Re: what is "power factor rating?"

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>

In a message dated 1/4/01 9:45:33 AM Eastern Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

> Hi everyone,
>  I built two small coil from plans.
>  Now I am desiging a coil using WinTesla
>  (The quarter wavelength with my top load cap is as close as I can get to 
the 
> 
>  secondary wire length , and LpCp is as close as possible to LsCs.)I am 
using 
> 
>  a 10kv .023 ma OBIT
>  
>  anyway what is the Power Factor Rating and why would I need a power 
>  correction capacitor?(I didn't need one on my other coils)
>  
>  can anyone explain
>  Joseph

Joseph,

the quarter wavelength of wire does not apply to Tesla coils,
It doesn't matter what the wire length is, as long as the coil is
in tune.   You don't really need power factor correction, but it
will reduce your input current some.  It will not help the spark
length.  When a coil (or anything else) has a poor power factor,
it means the current is out of phase with the voltage.  This
causes the circuit to draw more current than it would otherwise.
PFC also reduces wasted power in the supply wires to the TC a
little, (by reducing the current).

John Freau