Re: Household NEUTRAL is not really a return path

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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

Miles,

I believe that you're suppose to hook up all of the input side of 
your HV transformer to the mains 60
Hz ground at your electrical box. The base of the secondary coil 
should be a seperate RF ground and should be connected via heavy 
guage copper cable or strap to the ground driven copper rod and
possibly water pipes that you refer to. That has also
been the subject of confusion for me too in the past as the mains 60 
HZ ground and the dedicated RF ground are both established by driving 
one or more 8 ft. long copper-clad grounding rods into the soil. 
Common knowledge is that you should seperate and
isolate these two different grounds from one another
and yet they are both established in identical fashion
with only whatever distance that you happen to place
your RF ground away from the mains 60 Hz ground between them. It does 
seem that they would be "elec-
trically" the same, dosen't it? In the past I have tied these 
"seperate" grounding systems together for the
"superground" that you refer to and it seemed to work
okay. However, now I go ahead and keep them sepe-
rate because that seems to be the general consensus of thought among 
those much smarter than myself on
this matter. Here's the way that "I" do it:
Mains             external metal framing of all control
60 HZ             panel components (variacs, ballast,
ground:            line filters, ect) the external tank casing
                      of the pole pig transformer and 
the                       external frame casing of the ARSG motor


RF ground:      strike ring shield of the primary coil
                      and the base of the secondary coil.

One thing you sure "don't" want to do is to not establish
any RF ground at all and to only use the 60 HZ mains
house ground as the only ground for your entire Tesla system if your 
coil is anything larger than a couple hundred
watts in power. If you use only the house mains 60 hz ground for a 
medium or large sized Tesla system, you may
very well fry sensitive electronic components in you house that are 
plugged in by the backfeed of RF transients and
can even cause open receptacles in your house to flashover
and possibly start a fire! And that's the voice of experience
speaking here! Bottom line: make sure that you DO esta-
blish an RF ground, whether or not you tie it in with your
mains ground, and place the RF ground as close as possible to the 
base of the secondary coil.

Take care and be safe,
David Rieben



----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:32 PM
Subject: RE: Household NEUTRAL is not really a return path


> Original poster: mileswaldron@xxxxxxxxxxx
> I am a little confused about this issue too. I am currently using my 
> household breaker box ground as HV ground, plus I have pounded a 15 
> foot long copper rod into my backyard that I attached to my water 
> pipes using heavy wire, and use that for the secondary coil ground 
> (RF ground?). Is this a good idea, or should I use my breaker box 
> for HV ground and separate the Tesla Coil ground from that? Or 
> should I join them all together and make a "super" gound, and run 
> everything together into that?
> Groundedly Confused,
> Miles Waldron
> -------------- Original message --------------
> > Original poster: Yurtle Turtle
> >
> > Maybe he's talking about thee phase?
> >
> > Adam
> >
> > --- Tesla list wrote:
> >
> > > Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H"
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >PS.: in common household AC, the neutral is not
> > > really a return path
> > > >either, but a terminal to collect all three phases
> > > and add them
> > > >together. By definition, being neutral, the
> > > neutral does not carry any
> > > >current (beyond the untility pole, that is).
> > >
> > > Uh . . . no! The neutral *IS* the only return
> > > path. All 115VAC
> > > current flowing to your ligh ts,
> > > appliances, and other 115VAC devices flows in both
> > > the HOT and NEUTRAL.
> > >
> > > Dan
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >