The Turn Of The Century Electrotherapy Museum
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com
(C) Jeff Behary 2010 jeff_behary@hotmail.com 

Museum Archives: 2010D 2010C 2010B 2010A 2009E 2009D 2009C
2009B 2009A 2008C 2008B 2008A 2007B 2007A 2006 2005
Museum Technology Library Tesla Kinraide Fischer Products Links Contact
                 




Binary Tesla Coil Capacitors



I got these awesome doorknob caps from Philip Slawinski of Tesla Universe.
Each cap is rated for .00068 mfd at 20kVDC or 5kVAC.
When connected in parallel following the binary number series, the capacity value can be found below:


Capacity in µfd Switch Position
0.00068 0001
0.00136 0010
0.00204 0011
0.00272 0100
0.00340 0101
0.00408 0110
0.00476 0111
0.00544 1000
0.00612 1001
0.00680 1010
0.00748 1011
0.00816 1100
0.00884 1101
0.00952 1110
0.01020 1111



This original cap bank was designed with (9) 40kV .002 mfd doorknob caps.  They were arranged
in banks to provide .001, .002, .004, and .008 mfds via 4 knife switches.  I bought two .0027 mfd
doorknob caps on Ebay and added them to the mix for a little more variation...  Capacities available are below:

Capacity in µfd Switch Position Switch Position II
0.0010 0001 00
0.0020 0010 00
0.0027 0000 01
0.0030 0011 00
0.0037 0001 01
0.0040 0100 00
0.0047 0010 01
0.0050 0101 00
0.0054 0000 11
0.0057 0011 01
0.0060 0110 00
0.0064 0001 11
0.0067 0100 01
0.0070 0111 00
0.0074 0010 11
0.0077 0101 01
0.0080 1000 00
0.0084 0011 11
0.0087 0110 01
0.0090 1001 00
0.0094 0100 11
0.0097 0111 01
0.0100 1010 00
0.0104 0101 11
0.0107 1000 01
0.0110 1011 00
0.0114 0110 11
0.0117 1001 01
0.0120 1100 00
0.0124 0111 11
0.0127 1010 01
0.0130 1101 00
0.0134 1000 11
0.0137 1011 01
0.0140 1110 00
0.0144 1001 11
0.0147 1100 01
0.0150 1111 00
0.0154 1010 11
0.0157 1101 01
0.0164 1011 11
0.0167 1110 01
0.0174 1100 11
0.0177 1111 01
0.0184 1101 11
0.0194 1110 11
0.0204 1111 11



This is a homemade stacked plate cap.  The values of the individual stacks are .001, .002, .004, .008, .016, .032, and .064
mfd.  By 7 knife switches a range of .001 - .127 mfd can be had at .001 mfd increments.  This has been used routinely with
4kV 500mA (2000 watts).

This is a homemade "kicking coil" or self-induction coil power supply/tuner.  The homemade caps inside have values of .001, .002, 
.004, .008, .016, .032, .064, and .128 mfds.  It is adjustable from .001 mfd - .254 mfd in .001 mfd increments.

The caps were made with waxed paper and tin foil, salvaged from an old condenser.

It is limited in voltage to around 1500V, and is used with "Violet Ray" type of circuits and small lower frequency Pancake Coils.





(C) Jeff Behary, 2010