Safety First
Well I have talked about it for years. I’ve thought about it and I am finally going to set forward with building a decent Tesla Coil. Now when I say “decent” I really mean, “much better than the one that a friend and I had built about sixteen years ago”. If the secondary coil was anywhere close to being in tune with any of the other components then it was purely by luck.
Now since I would like to get this right from the get go, I would like to make safety a big factor. I have combed through Tesla mailing lists and websites and read up a bit on safety. This is probably the best link I have found for my needs.
The first order of business is to have my own circuit breaker dedicated to my efforts. Luckily I have two 30 amp breakers free on my home’s breaker panel. 13 and 14 right at the bottom.
The breakers are already wired up to another fuse panel in my garage. These are also 30 amp fuses. The receptacle is rated for 50 amps. Unfortunately the panel and receptacle are located in a bad spot. I will need to relocate them to the front of the garage where my RF ground will go.
As if two breakers would not be enough I also have this smaller box used for air conditioning units as my main switch. It is a single 240 volt switch rated for 60 amps. This will be the switch that will activate any circuit I happen to be playing with.
Next up will be the RF ground. In the past I have toyed with chemical ground electrodes to receive distant VLF stations. More on that can be found HERE. The above picture is merely a copper pipe with holes drilled in it hammered into the ground. I then pour brine solution into the pipe and let it leech out of the holes. After a decent amount of brin has been poured in I then stuff the pipe with rock salt. This, I am told, creates a decent RF ground.
For my purposes I will be using two of these spaced about 5 feet apart in this garden along my driveway. I hope that this will provide me with a decent enough ground for my coiling efforts.
Now since I would like to get this right from the get go, I would like to make safety a big factor. I have combed through Tesla mailing lists and websites and read up a bit on safety. This is probably the best link I have found for my needs.
The first order of business is to have my own circuit breaker dedicated to my efforts. Luckily I have two 30 amp breakers free on my home’s breaker panel. 13 and 14 right at the bottom.
The breakers are already wired up to another fuse panel in my garage. These are also 30 amp fuses. The receptacle is rated for 50 amps. Unfortunately the panel and receptacle are located in a bad spot. I will need to relocate them to the front of the garage where my RF ground will go.
As if two breakers would not be enough I also have this smaller box used for air conditioning units as my main switch. It is a single 240 volt switch rated for 60 amps. This will be the switch that will activate any circuit I happen to be playing with.
Next up will be the RF ground. In the past I have toyed with chemical ground electrodes to receive distant VLF stations. More on that can be found HERE. The above picture is merely a copper pipe with holes drilled in it hammered into the ground. I then pour brine solution into the pipe and let it leech out of the holes. After a decent amount of brin has been poured in I then stuff the pipe with rock salt. This, I am told, creates a decent RF ground.
For my purposes I will be using two of these spaced about 5 feet apart in this garden along my driveway. I hope that this will provide me with a decent enough ground for my coiling efforts.