Re: Tesla Coil Capacitors - Why build them?

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

Original poster: "Daniel McCauley by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dhmccauley-at-spacecatlighting-dot-com>

> Lots of reasons..
>
> 1. Most cheap HV caps aren't always suitable for coiling
> use..

Actually, the ones from High Energy are perfect for coil use.

> 2. MMC's are self healing (if you get the right kind..)

Agreed.

> 3. Commercially available pulse caps have a big price tag
> and a rather short life span.. shorter if you buy them
> used..

Disagree with you on both accounts.  Commercially available caps from
vendors such as
NWL, Plastic Cap, High Energy are not too expensive . . . equivalent to MMC
arrays.
And they really don't have too short of lifetimes.  We use all kinds of
pulse caps in high power (>1Megawatt)
radar transmitters and they see much more abuse then any tesla coil would
see.

> 4. If you blow your only cap, then you're stuck.. if you
> blow a few caps in an MMC array, you can replace them..

Agreed there.