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220 volt N.S.T.

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Adam Munich

Wed Nov 03 2010, 02:18AM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

I'm an underage kid.

Age defined as 18.

But I agree with you. You can do everything by the book but still have no common sense. When you do things "by the book" often one becomes complacent, and that is something you cannot do with electricity. It's not limited to high voltage electricity either: A 12v battery can cause a nasty fire or explosion. (from experience, I put a car battery in a field and lowered a wrench across the terminals [via pulley system] to see what would happen. It caught fire + there were minor explosions. Fun thing to try if you have a dead car battery.)

As for the off topic-ness, I feel this is useful info for radioman.

Tesla Fan

Wed Nov 03 2010, 02:25AM

Registered Member #3353 Joined: Sat Oct 23 2010, 11:21PM
Location: Greece
Posts: 90

Grenadier

I'm an underage kid. Age defined as 18

lol

Curtis

Thu Nov 04 2010, 03:59AM

Registered Member #883 Joined: Sat Jul 07 2007, 01:02PM
Location:
Posts: 16

I just have to throw in my 2 cents. In this hobby as with anything that deals with electricity, SAFETY IS JOB ONE. DO NOT take any shortcuts, ever. if you do not have a 220 plug, do not use 2 different plugs to get it. get a step-up transformer and enclose this transformer in a metal enclosure that you ground. clip a grounded lead onto any wire after you disconnect it from mains and before you touch it. check every circuit you build (3)three times visually each time before you apply power to it. There is no such thing as a safety freak. Safer is smarter, and the smarter you are the safer you will be. If, God forbid, one of us was to die in this hobby, it affects every one of us. If no one ever get hurt doing this then we will all be respected. If we have even a small amount of injuries, then we will all be considered foolhardy idiots for doing something so dangerous.
Sorry for my rant, but i am passionate about safety. Be safe, wear safety glasses and gloves, and you will have fun in this hobby.

radioman

Thu Nov 04 2010, 02:01PM

Registered Member #3026 Joined: Fri Jul 23 2010, 02:46PM
Location: Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Posts: 54

Curtis,

You are 100% right. You canâ€™t be too safe. I have never been closer than ten feet to my tesla coil while operating (I use a remote control box). I am definitely not going to try to tap into my house 220 volt line.

Radioman

Tesla Fan

Fri Nov 05 2010, 01:41AM

Registered Member #3353 Joined: Sat Oct 23 2010, 11:21PM
Location: Greece
Posts: 90

Hi Radioman,

I agree with Curtis, but i think that a properly made 220V line is safe. After all, here all lines are 220V! I have made many "upgrades" to houses that needed an extra line for a heater, washing machine, or even a little one-phase lathe (45A @ 220V) in the garage

. You can have a safe 100KW line, and you can be killed from a poorly installed 20W light bulb line, like most things in life you do it right or wrong no matter the size.

Curtis is right, best of all is an isolation (and step up) transformer but it will not be a cheap item. If you want to run the coil for long runs you will need an VA rating of twice your coils NST to ensure the transformer is not getting hot. As all transformers it has some losses (so more overall power drawn, but just a tiny amount if you do it right) and it will be a big and heavy piece of iron! But on the good side, it is portable (you can even mount it to your next TCs movable cabinet

) and that means you can run your coil from any power outlet in your house. Above all it offers isolation from the mains 110V live, but make no mistakes, 4 amps @ 220V (assuming a 1000VA transformer) is (way) more than is needed to kill you.

Now a dedicated line from the main breakers point (basement?) will be just as expensive (more if you must hire someone else to do it for you or the length of the wire it too big -copper is expensive), so if you do not plan to use another 220V device in the future there or you do mind the labor, mess and cost, maybe it not the best option.

I hope you are not "scared" by all these posts about safery, after all 20mA is all it needs to kill a human so a whole lot of stuff are dangerous. $20 for an 15KV NST is a great find, and i think if you get 2 or 4 (yea, go nuts!) you can make a better deal.

BTW, how much mA output do these have?

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