Re: [TCML] Grounding rods

[Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

Id have to agree with Gary here.  "Poor" grounding likely results in only a
few 10's of kV of "ground bounce" (for lack of a better term) at the base of
the coil, which is a pretty small % of the topload voltage, meaning you
probably wont see much change in spark performance.  This same "ground
bounce" would lead to worse common-mode noise coupling to your mains wiring,
for example.

In my solid state systems i must in fact tie my RF ground to my
mains/electronics grounding to avoid huge common mode voltages between the 2
grounds (which can result in big problems).  I dont seem to have much EMI
issues, despite forcing a large common-mode difference across my mains
wiring (maybe its less voltage than i think it is).

Grounding is often a trade off between safety and EMI issues (sometimes what
is safe is not good for noise coupling, othertimes the converse situation is
true).  Best to double insulate everything you are in contact with when
running a tesla coil ;-).

Steve

On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 1:24 PM, Lau, Gary <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx> wrote:

> The short answer is, no, I haven't tried using a chemical ground.
>
> The problem is, I'm unaware of any means to gauge the "goodness" of a
> ground system.  The truth is, the spark performance of a Tesla coil is
> relatively (maybe completely) unaffected by the quality of an RF ground
> system.  What IS affected is the degree to which RF and HV transients are
> coupled into one's mains wiring, but again, I'm unaware of any means to
> measure or compare mains corruption.
>
> If you can detect a performance difference with different grounds in
> receiving VLF radio, you may be able to teach us something!
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> MA, USA
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> > Behalf Of Mike Thompson
> > Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 2:03 PM
> > To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
> > Subject: [TCML] Grounding rods
> >
> > Hello All,
> >
> >   I was wondering if anyone had played with a chemicle ground in the
> past. This is
> > basically a copper pipe with holes drilled in it and then hammered into
> the ground.
> > At that point brine solution is poured into the pipe to "activate" it. I
> have played with
> > these in the past regarding ground antennas and have had decent success
> and
> > was wondering if anyone had use one for a Tesla Coil ground.
> >
> >   I am currently keep a small blog on my progress with building a Tesla
> Coil if
> > anyone is interested in seeing the ground rod I am proposing to use.
> >
> > http://z0rb.livejournal.com/tag/teslacoil
> >
> > Thanks
> > Mike T.
> >
> > Homepage
> > http://home.comcast.net/~mikethompson236/index.htm<http://home.comcast.net/%7Emikethompson236/index.htm>
>
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