Tesla coil and Capacitors

[Edu44]

I'm assembilng a simple Tesla Coil and have most of the components needed

- neon tube 4kV AC, 30 mA transformer
- primary and secondary coils
- the spark gap

All that I need is a capacitor of 3-6 nF for the final circuit. I found small 4kV 1nF ceramic capacitors for sale, that I could assemble in paralel to attain the needed capacitance, but I'm still not sure if they are able to function under the 30 mA of current coming from the transformer. The original project used large home made capacitors made out of glass plates and foil, but I wish to make something more compact and less "kludgy".

Anybody knows if the small 4kV 1nF capacitors can be used for this project? Otherwise, what kind of capacitor should I use?

 

[mrinalmani]

The following discussions may help:
https://www.edaboard.com/threads/315207/
https://www.edaboard.com/threads/315362/

And by the way 100mA or so is simply not a big deal with ceramic capacitors. But 4KV is a real big deal if you are talking about AC ratings. High voltage ceramic capacitors are rated for non-reversing waveforms. The 4KV that you are reading is the peak DC voltage, if you intend to pass AC the ratings will be much lower

 

[Edu44]

I found some 1600pF capacitors for 9 kV (more than twice the intended 4kV) circuit potence up to 12,5kVA. Do you think they can take'it? I took a look in the other threads and indeed theres is a huge difference beteween the values for both type of currents.