Greetings Mr.Janota :)
NST's are current limited and operate typically at a maximum of 15kV (with
12kV and lower being quite common as well).
The typical max current output will be 60mA.
What this means is it Most Likely, Probably.....Unusually....wont' kill you
if you brush against the output, are a rigorously healthy adult, dry, and
nontrivially lucky.
This is as opposed to things like Pole Pigs at 10kVA or more (we have
100kVA pigs in the lab) with no current limiting which are reasonably
considered to be fatal (it's not instant, and it hurts the whole time).
There are also pulse capacitors (typical in our lab is 20kV to 50kV with
10kJ energies) those don't just kill you, they blow parts off. We have
400lb caps here that are in the "clean you off the ceiling with a sponge"
levels of deadly.
That's a long way from your NST, but the idea across the spectrum is the
same. These toys are not for the emotional, impulsive, or stupid. They will
hurt you the moment you don't respect them, and kill you if you're reckless.
That's the point.
There are millions of people who would like to own a powerful Tesla Coil.
But very, very few get that far. The fundamental price to own a coil is
simple, be smart enough to build one. It's not hard, but you have to do it
yourself. Along that path you will have to learn hundreds of new things,
foremost is safety and a healthy respect for HV. Consider how few people
you know who have ever run a marathon. The rough number is often quoted as
1% of 1% of the people in America have ever run a marathon. The number of
people in the history of the world who have ever successfully built a
working Tesla Coil wouldn't fill a single run of the Chicago marathon. This
is a very small community.
To the average person Electricity is composed mainly of magic. It's
dangerous and terrifying. In reality, it's just science. The mechanisms of
electrical power have been pretty well worked out by people far smarter
than me. We can build chips at the nano-scale with billions of wires only a
few atoms wide carrying energies less than a mouse's fart, and we can
wrangle million-volt power lines across the desert. But to the average
person they understand as little about how the power gets in their computer
as they do about what actually happens when they flush the toilet.
You should have a respectful, healthy fear of HV, but not a crippling one.
It's not magic, and it won't jump across the room and bite you. Some simple
things to remember will help you a lot.
1. Keep the plug in your pocket when you're working on the NST. If the plug
isn't in your pocket, then don't touch it.
2. 15kV with a beginner wants a safe radius of 2 inches to anything, and 3
feet to anything that's alive. Keep the HV conductors 2 inches from the
case and you're not going to have any problems.
3. GROUND THE CASE OF THE NST. The bottom-center hole on a US outlet (the
mouth of the face) is Ground. This should connect to the uninsulated lug on
the side of the NST. The NST will have two big insulated lugs (the HV
terminals) two smaller insulated lugs right next to each other (the LV
terminals), and one uninsulated lug that just looks like a bolt sticking
out the side....that one is the ground.
And lastly, while most of the people here would never admit it (and
certainly never publicly), the vast majority of us have been bit at some
point because we did something stupid and got a hard lesson in pain. I've
been bit a few times and thankfully, by sheer dumb luck I survived them,
so far.
Good luck :)
On Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 10:15 AM, James Janota <j.janota@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I haven’t fired this up yet. I tested for continuity and it checks out.
> The fear is making sure the Jacobs ladder has enough distance away from the
> box. I know I’m in my 40’s and trying to bring the kids along with me on
> this journey. With this, after watching Chris Boden’s video and how NST’s
> hurt like hell, I’m kinda feeling like a child here, or is this a healthy
> amount of fear. I’m just wanting this to be a positive experience for me
> and the kids.
>
> Regards
>
> James Janota
> (727)512-7112 Phone
> (727)595-6625 Fax
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tesla mailing list
> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> https://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
>
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President
The Geek Group National Science Institute
www.thegeekgroup.org
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