HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
J. Aaron Holmes, Mon Sept 04 2006, 04:35AMWell, they're here, but we're scratching our heads a bit. A fellow Seattle coiler and I picked these up from a local power company earlier in the week and got our first look at the internals today. They're not at all like what we expected! Still, they might be useful for something.
Here's a picture of one of them sitting next to my pole pig. Yes, it's the monstrous insulator-housed thing on the left that totally dwarfs the pig:
The actual numbers on the thing (the numbers in my prior post were third-, maybe fourth-hand) are .027uF at 115kV AC.
We popped the ends off my friend's cap and slid the guts out. The guts are a bunch of stacked plate caps stacked on top of each other:
Yes, that is some kitty litter on the cap. The salvage guys like to throw it all over stuff they drain the oil from.
Not sure how many individual caps there actually are, since we haven't spent much time studying the wiring. Question is: Will they be any good for anything but their intended purpose? There's certainly enough of a voltage rating there for a TC (especially since the rating is in kV *AC*), but how about current? In service, these things would have to be able to tolerate a few near-short circuits every now and then due to surge arrestor operation, but...
Shortly after picking these up from the salvage yard, I got a call from the crew chief begging us to take the remaining four of these. He offered me all four for a total of $100! That's $25 each!
I really wish I had room for them. My friend is trying to figure out some way to buy them (some place to put them, actually), if for no other reason than they look really cool and are bound to be useful for something. Guess we'll find out! The remaining four haven't been de-oiled yet. If we buy the remaining oiled ones, we may just have to throw one straight into a coil and run it until it croaks (or for some really long period of time...whichever is shorter 
)Regards,
Aaron, N7OE
Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
ragnar, Mon Sept 04 2006, 06:02AM
Awesome news, Aaron! Grab 'em whilst you can, I say!
Can't wait to see how well they [mis?]behave when you get some volts onto them... either way, free caps and oily/insulator housings are good caps and insulator/housings! =-D
ragnar, Mon Sept 04 2006, 06:02AM
Awesome news, Aaron! Grab 'em whilst you can, I say!
Can't wait to see how well they [mis?]behave when you get some volts onto them... either way, free caps and oily/insulator housings are good caps and insulator/housings! =-D
Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
Electroholic, Mon Sept 04 2006, 10:15AM
a
no lil doorknobs?
plates... N2 TEA?
Electroholic, Mon Sept 04 2006, 10:15AM
a
no lil doorknobs?plates... N2 TEA?
Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
J. Aaron Holmes, Mon Sept 04 2006, 03:43PM
If the caps work, we'll be transplanting them into much lighter PVC tubes. I'm going to reuse the ceramic body for an oil-immersed secondary. Yes, yes, I'm sure it's relatively pointless, but seems "cool" Say "no" to racing sparks (the HARD way), hehehe...
J. Aaron Holmes, Mon Sept 04 2006, 03:43PM
If the caps work, we'll be transplanting them into much lighter PVC tubes. I'm going to reuse the ceramic body for an oil-immersed secondary. Yes, yes, I'm sure it's relatively pointless, but seems "cool"
Say "no" to racing sparks (the HARD way), hehehe...Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
FaLLoUT, Wed Sept 06 2006, 07:28AM
get them all and sell them to me for 50 each :) Where is this place???
FaLLoUT, Wed Sept 06 2006, 07:28AM
get them all and sell them to me for 50 each :) Where is this place???
Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
Bored Chemist, Wed Sept 06 2006, 05:43PM
Give some serious thought to buying them and, if you really can't find space, putting them on Ebay.
For the sort of profit I think you could make I would put them in my bed and sleep on the floor for a week or soif I didn't have any other options. (Of course, I'm not really that stupid- the caps would go on the floor- but I'm sure you see my point.)
Bored Chemist, Wed Sept 06 2006, 05:43PM
Give some serious thought to buying them and, if you really can't find space, putting them on Ebay.
For the sort of profit I think you could make I would put them in my bed and sleep on the floor for a week or soif I didn't have any other options. (Of course, I'm not really that stupid- the caps would go on the floor- but I'm sure you see my point.)
Re: HV coupling caps: Got 'em!
J. Aaron Holmes, Wed Sept 06 2006, 08:35PM
We (actually my friend) purchased the remaining four. Four more were attached to potential transformers, but they didn't want us taking them apart. Would have been cool to get one of those, but they were simply too big. The nice thing about the ones attached to the PTs is that they have the tap point for the voltage divider. Oh well...
I doubt if anybody could be bothered to ship one of these beasts! They are as heavy as they look! While they were declared working at the time of sale, they were formally retired from service, so it's not like anybody is going to be paying big $$ for these and trying to use them for their intended purpose again.
The place is City Light in Seattle, our beloved local utility and source of many HV goodies.
Regards,
Aaron, N7OE
J. Aaron Holmes, Wed Sept 06 2006, 08:35PM
We (actually my friend) purchased the remaining four. Four more were attached to potential transformers, but they didn't want us taking them apart. Would have been cool to get one of those, but they were simply too big. The nice thing about the ones attached to the PTs is that they have the tap point for the voltage divider. Oh well...
I doubt if anybody could be bothered to ship one of these beasts! They are as heavy as they look! While they were declared working at the time of sale, they were formally retired from service, so it's not like anybody is going to be paying big $$ for these and trying to use them for their intended purpose again.
The place is City Light in Seattle, our beloved local utility and source of many HV goodies.
Regards,
Aaron, N7OE
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