Re: Streamer Length and Power Input--What's the problem with my coil?

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

Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Hi Chris,

Prime suspect: Tank cap too small. 38nF is a bit on
the light side for your MOT-based power supply. If I
were using your power supply, I'd consider 50nF my
starting minimum and work my way up from there. If you
don't want to spring for more doorknob caps right now,
try adding a dozen beer bottles (10nF) in parallel as
a temporary rig job & see what happens.

Second suspect: Spark gap. I know you are quenching it
with a leaf blower, but much of that air blast is
wasted by your open air design. A Gary Lau style
sucker gap funnels 100% of the air blast right through
the arc, where it does the most good. Discarded vacuum
cleaner motors are free. I have box of them in my
attic just from scrounging broken vacuum cleaners from
the side of the road on trash day. This would be a
cheap mod.

Regards,

--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
 > Original poster: "Zagarus Rashkae by way of Terry
 > Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>"
 > <arbitrarily_random-at-yahoo-dot-com>
 >
 > Hi All,
 >
 > I have recently completed a small-medium size Tesla
 > coil that is currently arcing about 3-3.5 feet.
 > Specs
 > and sparks can be seen here:
 > http://www.hot-streamer-dot-com/lulabs/Tesla.html
 > However, I believe that this is a very low
 > effieciency
 > considering that the input is 2.5-3 kVA and that I
 > should be getting 4-5 foot sparks. This is not the
 > case. Can anybody take a guess as to what is causing
 > my dismal efficiency?
 >
 > Regards,
 >
 > Chris
 >
 > _
 >
 >


=====
Gregory R. Hunter

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/greg

_