Ask a question, is a high voltage will damage the equipment

This forum is for specialized infomation important to the construction and safe operation of the high voltage electrical supplies and related circuitry needed for fusor operation.
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Charles Vorbach
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Re: Ask a question, is a high voltage will damage the equipm

Post by Charles Vorbach »

In that case, then wouldn't it be fine to use your house's center ground if it complies with the National Electric Code's 25 ohms or less.

It seems to me the grounding wire has one of the following states .

1. No, current flows through it because the circuit to the transformer is closed.

2. The circuit to the transformer is broken, current flows through center ground to earth. If your center ground has 100 ohms of resistance to ground and a current of 20 mA is flowing, a maximum of 2 volt of potential is to be gained by jumping to another wire. If your outlet has a GFCI it will detect this ground fault and trip.

It seems to me the center ground is fine for 100+ kv fusors since it was designed for lightening strikes with whole lot more voltage. Am I wrong?
Charles Vorbach
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Real name: Charles Vorbach

Re: Ask a question, is a high voltage will damage the equipm

Post by Charles Vorbach »

Sorry for repeating myself.
Last edited by Charles Vorbach on Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
John Futter
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Re: Ask a question, is a high voltage will damage the equipm

Post by John Futter »

Charles
The mains ground connection is a safety earth and a reference point for the applied power.
Without being tied to earth on one side the incoming mains will float to some arbitary value based on leakage or other phantom sources.
the earth connection has nothing to do with lightning protection
Charles Vorbach
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Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:39 pm
Real name: Charles Vorbach

Re: Ask a question, is a high voltage will damage the equipm

Post by Charles Vorbach »

Ok. So the ground connection is to make the fusor's chamber electrically common with any one touching it and serves as reference for the voltage applied. I also get that without grounding neutral or isolating the transformer (bad idea) the fusor's chamber would float to high voltages, but why does this make your house's center ground (assuming it works) inappropriate for high voltages at low currents?
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