RE: Geek Pig! :)

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

Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

>Original poster: "David Dean by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" 
><deano-at-corridor-dot-net>

>
>The thing is that just because a transformer is rated 5KVA (mine) or 10KVA
>(yours) does not mean that it has to deliver that much power.

It does when you don't have a variac :)


>I have no Ideas about that. I did run for the first year I had the pig
>without a variac with no problems. It is just a bit wild to tune with only
>full power available.

Yeah, we're not looking foreward to that.


> >



>By cage you mean Faraday cage?

Yes, we have a sealed room (with ventillation) that we run in. It's a large 
paint booth at one of our local sponsors'.

Are you saying that you connect the base of
>the secondary to the same ground as the cage itself?


Yes, right to the wall.


That could be
>problematic in itself. The base currents are reported to be quite high (I
>haven't tried to measure) and any impedance in the conductor or connections
>or even the impedance of the grounding system itself could result in
>relatively high voltages being produced. That could result in a potential
>difference between the cage and any other grounded object which might 
>happen
>to be connected to a different ground. I guess it depends on what the cage
>is for. If it is there to suppress RFI then the ground to the same RF 
>ground
>as the coil might be the best way to go. But if the cage is there for the
>safety of spectators, etc. as in to prevent a shock hazard, _I_ would think
>that it should have its own ground, or be connected to mains ground, or
>something like that, but not to the same RF ground as the coil. That is
>something that I have never used, or given much thought about, so I will
>just leave it for those with some real life experience to deal with.
>

The cage is great, and functions perfectly. The seams are all welded so it's 
completly sealed (it's even airtight to some extent). It's also one of the 
few places I've ever seen where it's possible to create PERFECT dark, 
absoluly no outside light at all. Great for corona work. The downside is you 
have to be INSIDE the cage to see the coil (unless you leave the door open, 
defeating the purpose of using a cage) and at Pig power levels most of our 
work will be done with a camera, or a bigger room.

We also have an area we call the "Cage" on campus that we use in the parking 
garage. It's not a faraday cage, but more of a grounded grid, look at the 
pic on our main page to see, www.thegeekgroup-dot-org


                              Cap
> > >    *------------*--------||------*
> > >    |            |                |
> > >   pig           0                3
> > >   HV     spark     gap           3 TC pri.
> > >   out           0                3
> > >    |            |                |
> > >    *------------*----------------*
> > >                 |
> > >                ===
> > >                 - RF ground
> > >
> >

This is the setup we'll be using, does anyone see a problem with it?

Christopher A. Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!





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