BUILDING A HAND-HELD TESLA COIL RECEIVER
Have Fun Lighting Lights Wirelessly

As you have discovered, fluorescent lamps glow when held up in the vicinity of an operating Tesla coil.  For a better overall effect you'll want to turn the power control of your Tesla coil down to the point where it's no longer sparking.  Increasing the size of the top-load and retuning the primary circuit also helps because the Tesla coil can then be run at a higher power level without sparks. You may also want to build a few hand-held Tesla coil receivers.

A hand-held Tesla coil receiving transformer consists of long coil of wire called the "primary" or "resonator" with a much shorter secondary coil of slightly heavier wire wrapped around it just above the end closest to the handle.  A metal ball or torus is connected to the far end of the primary and a metal handle is connected to the near end.  For safety's sake DO NOT have a handle that is partly an insulator and partly metal as this would constitute an RF-burn hazard.

It is customary to connect a small incandescent lamp like a low-voltage Christmas tree light to the secondary.  They can be made to shine brightly, are cheap to replace when burnt out, and they come with a socket when purchased in strings.  A light emitting diode also works nicely; what you lose in brightness is made up in increased range.  Alternatively, you can eliminate the secondary winding altogether and insert a fluorescent lamp inline between the metal handle and the near end of the resonator.  If you use a compact fluorescent lamp, strip out the electronics before hooking it up.

In any case, make your initial course tuning adjustment by adjusting the size of the far terminal, and adding or subtracting resonator turns.  Fine tuning is by means of an adjustable ferrite rod mounted concentrically within the high voltage end of the resonator.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Gary Peterson
Dec. 28, 2008

Re: !!! Having Fun Lighting Lights Wirelessly !!!

Gary

>
> Thanks Gary.
> Before I start the effort of learning enough to actually do this, can
> you please answer a couple of questions for me. With input power
> constrained to 240V 10A, what range can I expect to be able to light
> up the fluoros? What would be the limit of numbers of lights? I would
> like to be able to light up say 20 at about 15 feet range.
> Cheers


> . . . what range can I expect to be able to light up the fluoros?

I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to light a single fluorescent lamp to 'pre-strike' or less than full brightness at ranges in excess of 100 feet.

> What would be the limit of numbers of lights?

With same size Tesla coil receiving transformer as your Tesla coil transmitter positioned 15 feet apart from each other it would be possible to dissipate about 525 watts into a bank of incandescent lamps at the power you plan to use. See the web page "Wireless Power Experimental Results" located at http://www.lightninglab.org/papers/WirelessPower/index.html for an example of this type setup.

With multiple receivers at the same distance from the transmitter, each with a smaller but identical load, the available power would be evenly distributed between them. Take one receiver offline and the energy that it was consuming becomes available to the other receivers.

> I would like to be able to light up say 20 at about 15 feet range.

That should work. You may even find it's possible to turn down the power with a practically undiminished effect. It's best to use only the amount of power that you need to create the desired effect.

Creation date: 12/24/2008