Walking tesla coil?
Gary Marsh
the perfect Halloween costume.
I've seen this in magazines - people holding tesla coils, with sparks shooting from
all over them and light bulbs in their mouth lighting up and etc... I thought of
this idea, and it would make a good halloween costume...
Take a radio shack aluminum enclosure or something, and put a tesla coil in it with
a pack of nicads or something. Throw on a switch. Put it around the waist of your
tights and cape, and you have... "POWER ON!"...
"ZAP-MAN!!!!" - the walking and (truly) electrified kinda guy. Throwing lightning at
people, chasing terrified trick-or-treaters down the street, leaning on people's
cars with people inside (watch sparks start shooting from everything metal in the
car) and all sorts of mischief :)
Couple of questions tho.
Question 1: I have built a tesla coil out of a TV flyback, and it looks kinda scary.
sparks shooting everywhere and that. If I electrify myself with this coil, will I
die? I've heard stuff about skin effect and the frequency of the coil being so high
(mine runs at around 4MHz) that the electricity travels on the outside of the
body... thus, if I hold a tesla coil in my hand, i'll live.
I'm not sure about this tho. With my tesla coil, I haven't the nerve to get close to
the thing. I turn it on by plugging the opposite end of the 50 foot extension cord
into the wall :)
Question 2: Would I need anything like high-voltage boots and/or high voltage gloves
to pull this one? they'll look nice with the costume... but what if I trip up?
high-voltage tights? :)
E-mail a reply if possible... halloween is but a month away :)
Gary Marsh, gma...@surf.seascape.com
- GaryMaN on IRC -
frid...@dragon.pfc.mit.edu
->In article <44u75s$3...@news.bu.edu>, Brendon McNamara <bm...@bu.edu> wrote:
->>In article <DFtuB...@news.zippo.com>, gma...@surf.seascape.com says...
->>>
->>>One of my friends on IRC and I thought of this idea a while ago, while
->>
->>[great big *snip*]
->>
->>>E-mail a reply if possible... halloween is but a month away :)
->>>
->>>Gary Marsh, gma...@surf.seascape.com
->>> - GaryMaN on IRC -
->>>
->>
->>Please post here, too. This sounds like a great idea (provided it
->>wouldn't roast one alive) and I'd like to play copy-cat someday
->>if it would work.
->>
->
->
-> I've been thinking on this one for years. No luck yet, but it's still on
->my mind. I missed all the stuff in the [great big snip*] but I get the
->idea. I don't know how detailed the original poster was. AFAIK, it should
->be quite possible, but require some very careful design and operation. A
->solid-state design with auto-tuning capability would seem to be
->indicated. Perhaps using an appropriate TV flyback xformer, with custom
->primary and sense windings would work...
It might be possible be safe inside one, but what about people outside of it?
I don't have much experience with tesla coils, but I'd think that it'd be
hard to make one safe for person(s) inside and outside of it... You wouldn't
want to fry whole party with it would you?
Mike.
Chris Yardley
>In article <DFtuB...@news.zippo.com>, gma...@surf.seascape.com says...
>>
>
>
>>E-mail a reply if possible... halloween is but a month away :)
>>
>> - GaryMaN on IRC -
>>
>
>
I've been thinking on this one for years. No luck yet, but it's still on
my mind. I missed all the stuff in the [great big snip*] but I get the
idea. I don't know how detailed the original poster was. AFAIK, it should
be quite possible, but require some very careful design and operation. A
solid-state design with auto-tuning capability would seem to be
indicated. Perhaps using an appropriate TV flyback xformer, with custom
primary and sense windings would work...
--
Chris Yardley - jyar...@nyx10.cs.du.edu
Tantric Lobotomy Commission - Video Art Brain Damage...
Art meets Technology at the border of Insanity! TLC Demo Video available.
Addt'l e-addresses: cyar...@cyberspace.org bp...@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu
Brendon McNamara
Sam Goldwasser
Even if you have designed and tested it on yourself, you have no idea
of what it might do to others that you might come in contact with.
Kids of all sizes and ages can be incredibly curious and incredibly naive.
Your circuit can change it characteristics due to faulty parts or poor design
so that your precious skin effect is no more. Someone with a heart condition
could contact it. You could trip and fall with unkown consequences.
--- sam
Mark Iennaco
An ex-room-mate of mine builds display sized Tesla Coils as a
hobby. He and His compatriate do the types of people displays
you describe. They switch off who does the display and who
controls the coil. The one who does the display then Climbs ON
TOP of a FOUR FOOT GLASS INSULATOR.
It's an impressive display, and they do use it at home on
Halloween, but it's not mobile.
Also, last year they set up the coil on a stage that I was setting
up lights for. When they "Test Fired" the coil, they burned out
my dimmer control panel. Now, this is the first time that has happened
to them (in a number of shows), but a Tesla Coil generates uncontrolled
EMF, and endangers every piece of electronics in the neighborhood.
Thank You
Mark Iennaco
Jerry Biehler
<dre...@dreamersguild.com> wrote:
If you have a good RF-Ground, you should not experience much, if any
interference with electronics. For more info subscribe to the Tesla
maillist at usa-...@usa.net, or check out Bill Beaty's home page at
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/weird.html
-Jerry
st...@oak.circa.ufl.edu
>
>Gary Marsh, gma...@surf.seascape.com
> - GaryMaN on IRC -
Every flyback coil I've made ran around 40 KHZ not 4 MHz. I've used some fast
designs that run at resonance using direct feedback coils in a multivibrator
push-push configuration. Any one of these could hurt me bad.
Mike
Thomas Stalcup
: Every flyback coil I've made ran around 40 KHZ not 4 MHz. I've used some fast
: designs that run at resonance using direct feedback coils in a multivibrator
: push-push configuration. Any one of these could hurt me bad.
I'm not especially knowlegable about Tesla coils, but I have been
experimenting on and off for a while. Am I right in thinking that the
output frequency is the same as the resonant frequency of the secondary?
I guess what I'm asking, then, are the 40 kHz and the 4MHz values quoted
the resonant frequency of the secondary, or the frequency of the supply?
Thomas
Chris Yardley
>is left of them after the Tesla coil types get done with them), then
>I would be somewhat surprized to see one run with any kind of significant
>output at 4 MHz. They are not wound for low capacitance.
>
>Maybe our terminology is in conflict...
>
>--- sam
>
The flyback designs I've seen seem to run between 10khz and 40 or 50
khz. I don't think the ferrite cores in flybacks will even work at 4 mhz.
I'm curious how high the frequency needs to be to get enough skin effect
to have safe-to-play-with sparks.. ??