Where to get high voltage wire?

J

Joe C

Guest
I am rebuilding my Tesla coil that I made 30 years ago. Back need I
used regular 18 guage wire for the primary. It worked but not too
well.

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv. I
have seen some places on the net selling it for almost $2/foot. Since
this is just a hobby project and I need 75', anyone know of any
cheaper prices for it? Thanks.

Joe C.

P.S. The Tesla coil plans came from an old issue of Popular
Electronics, around 1970 I think. Anyone ever build that one? It was
the one with glass/foil capacitors and the 20 turn primary/2000 turn
secondary...
 
Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.

--
Clif Holland, KA5IPF
AVVid
Authorized Kenwood and Icom Service Center
816 W Shady Grove Rd
Irving, TX 75060

www.avvid.com

1-800-214-5779
972-870-0630 (Local)
"Joe C" <rockets@joecool.org> wrote in message
news:4028f3a3.416193574@news1.attglobal.net...
I am rebuilding my Tesla coil that I made 30 years ago. Back need I
used regular 18 guage wire for the primary. It worked but not too
well.

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv. I
have seen some places on the net selling it for almost $2/foot. Since
this is just a hobby project and I need 75', anyone know of any
cheaper prices for it? Thanks.

Joe C.

P.S. The Tesla coil plans came from an old issue of Popular
Electronics, around 1970 I think. Anyone ever build that one? It was
the one with glass/foil capacitors and the 20 turn primary/2000 turn
secondary...
Click to expand...
 
Clif Holland wrote:
Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.
Click to expand...
Careful, very often this is a resistive wire with a steel or carbon core to
dampen radiation, I think this is not what you want.

ciao Ban
 
"Joe C" <rockets@joecool.org> skrev i en meddelelse
news:4028f3a3.416193574@news1.attglobal.net...

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv.
Click to expand...
Normal Coax with solid PFTE insulation will take *a lot of voltage* - but
the inner conductor is thin. This is for the primary right?
 
Right, primary.

Besides everything else spark plug wire is fat and to have 20 turns of
it would take up alot of room on the core...

Joe C.


On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:10:54 +0100, "Frithiof Andreas Jensen"
<frithiof.jensen@diespammerdie.jensen.tdcadsl.dk> wrote:

"Joe C" <rockets@joecool.org> skrev i en meddelelse
news:4028f3a3.416193574@news1.attglobal.net...

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv.

Normal Coax with solid PFTE insulation will take *a lot of voltage* - but
the inner conductor is thin. This is for the primary right?
Click to expand...
 
Well, its not your father's Oldsmobile...

:cool:

Joe C.


On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 14:00:09 -0800, Jamie
<jamie_5_not_valid_after_5_Please@charter.net> wrote:

Customer:
i need 50 Feet of generic high voltage ignition wire.
Service Desk:
is that for a Corvette or Hyundai ?
;)


Clif Holland wrote:

Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.
Click to expand...
 
In sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.equipment,
rockets@joecool.org (Joe C) wrote:

I am rebuilding my Tesla coil that I made 30 years ago. Back need I
used regular 18 guage wire for the primary. It worked but not too
well.

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv. I
have seen some places on the net selling it for almost $2/foot. Since
this is just a hobby project and I need 75', anyone know of any
cheaper prices for it? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I don't see a need for "high voltage wire" except from the neon
sign transformer (and also stay way the hell away). Using regular
enameled solid copper wire (probably 12 gauge for primary, maybe 22 or
so for secondary), cut two or three pieces the total length you need
for your coil. Wind it as a bifilar or trifilar coil, then carefully
remove the one or two unused windings and glue down the one remaining.
You'll then have enough air space between each turn for insulation.
I've heard of this sort of spacing of the coil being used for
secondary as well as primary - I recall reading something like a
"thousand-plus volts per turn" where enamel insulation on adjacent
windings of solid copper wire could break down. As far as things that
have 15kV across them, just keep them a couple of inches or more away
from each other.

Someone brought a large Tesla coil into the lab at work many years
ago, about like your description below, and powered by a 15kV sign
transformer (through an arc gap to the primary coil/glass-foil
capacitor). The secondary gave 6-inch-plus sparks at not-too-dangerous
current, but the primary would surely be deadly. I looked on an
oscilloscope ten feet away, just holding a 10-to-1 probe in the air
would show 50-volt spikes. There was probably no AM reception within
half a mile.

Joe C.

P.S. The Tesla coil plans came from an old issue of Popular
Electronics, around 1970 I think. Anyone ever build that one? It was
the one with glass/foil capacitors and the 20 turn primary/2000 turn
secondary...
Click to expand...
-----
http://mindspring.com/~benbradley
 
With the counter help at most stores today that would be correct. If you
don't have a year, make, and model they can't find anything.

--
Clif Holland, KA5IPF
AVVid
Authorized Kenwood and Icom Service Center
816 W Shady Grove Rd
Irving, TX 75060

www.avvid.com

1-800-214-5779
972-870-0630 (Local)
"Jamie" <jamie_5_not_valid_after_5_Please@charter.net> wrote in message
news:102i9mfrievtc88@corp.supernews.com...
Customer:
i need 50 Feet of generic high voltage ignition wire.
Service Desk:
is that for a Corvette or Hyundai ?
;)


Clif Holland wrote:

Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.
Click to expand...
 
Customer:
i need 50 Feet of generic high voltage ignition wire.
Service Desk:
is that for a Corvette or Hyundai ?
;)


Clif Holland wrote:

Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.
Click to expand...
 
Nope, it's for a B61-11 Tactical nuke.

Jamie wrote:

Customer:
i need 50 Feet of generic high voltage ignition wire.
Service Desk:
is that for a Corvette or Hyundai ?
;)


Clif Holland wrote:

Spark plug wire... Local auto parts store.
Click to expand...
 
Here is a nice site
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/hv/supplier.htm
www.newark.com has some High Voltage corona wire that rated.

or you could run down to your local neon sign company and buy the wire thier.
 
I have seen alot of pictures lately of tesla coils and none of the
pictures I have seen have a primary like the one I built using plans
from the 1965 Popular Electronics magazine!

Regarding the primary, you are right about the wire. After thinking
about it I see that the potential difference from one turn to the next
won't be 15kv so the wire doesn't have to be high voltage wire because
of that. BUT the primary I have is wound on a cylindrical tube like
the secondary and of course the wire needs to be insulated from the
coil form it is wrapped on.

Is this why all the primary coils I see pictures are spirally wound on
single plane vs a cylinder?

Also, does any one have comments on which way to wire the circuit? My
old 1964 circuit has the capacitor across the power transformer and
the spark gap in series with the primary of the tesla coil. All the
schematics I see today have the spark gap in parallel with the power
transformer and the capacitor in series with the primary of the tesla
coil.

Joe C.



On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 15:15:37 -0500, Ben Bradley
<ben_nospam_bradley@mindspring.example.com> wrote:

In sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.equipment,
rockets@joecool.org (Joe C) wrote:

I am rebuilding my Tesla coil that I made 30 years ago. Back need I
used regular 18 guage wire for the primary. It worked but not too
well.

So now I am looking for 75' of high voltage wire that can take 15kv. I
have seen some places on the net selling it for almost $2/foot. Since
this is just a hobby project and I need 75', anyone know of any
cheaper prices for it? Thanks.

I don't see a need for "high voltage wire" except from the neon
sign transformer (and also stay way the hell away). Using regular
enameled solid copper wire (probably 12 gauge for primary, maybe 22 or
so for secondary), cut two or three pieces the total length you need
for your coil. Wind it as a bifilar or trifilar coil, then carefully
remove the one or two unused windings and glue down the one remaining.
You'll then have enough air space between each turn for insulation.
I've heard of this sort of spacing of the coil being used for
secondary as well as primary - I recall reading something like a
"thousand-plus volts per turn" where enamel insulation on adjacent
windings of solid copper wire could break down. As far as things that
have 15kV across them, just keep them a couple of inches or more away
from each other.

Someone brought a large Tesla coil into the lab at work many years
ago, about like your description below, and powered by a 15kV sign
transformer (through an arc gap to the primary coil/glass-foil
capacitor). The secondary gave 6-inch-plus sparks at not-too-dangerous
current, but the primary would surely be deadly. I looked on an
oscilloscope ten feet away, just holding a 10-to-1 probe in the air
would show 50-volt spikes. There was probably no AM reception within
half a mile.

Joe C.

P.S. The Tesla coil plans came from an old issue of Popular
Electronics, around 1970 I think. Anyone ever build that one? It was
the one with glass/foil capacitors and the 20 turn primary/2000 turn
secondary...

-----
http://mindspring.com/~benbradley
Click to expand...
 
Excellent suggestion! I called a few neon sign places and found one
guy willing to sell me 75' of 15kv wire for $30! Great! Thanks for the
idea!

Joe C.


bj91504@binghamton.edu (bj91504@binghamton.edu) wrote:

Here is a nice site
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/hv/supplier.htm
www.newark.com has some High Voltage corona wire that rated.

or you could run down to your local neon sign company and buy the wire thier.
Click to expand...
 
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