High voltage poll

MOT's wont arc very far since they're relatively low voltage (for a HV transformer anyway.) But the arc will be Thick and more white colored, hotter since there's more current flowing. A low current (30ma) 15kv NST will draw an arc about 6 times the distance, but the spark is thinner, weaker and more blue.

Welcome to the world of Dr. Frankenstein.

yes, those are the experiences I made so far.

Maybe gonna try it with the cap, to get it to arc wider.

Still, once the arc is in place, if the electrodes are then pulled apart (not more than ~1in/3cm), the arc will stay - and bend out to a total length of up to 18 cm (7in), resulting in a firm blue arc (diameter approx. 2mm/.1in), surrounded bu a yellowish tube, like a flame.

It looks really cool, to have that screw, and there is a "flame" coming out of it....maybe I'm gonna post a video sometime.

I like Tesla coils. I've built a few over the years (well, one really, but it got bigger and bigger). I ended up with something running at 1kW input from 2 neon sign transformers at 10kV that produced over 1.2 meters of discharge to a grounded object. I'd post a picture but it says i'm not allowed.

vid doesnt work anymore (c0lds vid)

My uncle had this HUGE HUGE tesla, which I was afraid of...

He was working with nitrocellulose, and in the process, a BIG explosion was set off, he was not injured (thankfully, he was behind a VERY VERY VERY thick cement wall in another room getting equipment. His lab was destroyed, shards of glass flew with such velocity, there was a graduated cylinder on a table, the shard of glass chopped the top of the cylinder off, but the base did not move. One of the things that were shrapnelified (other than the walls) was his tesla coil. all the coils were chopped. All the glass in the lab blew out, and the shck wave was felt a few blocks away. Preety cool...

I have played with a tesla, and did arcs with my uncles transformer thing. Origionally attached to a screen years ago, to give a nasty little shock to the hoards of cats trying to get into his house when the window was open (lots of cats in his backyard, stray ones) now its sitting there, 220V input, and many many many thousands of volts output. VERY VERY heavy and big. God knows how many amps, all I know is its enough to kill you. Lol with it you can faintly light a bulb (those long, narrow, cylindrical white ones with leads on the ends) with one lead, and the other lead from far away. cool. preety load, when holding the wires, I could feel a little something in my hands, I cant explain it, it was wierd, and definitely noticable tho.

regards,

amk

I thought MOT's had one end of the secondary grounded to the case. At least the one's I've seen. I didn't want anything to do with those.

Mike

Hemlock Mike said:

I thought MOT's had one end of the secondary grounded to the case. At least the one's I've seen. I didn't want anything to do with those.

Mike

Click to expand...

They often do. You stick two or more together with the center of both wired to ground that that way you get double the voltage with (for example) +2kV on one side and -2kV on the other. The advantage with this is that as soon as the power is disconnected, because the centre of the secondary side is earthed, the capacitors in the secondary circuit should be discharged to ground so you don't shock yourself when you next fiddle with the circuit (for tuning purposes for example).

MOTs can be dangerously high current and often benefit from some kind of current limiting set up on the primary side. You do have to be careful not to electrocute yourself, but then lasers are not exactly perfectly safe either. A little common sense is all that is needed (well, maybe more than a little).

Greg's Garage is a good website that covers this subject in detail. Make sure you explore around as he has gone through several versions of the basic design.

http://hot-streamer.com/greg/MOTDOC.htm
http://hot-streamer.com/greg/tame.htm

Oh and i should now have enough posts to post a pic of my coil;