Re: Neons??? Urgent!!

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: Neons??? Urgent!!
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 13:20:04 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Bert Hickman[SMTP:bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-com]
Reply To: 	bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-com
Sent: 	Thursday, December 25, 1997 2:48 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: Neons??? Urgent!!

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> From:   Zuma[SMTP:mwise-at-ns.sosis-dot-com]
> Reply To:       mwise-at-ns.sosis-dot-com
> Sent:   Wednesday, December 24, 1997 11:48 PM
> To:     tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject:        Neons??? Urgent!!
> 
> On my neon I recently unpotted, I ran it hooked up to a neon light.
> The primary got extremely hot, hot enough it was boiling what little bit
> of tar that was left on it off. Is this normal? I wouldn't think it
> would be. One thing to add though, when I was removing it I nicked
> some of the primarys windings. They aren't shorting as far as I know.
> Could this be the cause of the tranny overheating. I don't understand.
> Help me please.........
> 
> Chris

Chris,

Two possibilities:
1. Insufficient number of shunt plates to limit current when the
secondary's under a full load
2. One or more shorted turn(s) on the primary.

Remove the neon light from the output and see if the primary still heats
up with the neon operating under no load. If you still have the
overheating problem, you may have one or more shorted primary turns. If
the damaged turns are very near to the outer end of the winding, you may
simply be able to remove them (10 or less turns) or you may be able to
unwind the affected turns and replace/repair them.

If you only see the overheating under a loaded condition, you may not
have enough shunt plates OR they may not be making a nice tight
"magnetic" connection to the main body of the core. These need to fit
very snugly inside the core to work properly. 

Good luck to you, Chris!

-- Bert --