RE: Safety of Running Coil in Garage

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

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

When running a coil in a garage door opener-equipped garage, it's important 
to disconnect ALL of the wires connected to the opener box.  This means 
that in addition to unplugging the AC cord, you also have to disconnect at 
the box the control wires going to the pushbutton switch and safety 
sensors, since any wires will act as antennas.  I've added a 3-pin 
connector right at the box to make connecting and disconnecting these 
easy.  I also tuck the wire antenna back into the box, and coil the AC cord 
above the box.

My best spark from my 15/60 powered 4" coil was 60".

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

  -----Original Message-----
From: 	Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent:	Sunday, February 02, 2003 6:46 PM
To:	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:	Safety of Running Coil in Garage

Original poster: "Alan by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" 
<centauri010-at-attbi-dot-com>

Hey,

I've finished my first coil and the sparks are adequate at best. I would
like to experiment with it more, but currently I can only do it at night
because I can't see the sparks during the day. I would like to run it in my
garage but am worried about damaging the electronics in the house. What can
I do to be safe in the garage or should I just not run it there? There is a
garage door unit and a light close to where it would be running. Also, the
family computer is directly behind the garage wall. So, there's not much
physical distance between it and the coil(about 10-15ft). My second
question is: how big should the sparks be from a coil powered by 2
15kv/30ma transformers(15kv/60ma total)?
There are 11 primary turns, about 1400 secondary turns if i remember on a
4.25" x 23" pvc secondary with 27awg wire with a .03 uf 35kv maxwell cap.

Thanks,
Alan