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Re: Introduction
Original poster: Terry Fritz <vardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Miles,
At 04:37 AM 9/4/2005, you wrote:
Astounding, I have been looking for people who really do Tesla Coils, and I
have finally found them!
There are about 1500 coilers on this list from beginners to people
that have been making coils for decades. They come from all over the
world. School kids to Ph.Ds. We all try to help each other out and
answer questions and such.
I have consumed myself reading the Colorado Springs schematics and learning
the hard way how to make a Tesla Coil for over a year now. I am a slow
experimental learner. The very first thing I did was electrocute myself
almost to death with a MOT. I wish I had found this newsgroup before then.
It burned my left index finger down to the bone, and the charge came out my
right hand and has left a deep V shaped scar. A full MOT blast right through
my chest, finger tip to palm. My wife was not at home at the time, and so I
was experimenting with 5 dissected microwave ovens that I got at a garage
sale for $5, while sitting in the living room and watching StarGate. Anyway,
I found myself backwards on the floor, unable to move, breathe, or see. I
just thanked God that I was alive; eventually I got back up from the floor,
and went to work the next day and pretended like nothing happened. It did
not work. My heart still hurts faintly and I have definitely damaged the
ligaments, tendons, and maybe the bones in my shoulders and back. Later, my
wife made me go see a doctor, who did an EKG, and sent me to a hand surgeon.
I can not express the absolute respect that I have for electric current.
Wow! Almost died there!! MOTs put out the same voltage and current
as the electric chair. Glad your still here!!!
I have my first coil up and sort of running and I am very excited and
overjoyed. I am getting around two foot long, very fractal, deep blue
"upside down trees" from a 4-inch sphere. However, I seem to keep killing
NSTs. I have RF chokes and a safety gap before my NST bank. Someone has
informed me there is a construction called the "Terry Filter" that can help
me.
The filter protects the NST from over voltage. But what you really
need to do is increase the primary capacitance. Right now the
voltage in the primary is probably reasonating up too much and
blowing the NST. A larger capacitor will fix that. We call them LTR
or Larger Than Resonant capacitor values. Here is a chart:
http://hot-streamer.com/temp/MMCcapSales.gif
Depending on your NST voltage and current and the type of spark gap,
these capacitance values have been calculated to deliver maximum
power while not over voltaging the NST.
May I ask where I might find more information? Google does not turn anything
up.
Search on "LTR capacitor" and "MMC capacitor" The LTR value will be
pi/2 times the resonant value you may be using now.
http://hot-streamer.com/TeslaCoils/MMCInfo/mmcinfo.htm
This should get you started and we can answer your questions. It
gets a little messy since we also have to be sure the caps can take
the RMS and peak currents. But it is all a pretty refined art now days...
Cheers,
Terry
Please advise.
Sincerely,
Miles Waldron
Atlanta GA,
Computer Programmer - Electrical Engineer - HV Enthusiast - Q3Arena Player