Re: Avalon, and Lockout for Safety

[Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>]

Hi Chris,

At 03:21 PM 8/18/00 +0000, you wrote:
>>Original poster: "Mark Broker" <broker-at-uwplatt.edu>
>>
>>I went out for the Lightning Demo (it was MY coil being demoed, but I don't
>>want to talk about that night for a while....) and also got a nickle tour
>>of the place.
>
>he he he....FTR, it was our SINGLE WORST DEMO EVER....lol Mark's coil is 
>Cursed. It has yet (out of 3) to survive an entir demo unscathed. We ran 
>GREAT for a total of 30 seconds (after a beautifull test run at Austin St) 
>and then let the magic smoke out of his NST filter.

I would be interested in hearing what with wrong with the NST filter?

snip...


>I've tried to keep it as Electrically related as possible. Our moderator has 
>been more than gracious to let a lot of this pass. But on the other hand, 
>Avalon is going to be a great Coiling resource, and we should have the WHOLE 
>story in the archives, not just the ending.

THANKS!  Obviously this project is very interesting and know that your are
actually "doing it" and not just "talking about it" it has much more
relevance.  Obviously, there are details that he Tesla list cannot deal
with but the electrical stuff is fine.  I ask that replies for non Tesla
coil related stuff or things that are not of general interest to Tesla coil
builders be sent directly to Chris rather than the list...

>
>Someone get me a pric on a 1MVA generator. I'll bet it's mounted on a semi 
>truck.

I think your right.  We had a "big boy" on a truck.  I don't remember it's
ratings but there was not much wasted space...  There were actually two
trucks.  The other one hauled the diesel fuel :-))

The 250kVAs I used to play with could be moved with a large fork lift.
They are all diesel or natural gas.  I have been out of that for too long
to remember any prices but my brother works with them all the time for
GE/Woodward.  I'll try to check with him about you needs.  I think I
remember them being surprisingly "cheap" (for a power station :-)).  Used
ones sometimes go for free if you do the moving.  They last forever with
not much maintenance.  New ones are all fancy and run themselves.  Older
ones may need some work but they are darn tough things that don't die
young...  Hospitals, and other critical electrical places almost all have
these self contained generators and they are very common once you start
looking.  Basically they are just like the Honda types you see at the
hardware store, only bigger.  They really are surprisingly small.  You want
a ~1400HP turbo diesel thing.

www.onan-dot-com 

shows the typical toys and specs that are available (new)...  There are
obvious great advantages to being you own electric company in this case.
They are very easy to run.  These machine are almost always three phase
too.  So much thought needs to go into how your are going to hook it up to
a giant coil system.  Perhaps something like Greg Leyh's systems...

BTW - Truck and train mounted diesel generators can be rented too.  Perhaps
they have on old one they want to sell to make way for a shinny new one...
The military is also a source but this stuff lasts forever and is not often
given up by them...  Battlefield deliverable power stations are not
something they let become obsolete in these electronic warfare days...  Old
ships will also have a surprising electric generating capacity but that
would probably be a pretty difficult thing to find in your location.

Cheers,

	Terry