Re: PFC Cap location???

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

Original poster: "Steven Ward by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Oh GREAT!!!(sarcastically)  Your starting to get me worried Terry!

HMM well i really hope that i wont need some sort of heavy duty line just to 
run my coil.  Im using a LTR  cap, hoping that will help.  Do you think im 
in any danger?  My cap is .02833 for a 15/120 PSU, and im running a static 
gap that is set for a bit less than 15kv.  I have safety gaps, and am 
looking into a strike rail but not sure if ill need it.  I never new that a 
resonant cap could be so dangerous!  Im glad i never got quite there with 
all of the coils i made.

Steve Ward.


>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Re: PFC Cap location???
>Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 12:53:50 -0600
>
>Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
>
>Hi Steve,
>
>At 01:14 PM 7/31/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >  My 15/60 pulls about 12 amps without a
> >>PFC caps but only 8 amps with it.  So PFC caps can really reduce the
> >>current draw a lot.  Makes things easier on the variac, filters, and
> >>everything else on the AC side.
> >
> >
> >Its interesting that my meter claims that each of my 15/60s draw only a 
>tad
> >more than 7.5A each.  With 2 wired up, i draw something like 15-18A
> >depending on other conditions.  For example, i was using a jaccobs ladder
> >when testing this.  When the arc first starts, it draws about 18A then
> >lowers to about 15-16A when it climb the ladder, then i jumps to 18A when 
>it
> >starts over.  I always thought that it would draw more when the arc is 
>being
> >stretched but i guess im wrong.  But about my transformers, they are 
>France,
> >rated 890VA on the casing(now in the trash).  How much would a PFC help 
>me
> >out?  I seem to remember France having said that their newer transformers
> >had power factor correction, and that their 15/60 drew a lot less power 
>than
> >what im even drawing.  But these are older considered dead transformers 
>that
> >were easily brought back to life, a 1800w PSU for FREE makes me smile :)
> >But maybe me meter will say different when my coil is running.  Terry, 
>did
> >you measure when running a coil, or just an arc or a short cirtuit?
> >
> >Steve Ward.
> >
> >_
>
>The actual load makes all the difference in the world.  If you hook a
>resonant size cap to the output of an NST and plug it in (NEVER do this!!),
>the voltage will hit about 80,000 volts, the current will be "high" and
>something will explode.  Core saturation may save things by blowing the
>main line fuses.  Simply shorting the output is actually a very easy load
>compared to what we "can" do to them ;-))  An actual Tesla coil is playing
>all kinds of resonant timing tricks and such, so the current draw can vary
>over a wide range depending on exactly how were are running it.  You can
>actually get an enormous amount of power out of a small NST with the only
>limit being blowing the NST apart...
>
>Cheers,
>
>	Terry
>
>
>
>