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First off, hi! This is my first post here; I'm excited to join the community.
Anyway, I'm working on my first Tesla coil, based off of Steve Ward's MiniSSTC design. I found some wire laying around that might work for the primary, but it's a little thin. However, it's speaker wire (Edit: zip cord), two wires with their insulation connected. If I didn't separate them and just connected the two wires together at each end, would it work?
Registered Member #72
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659
That will work just fine. Fatter wire may work very slightly better, but it's more important to get something reasonable going first. You probably never will upgrade just the primary, but build a bigger and better of everything next.
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
For an SSTC, almost anything will do. I have used three wire extension cord cables with great success, with all of the wires paralleled. You can also series them if you wish to.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Absolutely.
The only potential issue is that there are lots of speaker wire out there that are made from aluminum and not copper. This is especially true of low cost speaker wire. However, even aluminum shouldn't be a big deal for tesla coil use as some of the largest tesla coils use aluminum for primaries (i.e. aluminum flashing), but just something to be considered if you are to run your coil at very high frequencies.
The only potential issue is that there are lots of speaker wire out there that are made from aluminum and not copper. This is especially true of low cost speaker wire. However, even aluminum shouldn't be a big deal for tesla coil use as some of the largest tesla coils use aluminum for primaries (i.e. aluminum flashing), but just something to be considered if you are to run your coil at very high frequencies.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Then that should be fine for your Tesla coil. Just remember, the insulation may not be rated for the higher voltages (i.e. 300V or 600V) that is typical with most hook-up wire, so you may have to pay more attention how you route your wire from your driver board to the primary coil. In otherwords, be careful about it coming close to earth ground or other connection points so that it doesn't arc through the insulation.
But other than that, its perfectly fine for your application.
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Can I use dual 'speaker wire' for a primary?
