* * * Indiegogo Campaign * * *
Short Summary
High energy and Burning Man go hand-in-hand! The firing of Sextant's Tesla coils will bring electrifying entertainment to Black Rock City. First invented in 1891 by Nikola Tesla, these coils are electrical resonant transformer circuits that produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity that looks like lightning from across the Playa. To see these coils in action is to witness an amazing feat of science and engineering. Please help our sparks fly on the Playa by joining our campaign!
What We Need & What You Get
To build, transport, and fire our Tesla coils on the Playa will cost approximately $15,000.
The breakdown of these costs are:
$500 buys the raw materials for the High-Current Circuit
$500 covers the cost to water-jet the plates for the High-Current Circuit
$500 covers the new High-Current Transformer
$1000 buys raw materials for the Spark Gap
$1500 covers transportation expenses to move the coils from Oakland, CA to Black Rock City, NV
$2500 covers the Rolling Circuit Assembly Cart to house the electronics
$3500 buys the new custom Capacitor Bank
$5000 covers the twin custom-built High-Voltage Inductors
To thank you for your support, Sextant offers some unique perks. Please visit our perks page to choose among them!
All funds raised will go to the creation, maintenance, and operation of the Tesla coils ongoing. We hope to exceed our goal to support these efforts for many years to come, both by bringing them back to Black Rock City each year and by demonstrating them at schools and museums in the greater Bay Area during the rest of the year.
The Impact
Tesla coils are science. Tesla coils are art. Mingled with the lights, sights, and sounds of Black Rock City, the interplay of our coupled Tesla coils will provide electrifying entertainment nightly on our Playa. Our sparks will be beacons throughout the night sky, bringing burners together to witness a lightning show like no other.
Risks & Challenges
In the past, Sextant has relied on an all solid-state "ultra-high resonant gain" Tesla Coil circuit. This design is remarkably efficient, but we found unexpected Corona Loss on our Toroids which was enough to severely limit the Spark output. In a last-ditch effort to bring sparks to the Playa, we over-drove the current by 7x to power through most of the Corona Loss. For those of you who witnessed the explosion on-Playa last year, we hope you soaked up as much of the entertainment value as we did. We figure this, the third installment, MUST spark as advertised, so we are using a traditional Spark Gap circuit design for the 2016 cycle. We are able to predict the performance of this system much more accurately, and we are in good shape to bring epic 24 ft sparks upon you all. Stay tuned for future editions of the circuit as we return to Solid State with minimized Corona Loss and are able to finally achieve one of the original goals: ultra high-fidelity plasma sound!
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't contribute, that doesn't mean you can't help! If you want to see sparks fly at Burning Man, please help us to make some noise about our campaign by spreading the word. There are tools for sharing right here on Indiegogo, and we urge you to "like" the Sextant Camp Facebook page as well to stay up-to-date on the coils' progress.
Here's what some of that swag looks like!
