Gray's Tube Build - Progressive -

[FatBird]

The cheapest place to buy High Voltage power supplies is at Thrift Stores like the Salvation Army, Purple Heart, etc.  I have seen used Room HV Air Cleaners for around $10.

Tear out the HV Unit, Plug it in the Wall, & you will have a 12 KV Pulsating DC supply READY TO GO, almost free. 

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[FatBird]

Here is another kind of Electronic Air Cleaner that has a 12 KV power supply.

Just remove the 12 KV Power Supply & throw the rest of it away, & you are ready to go.

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[geotron]

These are the inner workings of a 30w 550mA CFL bulb.

On each side are two leads wound with a bit of copper
wire... I'm a bit uncertain which two I ought to use,
and what the resulting polarity would be - is there any
way to be certain?

While your power supply idea has plenty of merit, it would
require that I possibly break an operational unit.

If I can find out how many volts this CFL board puts out,
it will serve quite nicely as a starting point for the
CW Voltage Multiplier, although it would require that I
use 120V AC.

Ideally I'd like to charge the high voltage rod directly
from the 12V lead acid battery through the chain of diodes
and capacitors, so as to remove the necessity of having to
use alternate power sources... as shown below - in regards
to which I must ask the following -

When the charge passes through the capacitor(s) following
the electromagnetic coil, then back to the battery past
the motor driving the +12V, what is to prevent this from
overloading it as well as the 5KV supply - also hooked onto
the 12V battery?

[geotron]

The extent of my efforts was in vain it seems, with a

20,000+ Volt unit sitting nearby. I'll be using it from
this point foward.

Forthcoming I'll be crafting the other operational parts together
upon their arrival.

[geotron]

It seems that this power supply is in fact 25KV, with
a high-frequency driver feeding a CW multiplier.  It is
unknown to me how this could have any effect on the
operation of the tube discharge in comparison to
using a regular low-frequency high voltage supply.

I'll be recieving a shipment of copper mesh soon, so
all that is needed besides would be a high-voltage diode
to attach on the 12V end. I've already got a 2100V
microwave capacitor, so perhaps I won't need to get
a different one until later...  I'm planning on connecting
the output of the Tube onto the capacitor, which is then
connected back to the +12V battery terminal - Oh right,
and I'll be needing to find a 12V battery as well.

I'm still a bit confused about something
as it turns out; as can be seen in the following
diagram, the return from the coil goes to charge
a 5Kv 12uF capacitor which discharges back against
the +12V from the battery to recharge it, but in the
way is the timing mechanism which is going to be in
the direct path of this...  ??  It is my best guess
that Mr. Bedini knew what he was doing when he drew
it this way, but it's still got me wondering.