tesla coil need help

I am trying to build a simple tesla coil. I am powering it with AC straight out of the wall.. I am having a bit of difficulty locating a transfomer that will step up the voltage from to wall at about a 1:10 ratio (although any ratio in this direction would be good). I was wonderign if anyone knows where I could obtain such a part at a reasonable cost.

Thanks for any help Yuchen

Reply to
Yuchen Luo
Loading thread data ...

straight

knows

Don't Tesla coils, by definition, run at HF (KHz-MHz), not mains freq (50-60z)? Isn't that how they get away with those big air-core coils?

If you want a 10:1 step-up power transformer, it doesn't seem likely to be a Tesla air-core design.

Reply to
Richard Crowley

What's your idea of "reasonable"?

Yes and no; a TC is two coupled HF LC tanks, but you "ring" the primary circuit with one or both peaks of 60 Hz by letting it arc through an airgap, which is why you need to step up the line voltage, for a more controllable arc.

Try a neon sign transformer, or (modified) microwave oven transformer. There are websites, indeed entire webrings with scads of information. Start with pupman.com.

Yup.

Believe it or not, the voltage transformation ratio of a TC is primarily determined by the ratio of secondary tank capacitance to primary tank capacitance.

Mark L. Fergerson

Reply to
Mark Fergerson

An old time vacuum-tube power transformer made for low power transmitting might have a secondary that's 1200 volts center-tapped and handle 200 milliamperes. Try a ham radio discussion group. Someone should definitely have an old one hanging around. I presume you're thinking of running some kind of high power oscillator to get the high frequency that Tesla Coils run at.

Just for the fun of it, there's also neon-sign transformers. But that stuff will kill you.

Chuck

Reply to
Chuck Olson

If I needed a power transformer with a ~1000V secondary, I would get in touch with the local Ham radio club.

--
_______________________________________
John E. Todd         jtodd@island.net
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
John Todd

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.