RE: ignition coil for high voltage source

["Dale Hall" <Dale.Hall@trw.com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla@uswest.net>)]

Hi Grayson and Coilers

Assuming no XL(=2piFL) from the coil (worst case) 
 the 3uF Cap limits peak current by acting as a series resistor (Xc):

Ipk at 120Vrms 60Hz = 170Vpk / Xc = 1/2piFC = 170Vpk/884 ohms = .192 Apk
even with no series R.

A fuse, incadescent lamp or small wattage series R that will fuse 
to protect the dimmer electronics is probably a good idea 
to protect against Cap shorts.

Regards, Dale

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List [mailto:tesla@pupman.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 11:00 AM  To: tesla@pupman.com
Subject: Re: ignition coil for high voltage source

Original Poster: "Bill Parn" <parn@starpower.net> 

Hi Grayson and Coilers,

I really like the simplicity of this design.  I know the dimmer
switch is going to give the spikes of voltage necessary to get
the ignition coil to operate, however I was wondering do we need
a resistor of some sort to get the 120VAC spikes down more
in the range of 18Volts or less to prevent from destroying the
ignition coil?

Cheers, Bill Parn

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tesla List <tesla@pupman.com> To: <tesla@pupman.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: ignition coil for high voltage source
> Original Poster: "Grayson B Dietrich" <electrofire@juno.com> 
> 
> http://www.electrophile.8m.com/wallignt.gif
> 
> This shows a very simple means of driving an ignition coil. It can and
> has been used to power small TC's by other folks, so while I have no
> personal experience with applying this circuit in that fashion, I belive
> it can be done. You may need to add a rectifier to it-- a few MOT diodes
> in series should work fine.
> 
> -Grayson Dietrich
> 
> On Wed, 31 May 2000 18:23:02 -0600 Tesla List <tesla@pupman.com> writes:
> > Original Poster: "Jeremiah" <jmeizis@metallicafan.com> 
> > 
> > Is there any way you could use 1 or maybe 2 ignition coils in a 
> > circuit as