Electronic – Tesla Coil Issue

debugginghigh voltagetesla-coil

I'm currently working on my first Tesla coil, and to my dissapointment, after completing it, the Coil does not function. I cannot figure out what went wrong.

I have been told that an MOT wont produce a high enough voltage, but even when the spark gap is almost no gap, I still get no sparks.

I am using the schematic found HERE (except with 2 capacitors in parallel)

I am also using 2 different gauge enameled wire for the primary coil, so I don't know if that is a problem! Here are the photos of it, and thanks for the help in advance!

Picture of Tesla Coil
Transformer
Spark Gap
Capacitors

Best Answer

That is a disaster waiting to happen. Here are just a couple of the problems:

  • You can't use galvanized steel bolts for your spark gap. They'll quickly overheat, erode, and the wooden base will probably catch fire. Also, the zinc plating will burn off in a cloud of toxic fumes. Try a Richard Quick gap or a sucker gap.
  • You can't use microwave oven capacitors as your primary capacitor. They can't handle the high peak discharge currents and will explode, showering the room with hot oil.
  • The hookup wire you've used to interconnect the tank components is too thin.
  • The primary (the ~6 turn coil made from copper tubing) is probably tuned incorrectly. You need a movable tap.
  • The primary-secondary coupling is too high.
  • A single MOT has too low of a voltage. It's not impossible to build a working Tesla coil with a single MOT, but it's quite challenging and from the pictures it is very obvious that you don't have the experience needed.

I am very worried for your safety. You should do more research, starting with this safety guide: http://www.pupman.com/safety.htm You should start off with a different high voltage transformer - a 12 kV, 30 mA neon sign transformer (NST) will be both much safer and easier to get working. MOTs take no prisoners.

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