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Re: Primary Connections

Original poster: "David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Cameron,

I use #2-0 welding cable for mine. The provided insulation of
welding cable is not sufficient to insulate the multiple kVs of the
primary circuit, so I also slide a 1" ID vinyl tubing sleeve over the
cable where these high potential contact points are likely to occur.
Also, like Peter  stated, keep the runs of conductor as short
as possible and avoid ferrous metal hardware like the plague.

David

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 1:47 PM
Subject: Primary Connections


Original poster: "Cameron B. Prince" <cplists@xxxxxxxxxx>

Hey guys,

What are your recommendations for the material to use for connecting the
various components of the primary circuit like the spark gap, capacitor,
etc.?

I've seen guys use plain wire, braided grounding wire, copper ribbon and
various other methods. Which do you suggest for a 15KW system?

Thanks,
Cameron
Original poster: "Peter Terren" <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

I would have thought thick and as short as possible are the key factors. The cross section probably matters less so use whatever is easiest and heaviest. Any tank wiring excess length is wasted power that should be going to make sparks instead. Your wiring will get hot at 15kW in the tank circuit with quite high RMS currents and RF losses.
Don't use any iron based bolts, screws or clamps. The RF hysteresis losses will heat them up severely. I can still see the scar from when I brushed past a Capacitor lead (3/8 inch steel bolt). This was a thermal not electrical burn. A brass replacement runs much cooler.

The feed in from your HV transformer of course can be any small hookup wire - after all it is only 1 amp at 60Hz. 

Peter
Tesladownunder