RE: Secondary wire AWG

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

Original poster: "Luke" <Bluu-at-cox-dot-net> 

What is meant by a low power coil or medium power coil any way?
I see your point about needing money to push things to their limits and
then back off to find what works.  I was hoping that had already been
done and there were some suggestions that could be offered based on
observations of what worked and what worked but borderline etc.

Luke Galyan
Bluu-at-cox-dot-net

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 11:00 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Secondary wire AWG

Original poster: Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com

In a message dated 1/16/04 11:32:19 AM Eastern Standard Time,
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:
Original poster: "Luke" <Bluu-at-cox-dot-net>

I know that the total number of turns is taken into consideration when
choosing the awg for the wire used on a secondary.
I have also seen that the currents can be high at the base of the
secondary.  That makes me think a larger wire size should be used to
help
handle the currents.

Any input on what would be too small or too big for a wire size on a
secondary?

Luke Galyan
Bluu-at-cox-dot-net

Hi Luke,
      Again, it is a balancing act. With thin wire you have higher
inductance for a given length, which is good, but also higher I^2R
losses
or a short coil, prone to racing sparks and primary strikes, which is
bad.
Very thin wire is hard to handle and prone to breakage while winding.
With
thick wire, you have lower I^2R losses, which is good, but lower
inductance
unless you make the coil taller, which may lead to lower coupling and
poor
energy transfer, and a physically unstable size, which is bad. Thicker
wire
also costs more and weighs more. Bigger wire implies a bigger coil form
which means more weight and cost.  As a "rule of thumb", a livable
compromise is to use wire gauges in the 20s. Low 20s for higher power
coils
and upper 20s for lower power coils. This is only a good starting point.
I
have seen working coils wound with everything from #10 to #40.
      Time, space, money, weight, local availability, structural
stability,
and aesthetics are all limiting factors that are difficult to
incorporate
into a precise formula. Finding the limits means having the resources
($$$)
to push coils to the point of failure, then pull back a little on the
next
ones.

Hope this helps,
Matt D.