Re: First Light- Bad Results!

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <A123X-at-aol-dot-com>

What circuit are you using to power the ignition coil? 

Mark 

In a message dated 6/14/01 10:48:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes: 


>
> Hi, I'm the 13 year old on the list and just finished my first Tesla coil 
> today. I turned it on and got bad results, about 1cm hair-thin sparks off 
> the 
> top wire. Here are the specifications for this coil: 
>
> Power Source: 12V ignition coil 
> Primary Capacitor: 2 Salt water beer bottle caps 
> Primary Coil: 4 turns of TV Coax Cable 
> Secondary Coil: ~1000 turns (forgot how many) on a 2"x8" plastic          
> form. 
> Spark Gap: 2 bolts on metal L brackets, adjustable from 3 inches to         
> touching 
> Ground: I didn't connect it to RF ground, I just drew sparks from the     
> bottom of the seconday to the top. 
> Topload: None, just a wire sticking out. 
>
> So what should I do to make this coil run at it's full potential BESIDES 
> getting an NST?