Re: New to tesla coils

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net> 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 1:56 PM
Subject: New to tesla coils


 > Original poster: sean <sean-at-nc.rr-dot-com>
 >
 > For the secondary, someone mentioned 26 gauge wire, I also heard it
 > should be 200 C magnet wire.  Do I have to find magnet wire, or can I
 > just get some 26 gauge wire?

You do want magnet wire.. and 200C insulation is "nice to have", but not
essential.  What you don't want is something like 26 gauge wire wrap or
hookup wire, with a thick insulation layer.  Magnet wire is coated with
enamel (or something similar). The insulation comes in all sorts of grades
and colors and temperature ratings, all of which is pretty immaterial for
your first coil.  Use what you can get cheaply.

 >
 > Also, for the primary circuit, is 10 gauge wire right?

For the hookup?  10 is fine (so would stranded 14 or 16)...

 >
 > Finally, I have seen 2 main designs for the primary circuit.  One has
 > the spark gap in parallel with the transformer, and the capacitors in
 > series.  The other is just the opposite.  Which design is recommended?

Religious wars have broken out for less... The short answer is, for
function, it probably makes no difference.  I have my gap across the
transfomer, which means that I can set it as a safety gap for the
transformer.  If you have the capacitor across the transformer, you might
get some resonant effects (NST inductance and tank C), so you definitely
need a safety gap across the cap. Either will work!

 >
 > Thanks
 > --
 > sean <sean-at-nc.rr-dot-com>
 >
 >