RE: Is this a good circuit for a tesla coil. Any suggestions

["sundog" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi all,

  Any ideas how much voltage/current this puts out?  It sounds great for
charging caps up when rectified to DC.

												Shad


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 11:22 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Is this a good circuit for a tesla coil. Any suggestions


Original poster: "acmnovak" <acmnovak-at-email.msn-dot-com>

Jeremiah-
It's easier, faster and cheaper to just put a dimmer and 5uF cap in series
with an ignition coil, then run it off of mains. You'll get the same, if not
better, voltage with adjustable frequency/duty cycle.

Schematic:(sort of)

HOT ~ o---[[[/]]]---{((()))}----UUUU----o ~ NEUTRAL
                (dimmer)   (cap)     (ignition coil)

The highest setting on the dimmer gives shorter arcs, but more current.
Lowest setting gives you looooong arcs but really low current (still hurts
: ).
These can be used in place of an OBIT in small coils, and they'll probably
last longer as the oil in the ignition coil doesn't become conductive at
really high frequencies like tar, and any carbon tracks will melt away if
you shake up the oil a little.
Hope that helped...

    -Michael