 
>thats why you need heavy wire to/from the primary coil...

When the coil actually fires, the currents go into this range.  If you have
only one ohm of extra resistance, the instantaneous power is I^2R or 1
million (!) watts of lost power.  So it is very important to keep the
resistances in the primary circuit very low.

Cheers,

	Terry


>
>A little more information needed...
>---------------------------------------
>Jonathon Reinhart
>hot-streamer-dot-com/jonathon
>