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Humidity problems. (fwd)





---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 07:14:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: gweaver <gweaver-at-earthlink-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Humidity problems.

I fired up my 10" coil Friday night.  I had lots of trouble.  I think the
problem is the high humidity. We have had 3 months of non stop rain and the
humidity is very high.  I didn't have any trouble getting 10 1/2 foot
discharge sparks.  Had lots of problems with arc over from primary to
secondary.  I had to raise the secondary 3" higher than normal to stop arc
over.  I have had the
same problem with other coils in the garage.  I had to change the coupling
on them to stop arc over.

The power transformer took a hit from a 10' spark and made a low frequency
boom that sounded like it came from the garage and the house.  It blew the
circuit breaker in the garage and also the circuit breakers in the house
which is 65 feet from the garage.

I got things going again.  I turned the coil off and got ready to take some
pictures.  We were all in the garage and I was about to turn the coil on
again when I noticed something moving around in the dark next to the coil.
I turned on the lights and it was some stupid teenage kid standing about 3
feet from the coil.  The dummy walked right up to the coil from the yard
next door and never
made a sound.  Its lucky I saw him in the dark.  Next time I will put some
candles or small lights in the yard.

I got 2 good photos before the secondary coil exploded in a mass of sparks
and caught on fire.  I wound a new coil Saturday.  When the humidity gets
lower I will fire it up again and get some good pics.

Gary Weaver