Tesla coils and CFLs.

[flathunter]

Ok.

Flathunter is hardly a man with a scientific background.  I like to keep things simple.  Here is my idea.  Its a very simple idea and probably hugely misguided - I'm posting it here cos i know lots of you know a great deal more about Teslas inventions than I do, so it would be nice to hear an educated response as to why this wouldnt work....

I've built myself a tesla coil, and its pretty powerful (perhaps the reason why my thoughts are misguided).  Firstly, it seems to me that I can add any number of CFLs to a receiver coil, and they always light up providing that the receiver coil is close enough to the transmitter (perhaps my coil is just very powerful, and if i tried 250 CFLs they WOULDNT all work.  Is this where im going wrong?)  Secondly, it seems like when i add more receiver coils and connect them to the ground (for which i am using a very large heavy piece of iron, sitting on the floor) the CFLs which are touching the iron get a bit brighter (perhaps my eyes are deceiving me - not sure) - so to increase my output, i just need more receiver coils....

My idea was to build a new, smaller tesla coil that runs off a 12V lead acid battery (hoping to replicate Yuccas high voltage power supply for this.  Cheers mate!).  This is simply so i have a much better idea of the input.  Then I build my receiver coils, get loads more CFLs, and eventually get to the point where the output is greater than the input.  Obviously the laws of physics say this will not happen.  But i'm gonna try anyway, if only because of looking at Kapanadze and Don Smith.  Their inventions LOOK simple (though perhaps they are not!) and when i read what they say, they seem to suggest that receiver coils multiply the power. 

What does everyone think?

Positive criticism and insults are welcome 

Here are 2 videos with just 8 CFLs being lit.  1 with 1 receiver coil, 1 with 3.  The receiver coils are just coils wrapped round a sewage pipe - they were built in a haphazard fashion with little care for number of turns, and they have wire of various thickness.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSRQ0kfU2TM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS5TSZC3nEM

[xee2]

@ flathunter

Thanks for the video. I am surprised your camera still works after getting that close to the Tesla coil.

If you keep adding additional output loads on the coil it will eventually start decreasing in output voltage.

[flathunter]

Thanks for the reply Xee2.  I always read your posts on the JT thread with great interest - i realise you know your stuff!

So, basically i was right.  If i keep on adding CFLs to the output, eventually they will stop lighting.....this is the problem with my plan.  Right?

I'm still gonna try and make a small Tesla coil and see it for myself - i'm hoping that some receiver coils may lead to some exotic effects like Don Smith or Kapanadze seem to have played with.  Of course, this is probably impossible.  But what better way to spend your time than making Tesla coils eh?

I wanna try placing my receiver coil in a different place....perhaps in the centre of my T.C secondary - see if i can get some amps as well as volts.  I was reading Patrick Kellys superb site last night, and thats where i got the idea.  Watch this space for my videos!

PS.  My camera froze twice when i used it near the coil - but started working again after a recharge of the battery.  My wife complains that the icon on her computer shakes constantly and blames the TC.  And my daughters toys keep making silly noises whenever i switch it on.  I realise that its a naughty piece of equipment with some strange and unexpected effects!  This is why i'm hoping that exotic effects will soon be found....

[xee2]

@ flathunter

So, basically i was right.  If i keep on adding CFLs to the output, eventually they will stop lighting.....this is the problem with my plan.  Right?

Yes. It is like putting LEDs on a car battery. At first it seems like there is not limit to how many can be added. But if you add enough they will exceed the amount of current the battery can supply.

[flathunter]

I hear you xee2 

But nonetheless, I've never tried placing LEDs on a car battery...for all I know, it could be the path to free energy!  I doubt it, but until i test something for myself i can never be sure.  And I really want to keep testing the receiver coils for how much output i can get.  I think the Don Smith/Kapanadze riddle depends on figuring out these receiver coils.  And I know the output of a TC is hard to measure at such high frequencies, so i try to just use CFLs

How do i measure the input of my Tesla coil?  I'm using a 6500V NST at 23mA.
As watts = volts x amps, i figure that means 6500 x 0.023 = 149.5W Right?

How do i measure the output of the coil?  I can get 8 CFLs (1 x 4W, 5 x 14W, 1 x 20W, and 1 unknown - maybe 15W at a guess...) alight...but its probably able to light more.

Now am i right in concluding the output is the wattage of all these lamps together (at full brightness of course)....which = 109W.

Is this correct? Please tell me where my calculations are going off into never-never land!  Because if this is true, then I should only be able to add a few more CFLs (3 more cheap 14W ones), and then I go above my input wattage of 149.5W...and the CFLs I imagine will maybe all still light up, but dimmer and dimmer and dimmer as I add more....right?  If this is the case, I'm buying more tomorrow and my sole mission will be getting them all to light at full brightness!

Sorry to ask these basic questions.  I know its physics 101, but i never studied physics at uni - i studied chemistry, and only for a couple of years!  Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me out with my poor maths n physics.  I like building, but i aint great at it, and i always need a little help - thats why I'm here.  I'm also here as I know lots of peeps here are skeptics, and i like to be skeptical towards myself - its the only way to conduct an experiment!

Thanks again!  All input welcome