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Re: ignition coil for high voltage source



Greetings,

Following is some potential changes you might want to think about
before building the TC directly from the Popular Electronics November
1999 isssue.  It is a solid and good design and works great as is,
however if you ever want to move up in power, then especially take
note about the secondary hint below.  FYI so far up to 9kv-at-60ma
power source, and getting some tremendous streamers from it. :-)

On the popular electronics plans, other potential modifications.
Maybe go ahead and use 50 feet of 1/4od copper tubing for primary.
I used 6awg bare copper 25 feet of as per plans, I then had to graft
another 25 feet on later to get things in tune when moving to a
NST (Neon Sign Transformer) and MMCs.  A big no-no was that
when winding the secondary I drilled holes through it to sort of
tie up the mag wire, as per plans.  Works fine when using the ignition
coil as the power source, however when moving to a NST it
quickly arced over inside the secondary, creating a carbon track
that prevented the coil from operating.  Had to fix that, now it is
working great.  Oh yeah, instead of stringing all those diodes together
after the ignition coil you might want to consider getting a Rectron
HVM16 diode or something similar, lot easier to work with.  You
can get that from www.mouser-dot-com for about $5.00.  I also used
a full wave bridge rectifier off the shelf and a 12 volt transformer,
instead
of the two diode setup with a 25volt transformer.  I also added a
5 volt voltage regulator to the 555 timer electronics so that it didn't
have to take the extra voltage, which still works fine.  I also added a
100Kohm variable potentiometer in series with the 10Kohm resistor
going between source and pin 7.  Allows variable frequency, of which
different frequencies allowed me to find the sweet spot that my particular
ignition coil liked to run at.  I bought the cheapest ignition coil they
had,
$9 at SuperTrak.  I thought the guy behind the counter was going to
laugh at me when I said, "I would like the cheapest ignition coil you sell".
:-)

All and all the popular electronics plan is a great starting point into
TCing. :-) Very educational, I wouldn't have started doing this without
it.

Oh another thing after I built the flat plat capacitor.  I learned that once
one starts putting power to it, it is advisable to have it sitting in a
bucket
with mineral to prevent corona and potential destruction of all your
hard work that went into it.  You can easily change the width and height
around on the plates, maybe get the bucket first, and build the cap to
fit into it so that you don't have to use so much mineral oil like I did.

Cheers,
Bill Parn

PS: I am now using MMCs, but building that capacitor was really fun
and it still works great.

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: ignition coil for high voltage source


> Original Poster: "Bill Parn" <parn-at-starpower-dot-net>
>
> Greetings,
>
> 6awg bare copper wire can be found on Lowes or Home Depot in the
> electrical department.  The polyethylene is simply the clear (CLEAR)
> plastic that can be gotten at these two places.  I recomend getting the
> 6 mil stuff so that you only have to build 10 layers up between plates.
>
> It is really late for me tonight, I will write you all more tomorrow.
> I have a couple of recomendations, and things not to do so that
> when you move up in power you will not have the same problems
> that I had, before finding this list.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill Parn
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 8:12 PM
> Subject: Re: ignition coil for high voltage source
>
>
> > Original Poster: "Calvin Patrick" <linhack_tux-at-yahoo-dot-com>
> >
> > I'm working on builing that coil out of Popular
> > Electronics as well!  how does it work?  I'm having a
> > hard time finding some of the parts, namely the #6
> > bare copper wire, and the polyetheline.  I finished
> > the spark gap.  any help on where to get the stuff?
> >
> > Calvin
> > --- Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
> > > Original Poster: "Bill Parn" <parn-at-starpower-dot-net>
> > >
> > > Hi Jeremiah,
> > >
> > > I have a article from Popular Electronics November
> > > 1999issue,
> > > Pretty simple really, Just uses a 555 timer and a
> > > couple of other
> > > gadgets.  I can send you the spec sheet on a 555
> > > timer, which
> > > basically has the same design circuitry and is
> > > public info.  You will need a
> > > high voltage diode which is the hardest thing to
> > > find.  Otherwise you have
> > > to string a bunch of lower voltage ones together.  I
> > > altered the Popular
> > > Electronics design a little because I was tinkering
> > > just to see what would
> > > happen, it is fun - greatly improved performance
> > > too.
> > > The 555 spec sheet is what gave me all the ideas.
> > > Also
> > > added a variable potentiometer so that I can vary
> > > the pulse rate to the
> > > coil.
> > > It was a lot of fun playing with that.  I highly
> > > recomend it, very
> > > educational.
> > >
> > > Could only get a 8" max streamer to a ground wire
> > > with my TC with that
> > > power source.  Even though it is just a ignition
> > > coil still respect it
> > > please.
> > > Once the power is in the primary of a TC it is
> > > deadly!, if one does
> > > not greatly respect it.
> > >
> > > Jeremiah I just took a look on
> > > www.popularelectronics-dot-com they
> > > have something there to order back issues.  There is
> > > a really good
> > > article on Nikola Telsa in this issue as well.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Bill Parn
> > > parn-at-starpower-dot-net
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 8:23 PM
> > > Subject: ignition coil for high voltage source
> > >
> > >
> > > > Original Poster: "Jeremiah"
> > > <jmeizis-at-metallicafan-dot-com>
> > > >
> > > > Is there any way you could use 1 or maybe 2
> > > ignition coils in a circuit as
> > > > a power supply for a tesla coil.  If there is such
> > > a circuit or a high
> > > > voltage ignition coil circuit i would be grateful
> > > for the help.
> > > > Jeremiah
> > > >
> > > >
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