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RE: [TCML] TC Newbie
If you want to find out the capacitors to use with your power supply the most quickly, then look up and download TeslaMap.
> Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 00:16:33 +0000
> From: tonedeafmessiah@xxxxxxxxx
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [TCML] TC Newbie
> CC:
>
> Oh, and quickly - is there any way of knowing how many caps of what size to
> make to deal with my transformer?
>
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 12:12 AM, Matt <tonedeafmessiah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Gregory;
> >
> > Thank you very much for a both informative and entertaining run down on a
> > subject that I have found eye-crossingly confusing to research!
> >
> > Will be embarking on the construction of my coils and spark gap tomorrow,
> > so hopefully I will be posting results. I constructed a jacobs ladder to
> > demonstrate my new obit and managed to give myself a good shock through a
> > housebrick I was using to hold the antennae up. I think there must have been
> > moisture in the brick - needless to say marigolds and a healthy dollop of
> > safety awareness will be applied from now on!
> >
> > I'll be sure to check your site,
> >
> > -Matt
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 11:26 PM, G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Matt,
> >>
> >> There's a lot of mythology out there concerning bottle capacitors. Most
> >> of it conflicts so badly with my own experience that I can only conclude
> >> they are tall tales. For example:
> >>
> >> 1) Beer bottles quickly overheat in Tesla coil service and often crack.
> >>
> >> A) I've built and used over 100 beer and wine bottle caps, and I NEVER
> >> had one fail in Tesla coil service, even at powers of up to 7200VA and at
> >> NST voltages of up to 15kvac. I've also never had one warm up above room
> >> temperature. Never had a leak either--not a drop.
> >>
> >> 2) Bottle caps are lossy and inefficient, and shorten your sparks.
> >>
> >> A) I won't argue with this one. I've not measured it myself, but expert
> >> coilers assure me that plastic film pulse caps outperform glass caps by a
> >> mile and a half. I have no reason to doubt them. It may depend on what
> >> kind of bottles are used, as not all glass is created equal. No doubt some
> >> formulations of glass have better RF properties than others. Cap bank
> >> configuration probably matters too. A large number of small bottles wired
> >> in parallel is probably more efficient than a few large ones. Having said
> >> all that, I've been very satisfied with the sparks I generated on a
> >> beer-bottle budget! Giving up a couple of inches of spark length to save
> >> L50-L100 on capacitors seems like a pretty good deal.
> >>
> >> 3) Bottle caps sometimes burst while the Tesla coil is running. In fact,
> >> one time a bottle cap exploded with so much force, it compressed the water
> >> inside it to the fusion temperature of Hydrogen. The resulting nuclear
> >> explosion vaporized the poor kid who built the Tesla coil, and he got a big,
> >> fat "F" on his science project!
> >>
> >> A) OK, I just made that one up. But some of the bottle cap stories I've
> >> read are nearly that silly.
> >>
> >> Matt, I'm guilty of making a short story long, so let me close with this
> >> bit of advice. If you want to make salt water caps, stick with plain old
> >> NaCl, and clear glass containers. Table salt may not be the last word in
> >> conductive electrolytes, but it is cheap and non-toxic. Likewise, green and
> >> brown bottles are pigmented with...what? I don't know! The dye could be
> >> metallic salts! Do you really want unknown compounds of Iron or other
> >> metals mixed in with the glass? Stick with water-clear glass and avoid the
> >> whole issue. For mind-numbing text and grainy visuals on salt water bottle
> >> caps, visit my site at:
> >>
> >> http://myweb.cableone.net/grcarhunter/
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Gregory R. Hunter
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Thu, 12/4/08, Matt <tonedeafmessiah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> > From: Matt <tonedeafmessiah@xxxxxxxxx>
> >> > Subject: Re: [TCML] TC Newbie
> >> > To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >> > Date: Thursday, December 4, 2008, 11:26 AM
> >> > Hello again, I'm back
> >> >
> >> > Just received, my transformer - I don't really feel
> >> > like shelling out the
> >> > money for high voltage caps (or several lower voltage ones)
> >> > though. I was
> >> > thinking of making a 'beer bottle' salt water cap.
> >> > The transformer delivers
> >> > 2x 7.5kv at 40mA. It is a danfoss oil burner transformer. I
> >> > was wondering if
> >> > anyone could provide me with some advice - especially as I
> >> > have heard that
> >> > salt water capacitors can tend to explode when things go
> >> > wrong...
> >> >
> >> > All input and help is valued and appreciated
> >> >
> >> > Thanks a lot,
> >> >
> >> > -Matt
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Tesla mailing list
> >> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
> >>
> >
> >
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