From SROYS@RADIOLOGY.AB.UMD.EDU Tue Apr 26 09:22 MDT 1994
>Received: from comm1.ab.umd.edu by csn.org with SMTP id AA15288
  (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for <tesla@grendel.objinc.com>); Tue, 26 Apr 1994 09:16:48 -0600
To: tesla@grendel.objinc.com (Nikola Tesla (Chip Atkinson))
From: "SROYS"  <SROYS@RADIOLOGY.AB.UMD.EDU>
Date:         Tue, 26 Apr 1994 11:14:59 EDT
Subject:      Re: RF chokes

> This all brings up another question for me. Are these chokes required 
> to protect certain components (the primary trans.) or are they just to 
> keep from screwing up the neighbors TV set? I've heard implications 
> of both now, but no solid answers. The search for knowledge 
> continues.

Mark,

From what I've heard, the chokes are used mainly to keep your 
transformer from getting fried, but they would also help keep the HF 
stuff out of your house lines.  It would also be smart to put a line filter 
between your plug and your primary transformer to try to stop as much 
RF noise as possible.  About your neighbor's TV, I'm not sure how 
much  RF a Tesla coil radiates, but you'll probably end up annoying 
them no matter what you do if they're close enough to be affected.

Also, I thought the RMS/Peak-to-peak voltage measurement went the 
other way.  I know that for standard house current, the 120V is really an 
RMS (Root Mean Square = average) measurement, which would always 
be less than the peak voltage.  Since house current is a sine wave, the 
peak voltage is sqrt(2) * RMS_voltage, and the peak-to-peak voltage is 
about 340V.  I always assumed that a transformer that was rated at 
12KV meant RMS volts?

Re caps: one rule of thumb that I've heard is that your caps should be 
rated for at least 2.5 x your primary voltage.  Also, the voltage across 
the caps can  be many times the input voltage due to resonance 
effects, not just the supply voltage.

                Steve Roys
Steven Roys (sroys@anchorage.ab.umd.edu)


