I believe the voltages in question would be based on point of reference. If I ohm out my ground rod with the reference of another ground rod or the bottom of my secondary, with my coil running full or shut down, it measures 0 Ohms. When I measure voltage for the same reference points under the same conditions, there is 0 Volts.
So, when I touch the ground rod of my coil while it is running full out, whether I am firmly grounded or not, I feel nothing because there is nothing. If you have a floating ground, vis-a-vis a counterpoise, which is not grounded to mother earth there may well be a price to pay.
If your ground is hot while your coil is running, you had better have it isolated from your power grid through the use of filtering equipment. But I think the wisest thing to do is make sure you reference earth ground in all operations, unless you are running your own power grid at your house with an isolated grounding system.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bert Hickman" <bert.hickman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:45 AM Subject: Re: [TCML] DANGER Ground wire question
Chris Arielles wrote:Is the ground wire and ground rod of a Tesla coil dangerous. If someone were to touch it during coil operation that is? Sorry im a noob._______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/teslaChris,Depending on the power level of the coil and how well it's grounded, the base of the secondary will typically have voltage peaks from hundreds to thousands of volts. Although the ground rod itself will have less, it is not wise to touch either while running your coil. =<:oBert -- *** /\ ****************************************************** __ _\/_ __ * * * * * * * * * \_\/_/\_\/_/ We specialize in UNIQUE items! Coins shrunk using /\_\/_/\ ultra-strong magnetic fields, Captured Lightning _\/_/\_\/_ (Lichtenberg Figures), & technical Books. Please /_/\_\/_/\_\ come visit us at http://www.capturedlightning.com /\ * * * * * * * * * *** \/ ******************************************************
_______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla