Am I overpowering my tesla coil?

Question

I have a 15,000 Volt NST wired to my 30,000 Volt Doorknob capacitor, then going into my half inch in diameter coil. Is that a little too much?

Answer 1

You should have something in there producing a spark gap, assuming you are building a typical Tesla coil.

Doesn't sound like overpowering at all. Is something not working?

Answer 2

A half-inch diameter coil?  Is that your secondary winding???

If so, that is definitely WAY too narrow!  Your secondary winding should be 2-3 inches in diameter.  The smallest secondary winding I've ever made was about 1.5 inches in diameter.  If your secondary winding is really that narrow, then that is probably your biggest problem.  You don't have nearly enough inductance.  You are dumping a huge amount of power into it...15kv at 30ma is a lot.  

I built a small Tesla Coil that generated over 100,000 volts at a resonant frequency of about 1 mhz.  I was only using a 6kv 20 milliamp transformer.

A lot of people try to build a Tesla Coil with a super long, skinny secondary winding.  But that doesn't work well.  You get too much resistance ("copper loss") and not enough inductance.  A better winding is maybe 13 inches in length, and 2 or 3 inches in diameter.  Use 26 or 28 gauge magnet wire.  Don't use anything smaller than 28 guage.

Also, let's be sure you have everything connected right.  Your capacitor is connected in parallel with your transformer, right?  The spark gap should go in series with the primary winding.  Be sure the bottom end of the secondary winding is grounded.  You can either connect it to ground or the neutral line in an outlet.

Answer 3

No that is not too much voltage... Are you having trouble? Capacitor value and coil diameter and number of turns is critical. The transformer must be properly "tuned" for it to throw maximum spark.