Re: EMI Filters

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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

Claude, all,

I haven't had too much trouble with my computer from firing a big coil
as of lately with my HP Pavilion a450n. My latest coil project is large
enough that I am forced to pull it out in the driveway to fire it off.  It
stands over 7 ft. tall with the 12x56 toroid in place so  it obviously can
not be fire in a garage with standard 8 ft. celings! I DO however, have
trouble with it messing up my Brinks home security system, so much to
the point that I have to turn it off to fire the coil at all. It also screws up
my hardwired fire alarm/smoke detecor system (house built in 2002)
while running and it did "smoke" the circuit board of my garage door
opener box  :^(((  I will probably end up replacing the whole assem-
bly with a complete new one as replacement of the circuit board will
cost over half as much as a complete upgraded system with installa-
tion. My old opener box only has a 1/3 HP motor and the door re-
pairman said that I really needed a 1/2 HP motor to lift a double ga-
rage door. And this damage to the garage door opener was done
with the coil firing outside in the driveway although I probably had
the coil sitting too close to the house as some of the sparks were hit-
ting the egde of the raised bottom edge of the garage door.

David Rieben


----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 12:01 AM
Subject: Re: EMI Filters


> Original poster: "claudio masetto" <claudmas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi Paul,
> I  would disconnect the computer equipment when running the coil just in 
> case. When I run my coil in the garage under the house my messages on the 
> answering machine and the stored numbers on the phone which are both in 
> the house above are erased.
>
> Claude.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 6:38 AM
> Subject: Re: EMI Filters
>
>
> > Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > Karl,
> > I'm, sorry, my hands were typing before my mind was functioning! The EMI 
> > filter is wired between the variac output and the coil driver. The volt 
> > meter is "behind" the EMI filter along with my house wiring. Now I'm 
> > concerned about running my Tesla Coil from my house supply as I have a 
> > ton of sensitive computer equipment in the house. I do have a separate RF 
> > ground outside. It is an 8 ft. ground rod in the ground just outside of 
> > the garage. I have another 20A EMI filter and I think I will wire it in 
> > between the wall outlet and the variac so that I have 2 EMI filters with 
> > the variac in between them.
> > Paul
> > Think Positive
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tesla list" <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 2:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: EMI Filters
> >
> > > Original poster: Karl Lindheimer
> > <<mailto:karl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>karl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >
> > > Hi Paul,
> > >
> > > If I understand correctly, you state that the EMI filter is between the
> > > wall outlet and the variac?  If that is the case, the filter will only
> > > reduce any back EMI from reaching the wall outlet and the rest of the
> > > connected house wiring on the same circuit.  The variac and meter are >
> > still
> > > exposed to the EMI from the coil.  My flyback transformer experiments >
> > also
> > > created huge RF/EMI necessitating that I disconnect any >
> > valuable/sensitive
> > > equipment from the AC line.  I ended up building a robust simple power
> > > supply to spare my lab grade bench supply.
> > >
> > > Karl
> > >
> > > On May 5, 2005, at 1:20 PM, Tesla list wrote:
> > >
> > >>I have a 20A EMI filter wired in reverse between the wall outlet and my
> > >>variac. I have a volt meter attached to the variac outlet.
> > >>
> > >>I was driving one of my ignition coils with a 600 watt dimmer in series
> > >>with a 2mF cap. As I powered up the variac, I could read the voltage
> > >>increasing on the volt meter all the way up to 120V. When I turned 
> > up >> >>the
> > >>dimmer, the voltage indication on the volt meter went haywire when the
> > >>coil began sparking. If I drew the ground away from the HV output, the
> > >>volt meter would stabilize as soon as the sparks stopped.
> > >>
> > >>What have I missed here? This isn't normal, is it??!! Could the
> > EMI >>filter
> > >>be bad?
> > >>Paul
> > >>Think Positive
> > >
> > >
> > >