Re: Ground Rods & Secondary Leads: How long is too long??

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

Original poster: "Jeremy Scott by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <supertux1-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Some people connect the bottom of the
secondary to the start of the inner
turn on the primary. I dunno if I
totally agree with that...(electrons
in the ground are much better than
borrowing from the tank!)

I plan on using some copper car battery
jumper cables cinched onto my strike
ring (which is also connected via #6 wire
to the bottom of the coil)

Then the car battery cables can clamp
onto a water pipe, ground rod, or my personal
favorite:
a pair of large screw in dog leash anchors,
with salt water poured around it. (it'll
kill the grass so be careful...)




--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
 > Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz
 > <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com>
 >
 > In a message dated 10/28/02 8:48:30 PM Pacific
 > Standard Time,
 > tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:
 >
 >
 > >What is a respectable length for a ground lead off
 > the secondary coil?
 > >
 > >What is too long? What's the max I could expect to
 > make it and not
 > >suffer decreased performance? I planned to go from
 > 22ga magnet wire to
 > >some glass/ptfe coated 12ga nickel plate stranded
 > probably shielded in
 > >1/8 wall silicone tubing. Excessive, but it'll
 > never go bad!!!
 > >
 > >What's the shortest rod I can get away with? I have
 > fairly damp soil, so
 > >I wouldn't think I'd have to go too horribly deep.
 > I've watched the list
 > >and somewhere between 3-5' seems to be the norm,
 > but I also saw the
 > >posts about the dog leash screw which would seem
 > plausible in really
 > >moist soil!
 > >
 > >I can drive a grounding rod into several places,
 > but I only want to
 > >drive in one, so I'd like to make it as central as
 > possible to all spots
 > >I intend to run. If a really short screw-type thing
 > would work, then my
 > >only real concern is actual distance from the
 > "ground".
 > >
 > >Thanks,
 > >
 > >Ken
 >
 >
 > Ken,
 >
 > You will probably get as many different opinions as
 > you get answers on this
 > question.  In my opinion, it depends on the system.
 > Smaller, lower powered
 > systems can get by with less.  Larger, higher
 > powered systems need a more
 > robust ground and shorter connections.  My 3"
 > diameter coil using a 12
 > kv  60 ma transformer uses one eight foot ground rod
 > about 15 feet away and
 > is connected to the coil with two parallel #12 solid
 > copper wires.  My 6"
 > coil running with a 14.4 kv distribution transformer
 > at 7kva uses a large
 > ground system with three eight foot ground rods
 > inter-connected by copper
 > flashing.  The coil is operated about two feet from
 > this ground system and
 > is connected to it by a 5" wide piece of copper
 > flashing.
 >
 > Ed Sonderman
 >
 >