where do you get your power / Tesla Coils / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Tesla Coils

« Previous topic | Next topic »

where do you get your power

1 2 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

brandon3055

Thu May 17 2012, 08:24AM

Registered Member #4548 Joined: Mon Apr 23 2012, 03:52AM
Location: tasmania
Posts: 271

Hi all this is a question to all of you who build very large c tc's or anything that uses a lot of current because just running 4 MOT's can draw up to 4kw which is over the max power for a standard wall outlet so where do you plug in?

Sulaiman

Thu May 17 2012, 08:25AM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

Four standard power sockets ?

brandon3055

Thu May 17 2012, 08:59AM

Registered Member #4548 Joined: Mon Apr 23 2012, 03:52AM
Location: tasmania
Posts: 271

Sulaiman wrote ...

Four standard power sockets ?

Regular 240 outlet which unless imistaken are rated for 10amps max

Mads Barnkob

Thu May 17 2012, 09:13AM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

In Denmark all households have 3 phased 25A fused from the road side box.

Inside the house there is always as minimum a 3 phase 16A outlet for stove, ovens etc.

So inside a Danish house...
3 phased we can draw 11kW
2 phased we can draw 6.4kW
1 phased + neutral we can draw 2.3kW

Most garages, workshops, public places etc got 3 phased 32A outlets and up.

brandon3055

Thu May 17 2012, 09:47AM

Registered Member #4548 Joined: Mon Apr 23 2012, 03:52AM
Location: tasmania
Posts: 271

Well I guess when you think about it each outlet in your house Dosent have its own line to the meter box (unless it's a proper 15A 20A or larger outle) so a lot of the outlets will be piggy backed so if each one can handle 10A then the main line should be able to handle a bit more then 10A as long as their are no other large loads on the same line tight?

And if not that's what the circuit bracker is for

TwirlyWhirly555

Thu May 17 2012, 11:17AM

Registered Member #4104 Joined: Fri Sept 23 2011, 06:54PM
Location: Uk .
Posts: 122

In the Uk , Plugs are 13A fuse protected and the socket ring final circuit is backed by 32A breaker .

Steve Conner

Thu May 17 2012, 03:28PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

TwirlyWhirly555 wrote ...

In the Uk , Plugs are 13A fuse protected and the socket ring final circuit is backed by 32A breaker .

What this means in practice is, by replacing the plug fuse with a piece of 1/4" copper pipe, you can get 32A at 240V out of a UK wall socket for a short time, which has always been enough for me!

In fact, I found that the 13A plug fuse is pretty tough and would pass 30A for long enough to run a Tesla coil. I've popped the 32A breaker many times, but I think I only ever blew one plug fuse.

My workplace has a high voltage lab with a 3 phase, 400V, 63A feed, but I haven't built anything big enough to take advantage of it. Yet.

The big DRSSTCs seem to run off a 240V single phase supply (which is available in the USA for bigger appliances) and the really big ones, like Steve Ward's Gigantor, need 480V 3 phase. I believe Gigantor needs about 30kW of power.

Dr. Slack

Thu May 17 2012, 06:49PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

As the UK ring main is connected back by two 2.5mm2 cores to the 32A breaker, I have in the past drawn power from two paralleled 13A plugs. Now there's obviously a hazard in directly paralleling two plugs. If you plug one in, the pins of the other are live, not good. What I did was plug two unwired 13A plugs into a double socket, then glue a bit of wood across their backs, to get the spacing right. I now have a 6 pin plug rated at 26A, which physically cannot leave live pins sticking out. Each plug was then wired with equal lengths (about 3m) of 1.5mm2 flex, and then paralleled into a 32A "commando" socket. The idea was that the series resistance of these two longish thinnish wires would help to balance the plug currents. It helps to choose a double socket that is symmetrically placed on the ring, to equalise the resistances and so currents back to the breaker.

However my preferred route is to tap straight into the mains, after the meter and master 100A fuse, but before the consumer breaker unit. YMMV, but my consumer unit is connected back to the meter by a neat choc-block affair, which appears to have been designed to allow (relatively) safe live working, and is obviously there to enable the unit to be disconnected without breaking the power from the meter. I have a small one fuse box and 32A commando socket that gets wired into there whenever I want some juice. Fused at 40A, because I really don't want to lose power to the whole house if I screw up.

Needless to say, this was a while ago. I haven't done this since "part P" electrical regulations came in, honest.

Steve Conner

Fri May 18 2012, 09:27AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

For those non-UK readers mystified by this talk of commando sockets and ring mains:

Neither exists in the USA as far as I know.

Dr. Slack

Sun Jun 03 2012, 04:03PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

Commando plug and socket, and fuse pictured here. Note the socket has been temporarily wired as a 6A to 32A adapter, to enable the powering up of low powered stuff, but it's only a screwdriver away from being wired back as a full 32A socket.

These items now appearing in the For Sale thread, if anyone is interested

1 2 next

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob