Re: Plastic capacitors for TC tank

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

Original poster: Bert Hickman <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net> 

Hi Brent,

If they are bright red in color, they are Mylar DC filter caps (type 
OFxx-yyy) - DON'T use them. If they are blue in color (type HGxx-yyy), they 
are indeed polypropylene and they should work with some precautions. You 
still will want to put the capacitor array inside a protective container 
"just in case". The failure mode for these caps can be very spectacular. 
Under internal pressure, the glass housing does not expand gracefully (as 
rectangular oil caps do). Instead they explode, showering the immediate 
area with glass fragments and hot oil.

Best regards,

-- Bert --
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Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: brent meyer <res095fx-at-verizon-dot-net>
>I'm sure someone has probably gone over this in the past, but I was
>wondering about the effectiveness of some new caps I just picked up.  I have
>about 20 of these .25uF -at- 3KV oil filled polypropylene caps, manufactured by
>Plastic Capacitors Inc; and was thinking of using them in a MMC
>configuration for my Magnifier.  Very nice glass cased caps, quite expensive
>purchased new as I recall.
>I can't see any reason why not, though I thought the same of the DC doorknob
>capsŠ
>
>.