RE: Marx Question

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

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>



Absolutely - huge difference. Capacitors are for energy storage.  The
bigger the caps you have, the bigger the bang.  The largest Marx
Generators I've seen using 1uF capacitance per stage charged up to about
200kV.  Of you won't get anywhere near that value as the power supply
required to charge them will be immense.  The marx generator I saw in
the Czech Republic
had ten 200kV stages using 1uF per stage.  It was using a 600kV, 3A
(continuous) transformer rectified to charge the
stacks.

1.2nF is more realistic though for an amatuer marx generator.  A 150nF,
60kV+ capacitor pulse rated is going to be some capacitor.  At least
expensive considering you need ten stages.
The door knob 40-45kV capacitors work well and are typically rated at
1000-2000pF each.

The Captain




 > To anyone that has built a Marx before;
 > Does the value of the cap affect performance?
 > Will there be a noticeable difference if I use a 1.2 nF or a
 > 150nf cap?
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >