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Re: grounding - this doesn't make sense - wire size
Subject: Re: grounding - this doesn't make sense - wire size
Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 19:21:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: Bert Pool <bertpool-at-flash-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
At 11:14 PM 5/3/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Subject: grounding - this doesn't make sense - wire size
> Date: Fri, 2 May 97 06:35:58 UT
> From: "William Noble" <William_B_Noble-at-msn-dot-com>
> To: "Tesla List" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
>
>
>I read about the importance of a high current ground, and the use of
>heavy
>wire to connect to it. Yet the secondary wire isn't all that big. I'm
>using
>24 gague on a 4 inch secondary - if I remember right the largest wire
>size on
>a secondary I've read about on the list is 18 gague???
Actually, Greg Leyh uses 8 gauge wire on his secondary, but coils that
make
sparks twice as long as my truck need big wire.
>What I don't
>understand is why the wire from the secondary to the ground rod (or
>whatever)
>needs to be more than one wire size (or 2) larger than the wire that the
>secondary is wound with. IT would seem to me that current is limited by
>melting the secondary wire. Can someone explain.
>
>
Your ground connection will probably be rather long. The larger its
diameter, the lower its impedance, and the better it will conduct. I've
run
3/8 inch copper line directly to a cold water pipe and had my primary
arc a
very large distance to concrete instead of using the copper ground
because
the concrete was a lower impedance ground than a rather long pure copper
line! Big is good! I now use 2.5 inch wide copper strap for my
grounds.
Bert Pool
bertpool-at-flash-dot-net