Re: Will I kill my MOTs?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jason Johnson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <hvjjohnson13-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Good choice! MOTs make really great power supplies, once you get over the
lower voltage they provide. While this is not a real problem many people
seem to somewhat prejudiced against the low voltage provided by the MOTs, in
reality you can acheive the same spark length as higher voltage supplies
when you look at power in vs. spark out. You will not kill your MOTs by
running them unballasted, or by drawing arcs, as long as you cool them
sufficeintly in an oil bath (I like SAE 30 motor oil, the cheapest you can
get) and don't take it to extremes (like shorting two MOTs and expecting
them to process 25 KVA). Just as long as you don't boil the oil off, or hit
them with alot of voltage, you will be fine. Just for the record I ran two
MOTs in a coil that kicked out 5+ footers for about a year, and drew
hundreds of 14" long arcs directly off the MOTs, and they worked
beautifully, and then they got hit by one of those 5 foot long sparks :-(
This killed one of the MOTs, but I found another just like it, and I'm going
to hit 7 feet of spark with the two I'm using right now :-) As always YMMV.

Jason Johnson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2001 4:47 PM
Subject: Will I kill my MOTs?


> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Hhchicken1-at-aol-dot-com>
>
> Hi list!
> I decided to upgrade my coil a bit, and first thing was the power supply.
I
> intend to use two MOTs back-to-back with center grounded.  I rigged them
up
> with a 16A breaker (at 240v) and it made a nice little spark - I
accidently
> knocked one of the wires and it sprang back, drawing the arc to over a
foot -
> that scared me!  Anywayz, I am running them with no ballast.  They don't
trip
> the breaker but am I going to kill them over time by running them like
this?
> I have another, smaller, MOT that I could use as ballast but presumably
this
> would reduce the power somewhat.  Just wondering whether it's absolutely
> necessary to use it.
> Thanks
> Henry Hallam
>
>
>