Re: Tesla Coil Grounding

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

Original poster: "Jeremy Scott by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <supertux1-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Multiple grounds is also a good idea.

You have the AC ground that is the third (middle)
prong on your outlet. In my house, this goes to
the fuse box, and from the fuse box to the cold
copper water pipe that runs underground to that
magic place where water comes from. (Utility Co.)
It goes to the ground bus bar, and that goes to
the outlets.

Using the prong on the outlet is not acceptable
because you don't know where else that outlet
ground goes to. Many outlets are wired in parallel
with other outlets. The outlet that your stereo is
plugged into may be connected closer to ground
than the one your coil is in...

Connecting the ground from your AC 120V RF filter
is acceptable to be put in an outlet. The NST
center tap is certainly not.

Ultimately three isolated grounds are required:
one for low voltage (120VAC) which you already
have. One for the higher voltage, the ground
for the NST and safety spark gaps. The last, for
the highest voltage: the connection to the
tesla secondary. The general idea is to keep
everything isolated at transformer borders.







--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
 > Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi Robert,
 >
 > Everything that may have RF currents (Coil base,
 > safety gaps, strike rails,
 > NST) should be connected to the RF ground so that
 > the RF currents can be
 > quickly and directly drained.  60Hz AC stuff should
 > probably be separately
 > grounded through the AC wiring.  No solid rules, but
 > ground everything
 > everywhere is sort of the idea ;-)
 >
 > Cheers,
 >
 >          Terry
 >
 > At 12:53 AM 5/2/2003 -0400, you wrote:
 > >I am a new coiler who is about to fire up a tesla
 > coil.  I have a few details
 > >that need clarification.  There are many
 > conflicting ideas on the internet
 > >about tesla coil design.  I have made a separate RF
 > ground which is connected
 > >to the safety gap, the base of the secondary, and a
 > strike rail.  Can I also
 > >connect the center tap of my NST's?  This is
 > included in the design for a NST
 > >protection circuit which I saw on the internet.
 > Any help will be very much
 > >appreciated.
 > >
 > >Sincerely,
 > >Robert
 >
 >


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