Hello Tesla Board,
My name is Jake Bissen I do a show in Milwaukee utilizing Tesla coils along side Sam Catania who owns 4 solid state coils.
I'm unique and reckless in that my Faraday suit is a suit of medieval plate armor (like a jousting knight). Right off the bat I do not recommend this to ANYONE, Don't try it at home. I have only been shocked a few times but I HAVE been shocked and the question I'm about to ask could increase that possibility depending.
Basically we connect every piece of metal on my suit with braided stainless wire. We literally just aluminum tape it to everything. it's tedious, it takes forever, and it definitely runs the risk of the tape and wire coming loose.
I'd like to make a suit of armor out of aluminum. My current suit weighs 110 lbs. It is also my first and only suit of armor. I know I want to add metal snaps to every piece of metal so we can literally snap attach the wire all the way down the suit. However, I do not want to do this on my current suit, for it would be a permanent alteration that would ruin the authenticity of the suit.
This is what I know about the use of aluminum as a Faraday suit and the risks or dangers, are they right/ wrong? a Myth? could it work?
Faraday suits are typically Chainmail or a Windowscreen type material, its easy to move, even steel doesn't weigh a ton, its durable and it can be full coverage, but it is made of thousands of rings. There is always a ton of decent contact between rings for the arcs to pass through to ground. With steel there is little to no EXTRA resistance from link to link, unless your suit is incredibly rusty or painted or whatever. Aluminum always has an oxide layer, one that forms quickly if you were to strip that layer via acid or sanding. My understanding is that aluminum chain mail for a Faraday suit is a horrible idea because even though the oxide layer isn't that resistant for a few connections, when you add up thousands of rings worth of oxide layer contact the resistance can become too high and the arc may choose to travel through your body instead (especially if you are sweaty). Also how much does impedance come into play? Does the shape of the suit factor into it? Does aluminum in general have a strange interaction? They are solid state coils I interact with so the frequency varies widely compared to a disruptive could this have major impact on the impedance of an aluminum suit?
So here is what I'm wondering based on that information. My suit of armor has at most 45-50 connections or separate plates connected by wire from my hand down to my feet (the farthest distance an arc would travel). Is this too many connections across aluminum? How do I test this? Are there other factors to aluminum conductivity, impedence, or its interaction with a coil that could contribute to problems?
Are there things anyone has done to test Faraday suits before using them? Obviously you can measure the resistance and conductivity from one to another, BUT I have been shocked in my suit before even tho I was conductive with low resistance from head to toe. Its always hard to tell and there are a ton of factors always at play that are constantly changing even in microseconds, but any advice would be helpful.
Thank you,Jake Bissen
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