Tesla Coil

[YT2095]

you can get away with having your copper pipe horizontal in the ground too. just dig a trench a foot or so deep (deeper the better) for the length of the pipe, lay the pipe and your cable in it, pour a bucket of water over it and fill it back in.

I use this in my garden for a Shorwave transmitter ground plane, it works VERY well!

 

important in drier months to keep the soil moist though, a few buckets of water over it an hour before you use it will be just fine

[Lance]

I use a cold water pipe. I have not had any problems with it yet and I dont think I ever will considering it runs miles through the ground.

[sanjaygeorge]

can we connect the ground of tesla coil to the eath;s socket??

[Lance]

Well... you could but it is not recommended. It can wreak havoc on electronics using the same ground and is potentially lethal if there is a problem with the wiring. Wouldn’t want 2' sparks shooting out of your wall socket...

[sanjaygeorge]

Thanks otherwise would have wrecked my devices.

[sanjaygeorge]

SHOULD THE VOLTAGE FROM THE TRANSFORMER BE dc OR aC

[jgerlica]

1. How do I calculate the capacitance of this atypical toroid?

 

9

C=KxR/9x10

 

Where k=1.01 aka. the dielectric constant

 

That's ten to the ninth.....

[Lance]

SHOULD THE VOLTAGE FROM THE TRANSFORMER BE dc OR aC

 

The output directly from all transformers is AC. But yes, it must be AC for a tesla coil.

[YT2095]

it must be AC for a tesla coil.

are you sure?

 

no I`m not second guessing you exactly, but a DC source with a fast duty cycle should work just as well?

if not better!

 

it only has to charge the tank cap before the spark gap shorts it to the tank coil, DC should work too! (if you can get the diodes to rectify it).

[5614]

SHOULD THE VOLTAGE FROM THE TRANSFORMER BE dc OR aC

 

just to make it clear transformers ONLY WORK ON AC. you cannot have a DC transformer as it wouldnt work... thats just how it is - no exceptions.

 

so obviously input / output must be AC, however before / after the transformer you can have DC, just it needs to be converted into AC... but for a tesla coil its all AC.

[5614]

but a DC source with a fast duty cycle should work just as well?

if not better!

a on/off style thingy fast enough should work as it seems like AC, but never tried it. should work for the transformer, not sure about the tesla coil itself.

[YT2095]

there`s no On/Off needed after the NST to cap, that can be DC I`m sure.

ater that the pulses come from the spark gap and back induction of the secondary to the primary coil (resonance).

up to the tank cap, all can be DC.

[5614]

it could be... but as you would be using a mains power supply it would all be AC anyway.

 

basically remember: transformers only work with AC

[YT2095]

no shit sherlock! we`de already established that one!

 

my point, is that up until the tank cap charging DC is also perfectly usable

[5614]

useable, except that you wouldnt do it purely because you would be using a mains power supply due to the bigger voltages it uses.

[YT2095]

huh?

[Lance]

are you sure?

 

no I`m not second guessing you exactly' date=' but a DC source with a fast duty cycle should work just as well?

if not better!

[/quote']

 

You’re absolutely right. You could use 100% DC. You could also use larger caps this way because you’re not limited by the ac frequency. I wasn’t thinking about that because I have never seen any coils that utilize DC.

[5614]

huh?

 

"useable," -- you could use it (DC)

 

"except that you wouldnt do it purely because you would be using a mains power supply" -- you wouldnt use a DC power supply (as DC is from batteries) because...

 

"due to the bigger voltages it uses." -- by it i mean the mains.

 

so you could use DC except that as normally your power source as the mains which is AC you probably wouldnt use DC

[YT2095]

yupperz

 

but the only dif is that you would NEED the feedback shunt spark-gap across the power supply, as back currents could easily damage any rectification (diodes).

but most good T coils designs utilise the shunt gap anyway

[Douglas]

What's the point of this discussion? Transformers and tesla coils are made for AC, the frequency of which being equal to the parallel resonance of the coil inductance and the interwinding capacitance.

 

Can they be used with DC....probably yes, if you chop it.

[YT2095]

up until the tank cap and past the shunt gap, all may be as DC if you wish it to be, AC is NOT a prerequisite for a T coils function prior to this.

it`s own resonance beyond this is back EMF AC (idealy tuned), and may be considered a different part of the circuit all together