Control we have a problem.

This control box which I used to control power to my larger coils suffered a catastrophic failure a few weeks ago while running my six inch coil being powered by a NST stack of 3 x 15kV 30mA. I don't think it was the power I think it was a short due to the tight confines in which I placed all of the electronics in this box. I have always felt things were a bit tight but never could find reason to change it seeing that it has proven good in hard service for over 3 years. So I'm working on a new control box that will address all the possible issues I saw in the previous one. RIP

More power please.

I just picked up this Potential transformer. It is 70:1 ratio, 8400v primary, and 400va. This is a smaller version of a "Pole Pig" the big gray cylinders you see on top of power poles. This will give a large Tesla coil what it needs to really put on a show. They are deadly and would not ask permission to kill you if you make a mistake with them.

Solid State Tesla Coil SSTC

This is the future of Tesla coils the SSTC or solid state Tesla coil. Gone is the roar of the spark gap and the heavy weight of the neon sign transformer. From this point they get more complex to build and the sparks get bigger.

Changes to the WC coil

As with every Tesla coil the tuning process is bound to bring change to the setup. This coil has been a bear to tune. The top load had to be changed and the spark gap needed 4 additional electrodes added. I've been testing it in the morning and it sounds like a jet taking off. My eyes have a slight case of flash burn from the UV light coming off the spark gap and my throats a bit sore fom all the ozone I've been breathing in. I love this hobby.

The WC Coil

I've been working on this coil for a few weeks and it has gone through one design and now it has incarnated into this. I have tested the output on this coil and it's very nice. Building coils has kept my mind busy and I'm thankful to have the resources to build them. Evita came up with the name for the coil, can you guess what WC stands for?

Red Laser in morning Geeks take warning.

I was gifted a 5 mW He Ne (Helium Neon) laser yesterday. I have been researching holography and wanting to put together a holography table . I now can do this. The beam from the He Ne laser is not very visible to the eye but a nice little fog bank in the Low Country this morning made for a fun testing time. Thanks to my Geek friends.

Bi cone Tesla Coil

I have been reading a lot of Tesla's work and early on he experimented with cone shaped secondary coils. This is an interesting configuration and has come into particular interest regarding the generation of powerful electric arcs, as opposed to the generation of long electric arcs. Since Tesla's goal was to transmit power through the atmosphere he was primarily interested in generating intense electromagnetic radiation. The larger windings at the bottom of the secondary are able to absorb the most current from the primary, while the tapered format linearly increases the voltage in a proportional amount according to the electromagnetic falloff according to the distance from the primary. These conical coils often had no top load capacitor, and relied on the internal capacitance of the coil itself. This experiment clearly shows the distributed parameters in the components. I have built a Bi cone coil and have just started testing it. So far the results are impressive and will warrant further study.