MINI TESLA COIL

this is a very cheap mini tesla coil made of stuff i had lying around.
how it works: "Electricity flows into C1 until a high voltage is seen across G1. When this voltage is high enough, a spark jumps across the gap and allows C1 to discharge into L1 and L2. The voltage "bounces" back and forth at an extremely high rate. When the rate of discharge between C1 and L1 matches the rate of C1 and L2, the two circuits are said to be "in resonance" and the voltage goes up through the roof."

DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE: although the amps are relatively "low" this can still be dangerous. always turn it off before making adjustments unless you are experienced. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU GET HURT!

Step 1 You will need...

parts:
a 9.5in x .9in (od) PVC pipe 
15 high voltage capacitors 
matching round head bolts
wood
a bottle
2 pens
electrical tape
speaker wire
about 300ft of 32 awg mag wire
18 awg solid core hook up wire

tools:
saw
knife
drill
hot glue gun
different drill bits 

power source:
flyback driver or
NST 
(1-10kv)
 

Comments

[Electrodude]

can you use electrolytic capacitors?

[Jimmy Proton]

No. electrolytic caps dont have very high voltage ratings so you would need a lot, plus this is AC, electrolytes are DC

[Bumba Lodh]

Hi,I built a TESLA COIL with 5kv 30ma nst.Primary coil made with 4mm
copper tube with 10 turns secondary made with 2inch PVC pipe.Winding
height 10.2inch(0.315mm enameled copper wire used) also made Capacitor
bank with 2kv 0.15uF polyester film capacitor.But the problem is my
Capacitor burnt several times but the coil works with LEYDEN JAR
capacitor.Why the capacitor burning??????


Please Help Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jimmy Proton]

well if you're using a 5kv nst and your capacitors are only 2kv, the problem is kind of obvious. (assuming you're using 50Hz) the exact resonate frequency of your transformer would be 0.019uF, you can achieve that by just putting 8 caps in series, this will also increase your voltage rating to 10kV, so they shouldn't burn out unless you're using bad caps.

[Bumba Lodh]

i tried to put 5 capacitor in series to increase the voltage rating to 10KV and also tried put 8 in series but every time i get the same result should i use polypropylene film capacitor?

[Jimmy Proton]

Yeah you should try a different kind of capacitor, im not sure what kind but polypropylene film caps should work fine, just dont get cheap ones!

[aweis]

so how about 70 volts alternating current, a kila volt that is one thousand volts right?

[Jimmy Proton]

70V is way to low, for this one you need at least 1kV, the supply I was using was about 2kV.

[zanki_kitsune]

yes but 1kv is after the transformer, that increases the voltage, when really your power source was likely the 110-120 volts of a house outlet unless your the European 220. so instead of 120 how about 70v before the transformer is what i was asking. wich i know is entirely possible now. just not as powerful.

[lug big lug]

well it depends on your transformers output.... thats all that matters

[sudhanshu529]

hii !!! i have secondary on a 2.5 inch PVC and my toroid is made of aluminum duct . now i want to know whether there is any electrical connection between these 2 . how should i mount the toroid on the secondary ??

[Jimmy Proton]

You connect the wire on the end of the secondary to the toroid and mount it on top of the pipe, make sure there is no metal in the pipe though.

[sudhanshu529]

so i have to connect one end of the secondary to the toroid ? what about the other end ??

[Jimmy Proton]

The other end goes to ground, but I didn't do anything with it on this one, just left it there.

[aweis]

i plan on making a smaller one than this, besides people can get several hundred thousand from standard wall outlet, 120 volts, and i intend to have a high voltage transformer, which you seem to be not using, i will not use a flyback transformer, because f expense, are not those for makeing direct curent into alternating current? i plan on making many of my own capaciters, and where can anyone get a 1kv power supply without breaking the bank, all i need is a tesla coil to produce tiny sparks, the generator alone can produce a quarter of a centimerter sparks already, so a smal tesla coil made well enough could probably get me something visable, it is my first tesl coil, and all i need is it to be at least 6 inches tall, and produce some sort of electrical discharge. do expect everyone to make the exact same one as you?

[Jimmy Proton]

Still, even 100V is to low for that, 500V is more of what you need, maybe more. You can use an electronic lamp ballast probably, the one I have is 580V and I use it to power my 100kV flyback. I have herd that you will probably get AC output from a DC input from a flyback which is the only explanation why I can use a flyback to power this. By this way, this is poorly made Tesla Coil and creates very small
sparks.

[thunder strike]

and as well i intend to make mine better improve it ad a toroid, to increase spark production experiment with making bigger sparks, and also something such as a neon sign transformer make it quite a bit more powerful from standard house electricity, with something like that does it have to be standard socket power to power the neon sign transformer. something funny just happened that i had to put in here, i misspelled something and when i used spellcheck one of the suggestions was "typo"

[aweis]

wait electonic lamp ballast is that used in some way to produce enough electricity, to power the capaciters, wich actually where the power is converted into hiugh voltages from, so i would technically be able to make a small maybe 6 inch tesla coil work, it is just the wind up for the electrical discharge may take a while the first time and have more space inbetween,

[Raymond Tahjono]

and bytheway what does a flyback driver look like? any websites to help me see images&examples would be greatly appreciated !

[lug big lug]

search google images for flyback drivers

[Raymond Tahjono]

For the 15 high voltage capacitors, I will need 15 of them? and what does it look like?

[R.A.T.M]

you do realize that the wire wrapping is wrong its not the wright amount its 2 much more your power source the point of the coils it to increase the voltage and get a ark that dosent need a direct ground yo put arks

[sguy1]

i am working on teslacoil. and i don't get one thing! which of the wire positive or negative from capacitors joins the spark gap? is it negative? if so what to do with the positive wire from capacitor?
what about grounding ? is it primary coil or secondary coil or capacitor to be grounded?
and what are the things that we people be careful of while making this stuff.

[Jimmy Proton]

There is no polarity is this, it is AC, the bottom of the secondary is grounded and just dont touch anything and you'll be fine, although I would say that the streamers are safe to touch for something as small as this.

[sguy1]

oh so you mean that we can join any of two wires from capacitor!!

[Jimmy Proton]

Yeah.

[sguy1]

what if we don't include capacitor? will it still work?

[Jimmy Proton]

no.

[sguy1]

thanx for the replying soon. keep making these cools stuffs.

[aweis]

by a 1 killavolt supply since i doubt anyone will have a generator of that capability, you mean such as a, do not remember what it is called, but it mutiplies the voltage. such as a neon sigh transformer. or another supply, i might just make a small Jacobs ladder.

[Jimmy Proton]

Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier?

[robcwise]

I've been planning on building one, but I don't understand why you need a spark gap. Could you explain to me what its for?

[Jimmy Proton]

You could compare it to the heart in the brain, the brain cant control the heart without blood and the heart can't supply blood without the brain. with the heart being the spark gap and the brain being the capacitors: the capacitors charge up via the transformer, when they are charged the spark gap fires and the capacitors release their energy into the primary. without the spark gap you would have continuous input into the primary and without the capacitors all the power would just go straight through the spark gap.

[sudhanshu529]

hii .... actually this is my first attempt to tesla coil ... i m doing it for my college project ... i use a secondary coil 63mm in dia , with wire .3mm thick and 1000 turns... my primary is made of 10 SWG wire with 6 turns with first dia being 160 mm and consequent turns 5mm apart .. i had ordered a transformer 220/4000V and 35mA ... i dont noe whether it is current limiting or not ... i made toroid using a 4inches aluminium duct .. 22 inches in circumference ... now a few questions :-
1) can i use a series of 400V capacitance for primary ?
2) what should be the value and current rating of my bleeder resistance ( connected accross capacitance)
3) how do i limit the current ; provided i dont noe whether my transformer can limit the current or not ... ?? if using a choke what would be a good value of the choke and its rating ??
4) can i wind primary on a wooden structure or do i need acrylic sheet or Bakelite ???
5) how do i tune my tesla coil ... i have no access to occilioscope :( :(

thanx alot BTW for sharing your experience !!!

[Jimmy Proton]

1-The caps have to be about 2 or 3 times the input voltage, you can wire them in series to increase the voltage and just to throw it out your capacitance should be around 20-25nF.
2-10M ohm resistor is what most use.
3-sorry I do not know the answer to that.
4-anything non-conductive should work just fine.
5-to tune your Tesla Coil you can adjust where the connection is on the primary, you can change the capacitance of the capacitor bank, and you can adjust the width of the spark gap, you could also experiment with different sized toroids.
Do you have any pictures?

[sudhanshu529]

thanx alot ..... yea i have pics and have made video of the construction .

[thunder strike]

i do like how you answer the questions that are posted, while i am still waiting for other questions to be answered on other ones, good job.
P.S. i am the same person as AWeis but i wanted an actual account for me and my friend to post, on what we make.

[Jimmy Proton]

Thanks!

[aweis]

i am a scince nerd, so i wish to know how this revent a lethal radio onterference with other electronics?

[Jimmy Proton]

They reduce the electric field.