RE: HV Cables

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

Original poster: "Paul Marshall" <klugmann-at-hotmail-dot-com> 

The best wire for high voltage is X-ray cable. I have some rated for 200 
kV. The nice part about it, it is shielded with a grounded brad. (No EMF 
field). The bad part is that they have a certain amount of capacitance. If 
your not careful you can really get zapped. The other nice thing is if the 
cable is punctured it just shorts out to the grounded brad.



Paul S. Marshall





>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: RE: HV Cables
>Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2003 12:52:56 -0700
>
>Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
>
>
>For general tesla coil where voltages are about 14.4kVAC from a pole
>transformer or similar, high voltage cables
>aren't really necessary as there is always ample room to route cables
>and wires to prevent arcing to nearby objects
>etc...
>
>However, for higher voltage applications, the best high voltage wire out
>there is type RCB wire made by
>Rowe Industries.  Its a standard silicone type insulated wire with an
>internal conductive silicone layer immediately surrounding the wire
>inside.  This internal semi-conductive layer is used to equalize the
>voltage gradients around the internal wire prevents corona formation
>between the wire and the insulation.  Very expensive, but works
>extremely well.  I have a spool of this type of wire rated at 80kV, 8
>AWG!  Its 8 AWG and the jacket is about 1" in diameter.  I know a few
>people at Richard Hull's commented on this wonderful wire i had in Marx
>Generator charge circuit.
>
>Dan
>
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am wondering what is the general consensus out there
> > amongst coilers as to
> > what makes the best cable for HV.
> >
> > For some time, I have been using RG-8 coaxial (Thick
> > Ethernet), with the
> > outer braided shield removed.  This has excellent dialectric
> > strength and is
> > rated for more than 35kV.  I believe it is, or has been in
> > the past, been
> > widely used as HV transmission cable?  I managed to get a
> > reasonable length
> > of used cable from an ex-employee when they moved their
> > building trunk cable
> > over from this to fibre.
> >
> > However, the thick, heavy, yellow RG-8 coax is becoming very
> > difficult to
> > obtain and expensive, and I am wondering about alternatives.
> > I have looked
> > through Tesla archives, I did not find much, except that
> > someone mentioned
> > the use of RG213 coaxial, but according to the spec's, this
> > cable is only
> > rated for 3.7kV RMS.  It is also not solid core, but multi-stranded.
> >
> > I have been toying with two ideas:
> > 1) Just buy some Neon cable.
> > 2) Using thick guage enamelled copper, with my own insulation
> > around it (a
> > few layers of heatshrink maybe).
> >
> > I believe, from my research, that for HV, esp. at relatively
> > low current,
> > solid copper conductors are best (comments welcomed).  I have tried
> > multi-stranded copper (high current DC) before for 15kV-at-60mA
> > (NST ouput),
> > but the HV tends to "buzz" inside the cable, and you lose
> > most of the power
> > to what I believe must be coronal losses within the strands
> > of the cable.
> >
> > I am sure this is an old topic, so I apologise for that.
> >
> > All commented welcomed.
> >
> > Rgs
> > Ian
> >
> >
> >