Re: [TCML] 40cm breakout!

["David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Simon,

Congratulations on your first light! As a side note,
I hate to be the one to "burst your balloon", but I
must tell you that your 42 cm spark length does
NOT represent a1 million volts potential. Not sure
that even straight DC with very large radius of curva-
tured electrodes could hold off that much voltage with
that short of an electrode gap. The high frequency
nature of Tesla coil discharges allows for each
spark to reach out beyond the ionized trail of the
spark of the previous cycle, which means that the
discharges of a Tesla coil can reach lengths that are
much greater than what their actual voltage potential
would suggest. The old spark length vs. voltage scales
for DC sphere/sphere discharge are pretty much useless
for determining the voltage output of a TC. The actual
secondary output voltage of a Tesla coil is extremely
"challenging" to measure by conventional means
but it can be determined with reasonable accuracy by
the formula: Vs = Vp x sqrt (Ls/Lp) - minus circuit losses,
Where Lp is the primary inductance, in Henries, Ls is the
secondary inductance, Vp is the peak primary voltage
that is discharged from the capacitor into the primary coil,
and Vs in the output voltage from the secondary coil.
In practice, the actual voltage values of the output of
Tesla coils in the size category of yours typically falls into
the 150 to 200 kV range and very few Tesla coils (even
huge ones!) are able to reach a true megavolt potential.

David Rieben



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Simon Dodd" <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 10:44 AM
Subject: [TCML] 40cm breakout!


Hi Guys,

I haven't been active in here for a while now but my tesla coil is now 
working beautifully!

You can see the video at
youtube.com/simondoddy

I can't remember if we are allowed to post live links in here so I have left 
it like that.

Hope you enjoy it. It has taken me long enough to get it to this level! Now 
to build a solid state one!!

Thanks for all your help over the years in getting me to this stage, feel 
free to skip all the talking at the beginning of the video!

Simon_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla

_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla