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RG-58 core as high voltage wire? (fwd)





---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22:03:19 -0500
From: "Alfred C. Erpel" <aerpel-at-op-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: RG-58 core as high voltage wire?

Hello All,

    If you strip off the outer insulation, and braid immediately under it,
from a standard RG-58 coax cable, you're left with an inner core of 20 ga
wire surrounded by .042 thickness of plastic insulation. I don't know what
type of plastic this is, but most plastics have a dielectric strength of
around 400-500volts /.001 inch. So it seems to me that this remaining core
would be good for up to 16,000 volts DC or maybe 8000 volts AC. This cores
insulation appears to be very consistently concentric on all the cables I
have seen, which would be important if you wanted to use this for high
voltage.
    Can anyone comment as to the composition of this core insulation and its
dielectric strength and suitability for use in high voltage applications?
    This seems like an ideal material to use to wind chokes on ferrite
cores. And right now it is easy to scavenge 1000's of feet of this stuff as
old coax networks are being torn out of business', and being replaced by
twisted pair.

Regards,
Alfred Erpel