Earth Ground / Tesla Coils / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Tesla Coils

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Earth Ground

1 2 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

lbenson

Sun Jan 11 2009, 05:07AM

Registered Member #1756 Joined: Tue Oct 14 2008, 07:12AM
Location:
Posts: 32

I bought a 8' Copper grounding rod from lowes today. but i can only get it in about 4 feet. I was wondering if this is sufficient. As for the soil type. id say its pretty moist. I live in Kansas (if that helps at all). Also i was reading about EMI filters. if i have a proper earth ground do i need to worry about this. also ive heard SGTC are especially bad for electronic equipment like my PC. i didnt know if this was because they were on the same circuit. or because of the actual output of the tesla coil.

Arcstarter

Sun Jan 11 2009, 06:31AM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

Yes, an EMI filter is necessary even with proper grounding. The EMI filter has nothing to do with the base of the primary RF ground, or at least it shouldn't. It just keeps radio interference out of the outlets.

Four feet should be sufficient. Remember to keep ground-to-secondary wires short, and thick. You can(perhaps should) wet the ground around the pipe carefully, so as not to get the coil or the place you will stand wet. That will reduce resistance, and allow for wider area to be used as ground.

You should keep tesla coils well away from electronics if big. The output can affect the electronics even if they are not on the same circuit. I was running my tesla coil in the garage, which is at one end of the house, and the television on the other side of the house had static. The sparks where only a foot or so.

coillah

Sun Jan 11 2009, 07:12AM

Registered Member #1517 Joined: Wed Jun 04 2008, 06:55AM
Location: Chico CA
Posts: 304

I blew up my roomate's dvd player. He was not happy. Be nice and get an EMI filter.

Then, make sure your secondary has its OWN RF ground. This is important. The primary circuit and the secondary circuit should not be connected in any way...

lbenson

Sun Jan 11 2009, 07:22AM

Registered Member #1756 Joined: Tue Oct 14 2008, 07:12AM
Location:
Posts: 32

Eh i'm glad i asked. i thought i could just stick the stake in. and run a wire to it from inside my apartment. like 20-30 ft or something. i also thought wire size didnt matter.

aonomus

Sun Jan 11 2009, 07:58AM

Registered Member #1497 Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801

I live in an apartment and I'm not able to use a true RF ground, so I simply connected the secondary ground to input power ground with all the interference one would expect. Electronics would turn on/off by themselves or do unpredicted things, fortunately power-cycling things or just waiting seemed to fix all problems.

I would not risk it if you can get a RF ground.

Arcstarter

Sun Jan 11 2009, 06:24PM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

lbenson wrote ...

Eh i'm glad i asked. i thought i could just stick the stake in. and run a wire to it from inside my apartment. like 20-30 ft or something. i also thought wire size didnt matter.

Well, the current the wire has to carry is very small. But, the wire should be short and thick because of resistance. You want the very smallest resistance possible.

Dr. Dark Current

Sun Jan 11 2009, 06:32PM

Registered Member #152 Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384

Arcstarter wrote ...

Well, the current the wire has to carry is very small. But, the wire should be short and thick because of resistance. You want the very smallest resistance possible.

I don't see any problems with running the wire several meters. From what I heard, the peak secondary base currents of a TC are never higher than 1A or so (edit: for smaller coils), so even when the wire has 10ohms its not a problem. Inductance is actually a bigger problem but I think it won't cause any problems either.

Dr. Drone

Sun Jan 11 2009, 06:45PM

Registered Member #290 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 08:24PM
Location:
Posts: 1673

Hon1nbo

Sun Jan 11 2009, 06:59PM

Registered Member #902 Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040

I have had battery powered TCs start to wirelessly affect components (such as the HDTV, lights, and speakers on our back porch)... so while en EMI filter in a mains connection may help reduce the EMI through the power circuitry, remember that that same EMI gets transmitted through the AIR... hence, why some people test their devices in a Faraday cage...

it is pretty ironic to note that the wireless transmission of Electrical Power to other devices was the who concept when Nikola Tesla invented the Tesla Coil... now we all pray we DO NOT transmit power in the way that he intended

lbenson

Sun Jan 11 2009, 10:12PM

Registered Member #1756 Joined: Tue Oct 14 2008, 07:12AM
Location:
Posts: 32

I measured the resistance of my 50' wire with my multimeter. set on the "200ohm" setting which is also the continuity setting and makes a tone. i usually measure with the 2k, 20k, 200k. 2000k, or 2m setting. So if im measuring on the 200ohm setting and i get a reading of .5 or so. then would that be half an ohm or 50 ohms. I believe its .5 but i want to be sure.

1 2 next

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