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First magnifier
All
After several years of putting it off, I built my first magnifier with good
results. The driver is a 10.5" P.V.C. tube with 16" winding length of #14
T.H.H.N. solid copper wire. Primary winding 10 turns 2" aluminum ribbon flat
spiral tapped at 5 turn with a 0.05 uF cap. Extra coil 4" x 22" P.V.C. with
a 20" winding length of #24 enamel wire.
Results? 101" max spark at around 8 kVA input. The extra coil was heavily
top loaded with 3 toroids of different widths. Primary to secondary coupling
seems to be the most critical adjustment. Too little and there is a lot of
power input for little spark output, too much and breakdown between pri. &
sec. The beauty of this design is in being able to assemble the system
outside quickly. All that's needed is the extra coil, insulated stand/base,
toroid and transmission line. The driver circuit stays inside ready to go
any time. This makes it nice for that last minute decision when the wind
quiets down.
Another driver was made using #14 wire on a 6.5" P.V.C. tube inside of a
8.5" P.V.C. tube tilled with mineral oil, The copper tube primary coil was
wound on the outside of the 8.5" tube. It performed great to 1.5 kVA giving
off 60" sparks from same extra coil as above. When the power was cranked, a
breakdown occurred and a pin hole was made through the tube and oil seeped
out. Design sounded good, but too many problems.
Interesting note, extra coils larger than 4" dia. did not work good at all.
Even when properly tuned, the output was no more than 3' regardless of
input. The input was increased to over 10 kVA to check operation, spark
would only go 3' and stop.
It appears simply as I see it that small drivers = small extra coils
(resonators), large drivers = large extra coils. Comments welcomed.
Kevin E.