50kV xfmr

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

Original poster: Ben McMillen <spoonman534-at-yahoo-dot-com> 

Hi all,
    I had the wonderful experience of being given a 50kV transformer new in 
the box by a guy up in the engineering building on campus. It was given to 
him by a prof who used to work in a failure testing lab before he taught 
and has since retired. What I'd like to do is make a large jacobs ladder so 
that the freshman have some eye candy when they come to visit. The specs 
are as follows:

The unit is made by Plastic Capacitors, Inc. and is encased in a metal box 
(almost thought it was a large HV cap when I found it) about 6" X  8", and 
about 12" tall. There are two 6" long ceramic insulators on the top, which 
end with aluminum golf ball sized corona balls. The inputs are also on the 
top, slightly to one of the longer edges.

The part number is HV500-502M, and the spec sheet in the box says it'll put 
out 50Kv with the aid of a built in full wave doubler (so it's 50Kv 
DC)..Max output is 5mA. It's got a 500K internal bleeder, and approximate 
output resistance is 1.2Meg ohms..

I'm guessing that this will have to be current limited to start, however I 
remember hearing that HV trannys with a doubler in them don't like to be 
shorted as it destroys the bridge. Will that be a problem here??

Thanks for any help!!

Coiling In Pittsburgh
Ben McMillen