RE: Grounding Question

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

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com> 

 > Hello All,
 > I am confused on the proper grounding for my first TC.  If
 > someone would be
 > so kind as to clear it up for me I would appreciate the help.
 > I know the
 > secondary RF ground should be a separate ground. Where I am
 > confused is the
 > ground for the safety gap on the Terry Filter.
 > 1.Does the Safety gap ground tie in with the secondary RF ground?
 >
 > 2.Also I have a ground to the NST from the 120VAC supply. Should this
 > ground also attach to the Safety Gap ground or should the
 > supply ground
 > stop at the NST housing.

The ground on your NST is a safety ground.  You should ground it to your
120VAC ground.
Not RF ground ! ! ! !


 > I apoligize for asking what is I'm sure a very basic question
 > of such a
 > learned group of people. But if you don't ask you don't learn.
 >
 > I considered not even running a ground to the NST from the
 > supply AC and
 > attaching the NSTchassis, RF,strike rail and Safety Gap grounds all
 > together. MY thinking was that that would protect everything
 > in case of a
 > primary strike from the secondary.

Remember, the ground on the NST is primarily for safety.  You don't want
the chassis to become electrically hot
due to internal short.  Ground the NST to your 115VAC ground.

 > 3. Does it matter if the strike rail is a continuos piece of
 > copper tubing?

Yes.  It should be open.  If it is closed, it will look like a magnetic
short circuit.  Also, keep it open enough
so that the voltage that builds up on it doesn't arc together.  I
typically keep about 6 inches of gap.

 > I spliced the ends together to add better support to the
 > copper tubing.
 >
 > Thanks in advance to all who reply
 >
 > Emmett Secrest
 >
 >
 >