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Registered Member #2036
Joined: Fri Mar 20 2009, 04:08AM
Location: PA, USA
Posts: 3
Thanks for the link Coherent, I looked through his selection of HV caps and found this one
which suited my original idea better.
The only question is, if it IS a defibrillator cap, I've heard on here and other places that they are not suitable for excessively numerous discharges, or did I read that wrong? I guess that I really shoulnd't expect more than 100 full capacity discharges before I start noticing aging.
I will also look into the ZVS charger, I've been compiling parts for constructing my ZVS driver for a flyback I got. The first boost converter I made (uzzor design) works flawlessly so I wound't mind stepping it up a bit and working on circuits with higher efficiency.
Registered Member #1062
Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
Location:
Posts: 1529
Defib capacitors are meant for only a couple discharges through a higher resistance. When you use a defib, you do use conductive gel, but it stillhas to go through the body. They would be suited for a couple. I would say only get them if you can get them cheap, or free.
Registered Member #1062
Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
Location:
Posts: 1529
right, you told me that
So what exactly makes a pulse capacitor "pulse"? Would it just be the thickness of all the connections and ESR/ESL? In non-polorazied capacitors, how does ringback affect it?
Registered Member #2036
Joined: Fri Mar 20 2009, 04:08AM
Location: PA, USA
Posts: 3
Thanks for all the info sofar everyone! my knowledge is growing exponentially on this subject now, and I think I'm starting to get a better grasp on this.
My goal right now is for between 4-5KV and 1-5uF.
I'm looking into Mica/Polymer caps I guess they are sometimes labeled as "snubbers". They can be found pretty cheaply on the 'Bay and I've found two in particular that interest me.
first is a set of 4 Mica/polymer 2uF/2Kv each, so a parallel bank of two caps each will yeild 2uf @ 4KV if I'm not mistaken. The other snubber cap I found is 3.3uF/1.5Kv, so I could form a similar bank of these
From what I've read about the Mica/polymer caps is they are great for quick discharge use, haven't read anything about their reliability (as far as life span) when being used as a discharge cap in continuous use however, so if anyone knows that information please clue me in. Thanks again everyone the help sofar is great and saved me from a few bad purchases.
Registered Member #1886
Joined: Sun Dec 28 2008, 02:55AM
Location:
Posts: 73
If you want to use them for wire exploding and other fun stuff you'll need a bit more energy. 4kv 2uf will only give you 16 joules which will give you a nice loud spark, but it will be useless for actually destroying anything. For wire exploding and the like you'll need >100 joules. I have a big 3.5kv 50uf maxwell pulse cap and it does a decent job at blowing stuff up.
Registered Member #1262
Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 05:22AM
Location: Maryland, USA
Posts: 451
A huge bank of mica or poly caps may quite well work for wire exploding, if you can get enough for cheap enough. As Coherent said, you need some pretty high energies.
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Identifying HV Pulse Caps
