RE: Capacitor

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Hajdrowski, Leo T." <leo.hajdrowski@xxxxxxx>

Hello David,

As you suggested, I replaced the (2) big X-Ray capacitors with (1) .02
MFD, 30KVDCW capacitor.

I still get the same 6-8" spark w/o any corona on the torroid!

Since the capacitor is rated as DC, can I run AC?

Thanks.

Leo

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 3:06 PM
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Capacitor

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

Leo,

Larger than resonant (LTR) capacitance is a good thing, especially for
NST powered coils and even more so for NST powered coils that are
equipped with a synchronous rotary spark gap (SRSG). However, there are
limitations to this and .44 uFd is WAYYY too large of a primary ca-
pacitor for a 15/60 NST powered coil. I believe around
.02 uFd is a resonant capacitoance for a 15/60 NST trans- former and 2x
resonant size is considered optional for a stationary gapped NST powered
coil and 3x resonant for an SRSG NST coil. So with your stationary gap,
.04 uFd would be about as big as you would want to go with your coil.
Your capacitor is about 11x too large and even if you were to series the
2 caps instead of paralleling them, you'd still be at .11 uFd which
would still be nearly 3x to large! You should probably opt for the
Cornell-Dubilier
942 series snubber capacitors (.1 or .15 uFd each at 2000 volts) and
series-parallel how ever many you need to get the correct total
capacitance with a multiple-mini capacitor (MMC).

Also, I believe you'd be better off to take out your rectifier and just
run AC with this type of coil. DC powered coils require proper filtering
or else you're just running a half chopped off sine wave instead of true
DC and this would not be an efficient way to operate the coil.

I would also consider building a better multiple section stationary
spark gap with forced air cooling to aid in quenching or if you're
willing to take on an additional constructional challenge, go for a
SRSG.

David Rieben


----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 12:35 PM
Subject: Capacitor


>Original poster: "Hajdrowski, Leo T." <leo.hajdrowski@xxxxxxx> Hi All,
>One quick question.
>I just finished helping my son build a coil:
>15 kv, 60 ma nst with full wave rectification Secondary 10.5" x 30"
>#22GA wire Primary 3/8" 10 turns copper tubing flat coil - 1/2" spacing

>between winds 1" spacing between primary and secondary First windings
>of secondary approximately 1" above primary.
>Stationary spark gap with 1/4" spacing
>20 amp variac
>30" dia. Torroid
>(2) .22uf 90KV capacitors in parallel (They came from an X-Ray machine
>and are about 4" dia. X 18" long).
>We only get about an 8" spark and no corona.....it doesn't appear to be

>high frequency, more like a step-up xfmr.
>Is too much capacitance bad?
>Thanks...Leo