RE: [TCML] primary tubing

["Brian" <brianv@xxxxxxxx>]

Yep I have seen that too, I have also seen aluminum feed wire coming into
the breaker panel just tightened into the breaker terminal, and just from
thermal expansion of the wire under load and then the cooling of the wire
cycled over and over again, I have seen them come lose and cause a very high
resistive connection and burn not only the breaker but the wire about 3 to 4
feet from where the connection was made. A very bad situation, but all in
all if the correct steps are used to terminate the connections properly
these problems should not occur. Even with antioxidant grease there can
still be issues over time. The thermal expansion of aluminum is greater than
for copper and the connections need to be checked from time to time. Nothing
like preventative maintenance I always say!

--Brian 

-----Original Message-----
From: Yurtle Turtle [mailto:yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 5:09 AM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] primary tubing

Almost all residential houses use aluminum wire to run from the meter base
to the breaker panel. That's a 200 amp circuit with nothing more than a
mechanical connection and an anti oxidant grease.

Adam

--- On Sun, 11/8/09, G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [TCML] primary tubing
> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009, 4:06 PM
> > The only discrepancy I have is
> that I thought Al simply
> > oxidized in air, maybe you could also call it
> anodization
> > but I thought that was adding pigment to the outside
> oxide
> > layer.
> > 
> > Drake
> > 
> 
> That's what I keep coming back to.  What about the
> Aluminum Oxide layer?  Aluminum Oxide is an electrical
> insulator, and it is so hard it is used as an abrasive for
> sandpaper and the like.  A rock-hard layer of
> insulation would seem to make good electrical contact
> problematic.  Shining the Al with steel wool won't
> help, as the oxide layer instantly forms again.  Also,
> the usual hardware store-grade primary terminations and taps
> (alligator clips, fuse clips, ground lugs, etc.) are
> typically made of copper, brass, or copper-plated
> steel.  Not only are they too soft to cut the oxide
> layer, but contact between dissimilar metals only aggravates
> the formation of a high resistance connection.
> 
> Seriously though, I wonder how much these theoretical
> concerns really affect actual coil performance.  I've
> used solid aluminum wire as the primary for a very small
> coil, and it worked fine.  I suspect Al is probably OK
> for the small stuff, but becomes a bigger issue as the coil
> gets bigger and the kva goes up.
> 
> As far as the compactness issue of fat Al tube -vs- skinny
> Cu tube, that could sidestepped by using flat aluminum
> strap. 
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
>       
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> 


      


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