Re: Seacor capacitor sucesses

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

Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

I got 100 of these caps from you. At first I used 5
strings of 10 but later upgraded to 10 strings of 10
for 47nF/16kv. I used no bleeder resistors. With this
tank cap I used various power supplies including a
9kv/120ma NST bank, a pair of MOTs with voltage
doublers (around 8kvac) at roughly 3kva, and even a
few short bursts with an 11kv pole transformer
ballasted to 4800va. The caps lasted about a year in
intermitent duty before they began to fail. They died
gently and one-by-one. No explosions--just a little
smoke. Oddly enough, the Tesla coil would keep
sparking along as if nothing was wrong even as a cap
was releasing its smoke. They were great caps while
they lasted--providing long, blue-white streamers of
up to 60" from my 4" x 24" coil. They barely warmed
above room temperature, even on longish runs, so I'm
not sure what killed them.

Regards,


--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
> Original poster: "Rothman, Aric by way of Terry
> Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <Aric.Rothman-at-Honeywell-dot-com>
> 
> About three years ago, I organized a group purchase
> of Seacor KP25
> capacitors.  I am curious to learn how these caps
> have been used (string lengths, number of strings)
> and which what types of
> power supplies (NST, MOT, Pigs, etc.)  These
> caps are foil-ended poly caps rated 0.047uF, 1600
> VDC, 4000 V/uS, with 27.5
> mm lead spacing.
> 
> I am contemplating construction of a MMC for an NST
> (15kV, 120mA) powered
> TC, favoring an LTR cap size of 0.03uF.  I'm
> planning string lengths of 14 Seacor caps, but from
> what I have read on
> this list, that might be too conservative.  I am
> seeking opinions on optimum string length.
> 
> Aric
> 
> 
> 


=====
Gregory R. Hunter

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/greg

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