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Re: [TCML] Need assistance in diagnosing poor performance
I'm skeptical of humidity causing a problem. As a deep South coiler, I haven't noticed any humidity effects.
Start with your power supply. An NST I assume? Disconnect the NST from the tank circuit and verify you can draw a flaming arc between each HV bushing and the NST case. If you can, go to step 2.
Disconnect the spark gap from the tank circuit and hook it up to the NST only. Adjust the gap width until the NST can just reliably form an arc when the gap faces are cold. Connect the spark gap and NST back into your tank circuit.
Attach a small breakout point to your toroid. A thumbtack or roofing tack works well. Try every primary turn until you get the longest sparks. Now move your clamp around that turn a couple of inches at a time until you get the longest possible sparks. Budget plenty of time for this--it takes longer than you might expect.
Still have weak sparks? Borrow a leaf blower and direct the air blast over your spark gap while the coil is running. If you can't find a leaf blower, the outlet of a shop vac or an "air gun" hooked up to a shop compressor will work too. If spark length improves, then you need a better quenching gap.
If none of that helps, you may want to verify your tank gap value--make sure it is appropriate for your power supply. You can also experiment with coupling by raising or lowering the secondary with respect to the primary.
Cheers,
Greg
--- On Tue, 7/29/08, Stephen J. Hobley <shobley@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Stephen J. Hobley <shobley@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [TCML] Need assistance in diagnosing poor performance
> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 6:53 PM
> We're still not getting the performance we would expect
> out of the Tesla
> coil we built.
>
> It might have been the humidity that killed it tonight, as
> performance
> was the worst yet - spark length was only 3" using the
> safety wand.
>
> Where should I start in looking for problems? I've
> built the 555 timer
> based tuner and re-tapped the primary at coil 11, as this
> gave the
> dimmest indication, as per the instructions.
>
> Apart from that, I'm a bit stumped.
>
> I've seen evidence that this coil can give much better
> performance -
> Alan sent me some recent pictures of a US military coiler
> over in Iraq,
> getting at least 25" arcs out of his coil - exact same
> specs.
>
> Maybe the desert air helps...
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
> Steve
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