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Re: Low Power Sparks (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 14:34:08 EDT
From: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Low Power Sparks (fwd)
In a message dated 98-07-12 00:35:59 EDT, you write:
<<
> Friday I fired up my 10" TC. I attempted to fine tune the coil at low power
> but got racing sparks on the side of the secondary coil. When I turned the
> power up above 3800 watts to 8000 watts the sparks on the side of the
> secondary coil went away. I was using my 38" diameter stainless sphere as a
> top load. With my 10" x 27" toroid as a top load I get no sparks on the
> side of the secondary coil at low power. >snip>
> Gary Weaver >>
Gary,
It sounds to me like the gap was quenching poorly at low power,
probably because you were getting either weak or no sparks at
low power. When a Tesla coil produces nice strong output sparks,
this generally improves the quenching of the gap. Bad quenching
will often produce those pesky racing sparks along the secondary.
When you use the larger toploads, the spark is less likely to
break out (or will be weak, or breakout will be delalyed) at the low
powers, thus making the quenching worse, and racing sparks are
more likely to occur.
John Freau