Is the high voltage in the primary of a Tesla coil really necessary (see details)?

Question

The voltage (amplitude) in the Tesla resonator doesn't directly depend on the primary voltage (amplitude), but rather on the power with which it is pumped. So it should be possible to achieve the same effect with a lower primary voltage (amplitude) as long as the current (amplitude) is increased accordingly in order to sustain the magnetic flux (amplitude), right?

Answer 1

What the guy above says it true, but what you want to do is still possible with a couple of caveats (that makes it impractical).

If you could increase the number of turns in the secondary, and keep the overall length of the secondary coil the same ratio as it is for a 'normal' Tesla coil (the same coupling coeficient), then you can generate the same output for a lower voltage input. The problem is, when you get down to #34 wire and smaller gauges, the interwinding capacitance goes up, and the voltage per inch goes up, so arcing in the secondary is much more likely. Once you get an arc in the secondary, the enamel insulation is shot and you have to wind the secondary all over again.

To decrease the primary by a factor of 10 (i.e 5 kV down to 500 V) you need to increase the number of turns in the secondary by roughly a factor of 10 which (as shown above) is just not practical. Even so, 500 V on the primary is still a 'high' voltage.

My Tesla coil uses a car ignition coil and an electronic driver (similar to a solid-state ignition module in a car) for the primary. It's not a lot of power, but it still produces some decent 6" sparks. The nice thing about an electronic primary is that I can tune the frequency of the generator to match the resonance of the primary, rather than messing with the taps on the primary to change its resonance. I can also hook up a neon sign transformer to the primary and get some nice 12" sparks, if I desire.

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Answer 2

It all depends on what parts you have and how much money you want to spent on it and if you dont have any experience in high voltage projects i would not suggest building one just yet learn some high voltage safety and start small like jacobs ladder because if you have no experience tesla coils are hard and dangerous but if you want to know youtube has some pretty informational videos on tesla coils and just remember for these types of thing google is your best friend trust me my tesla coil is comming along great should be done hopefully in the next couple of weeks

Answer 3

True, but how are you going to govern current without voltage? You'll be feeding this current through the load of the primary, that means that I=V/R. There's no way to increase power by simply using a low voltage and high current, (unless you're using some kind of current limiter now) because the current will be governed by voltage pulling it through the primary. Also, the more current you have, the more energy that will be directly lost to heat, so it's not a great idea practically. And lastly, a word of warning, TC's don't shock you, not because they can't pull current through you, but because their frequencies aren't as physiologically active with our nervous system as 60Hz AC. That is, even if you don't feel it, you can be having current pulled through you causing internal heating--I've heard of people developing joint pain and the like from playing around with these things.

Answer 4

Yes, you'll have to increase conductivity with a more conductive material or lower temps.