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MEASURING SECONDARY CURRE

 * Carbons Sent to: Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com


Quoting Ed Sonderman:

 ES> Last night I wound a small pickup coil using a 1.5" dia      
 ES> plastic toroid. I wound about 70 turns of #26 insulated wire 
 ES> on it and ran the main secondary ground wire through it.     
 ES> Running the coil about one half power (about 24" discharges) 
 ES> I still measure no voltage from the pickup coil - even on    
 ES> the 5 volt AC scale.  

Ed, for what it is worth I have had success with commercially
manufactured current transformers. I have used two types, the
first is a current transformer designed for AC panel meters and
are still available I believe from Marlin P. Jones (3955-TR thru
3957-TR). Even though they are rated 50 - 400 Hz I get an output.
The other type of current transformer is the clamp on elec-
tricians type. My clamp on current transformer works very well,
but came out of a junkbox and was missing the manufacturers name.
 
 ES> I thought there was a lot of current flowing in the ground   
 ES> wire. Is this a frequency response problem with my Simpson   
 ES> volt meter?

I don't know. But I do know that you don't need a current
transformer to discover who much current goes to ground. Set up a
small, simple, counterpoise on insulators about 1 inch above your
concrete floor. The counterpoise should be about the size of a
"STOP" sign or a little larger. If you are careful and use lots
of insulators, I imagine it would be possible to use a large
sheet of aluminum foil for an experiment.

Fire the coil at about half power as indicated above, and observe
the space between the counterpoise and the concrete floor. Power
the coil up and down while observing. 

Try placing a four foot florescent near the counterpoise, then
with one end of the tube connected directly to the counterpoise.
Repeat the experiment with the tube while the coil is properly
connected to the RF system ground. Finally, place the tube in
series with the RF system ground. 

Be sure to observe the effects of these experiments on your
secondary spark as well. 

Richard Quick


... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12