Re: Good & Bad Maxwell Caps, MMC questions?

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

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

>Original poster: "Bill Vanyo by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" 
><vanyo-at-echoes-dot-net>
>
>Are MMC's really any better?

A ton.


>To what extent are they "self healing"?

Terry, can you please insert the url for the heckish abuse you gave to one 
of our caps? It was something like 5 hits at WAY over it's rated voltage.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/MMCInfo/GeekCaps/GeekCaps.htm

>To build a really sturdy MMC with the geek group caps (942c), for use
>with 15/180 NST (three 15/60's), what is the minimum string length and
>number of strings to handle the voltage and current they'll see?
I can
>adjust upwards to get my desired capacitance, which is between 0.06uF
>and 0.045uF --- 0.06 because that's what I was using and it worked,
>0.045 because that's the "right" LTR value for 15/180 with a static gap,
>but I don't know (I haven't calculated yet) if my primary has enough
>extra turns that I'd still be able to tap it in tune with 0.045 (I
>currently tap around 7.5 with my biggest topload, and have 10 turns).  I
>understand that the strings need to be of adequate length to handle the
>voltage (though I'm not sure what that length is to get a long MMC life
>with 15kV AC in tesla coil use).  Am I right that there is also some
>minimum number of strings needed for adequate current handling (180ma,
>in my case)?
>
>BTW (and I'm not sure, but I think I've heard this reported before), my
>coil seemed to be performing better than it ever had shortly before it
>died.

I've had that same experiance too. Right before I killed my NSTs. We had one 
of our very first runs at 15/180 and were pulling MASSIVE arcs at a demo 
about 2 years ago. Then we learned a very expensive lesson about Safety 
Gaps.....and I still have no 15/60 NSTs. We've also never been able to 
reproduce the run. Tesla Coiling is a balance of Time-vs-Performance. If you 
run a coil at 150% of it's parts ratings, it'll work...but only for 5 
minutes if you're lucky :) Run it at 50% of it's parts ratings and it'll 
live forever. Finding that balance can be expensive :)




duck




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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