Re: MMC or Maxwell? Which is better?

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

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

Hi Terry,

I had one of these CP caps explode in my lab when testing it for Don 
Froula, a local coiling friend, back in 1996. It created a loud bang, and a 
ball of yellow flame exited, creating one heck of an oily mess to clean up 
afterwards. The wife was not amused. The posting and discussion can be seen 
in the archives from 1996:
http://www.pupman-dot-com/listarchives/1996/october/msg00169.html

I've resurrected some of the pictures of the capacitor remains and an X-ray 
of a good cap (taken by another owner of one of these caps) that shows the 
four internal series elements. The elements are soldered to thin copper 
straps and then slid into the PVC tube. See:

http://205.243.100.155/photos/HVStuff/CapExp/CAP2.GIF
http://205.243.100.155/photos/HVStuff/CapExp/CAP4.GIF
http://205.243.100.155/photos/HVStuff/CapExp/CAP5.GIF
http://205.243.100.155/photos/HVStuff/CapExp/CAP6.jpg
http://205.243.100.155/photos/HVStuff/CapExp/CapXray.JPG

CP later made good to all buyers in the group by offering to replace the 
caps. Unfortunately, CP later decided to exit the Tesla Coil capacitor 
business. The failure mode analysis of the defective cap can be found here:
http://www.pupman-dot-com/listarchives/1996/october/msg00729.html

Best regards,

-- Bert --
-- 
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Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>"Hi,
>I saw one of Chips blown caps that I "think" was involved in all this.
>The
>caps had several sections that were connected together "casually" so RMS
>current and peak currents were the problems.  In a mild NST system, they
>may very well do just fine.  Chip blew his with a pig system and a gap
>with
>a ton of points and a 10,000 RPM motor....  I would think and NST system
>would have a hard time blowing one.
>Cheers,
>          Terry"
>     Was Chip the one who arranged that purchase?  Haven't seen his name
>here for quite a while.  Why?
>Ed
>
>.