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Re: victoreen spark gaps

I would simply disconnect the primary and all from the neon and run the
transformer at it's rated voltage.  Then see how many gaps it takes to
fire.  It sounds like you have already don this and seven is the magic
number.  If you are using resonant charging, it is possible that you are
seeing high voltage.  Or one of the series gaps breaks down a little soon
and then the others cascade into conduction.  I think that's how MARX
generators fire their many gaps.  

I have 100 of the same gaps as you and I read about 0.2pF across them??

I wonder if adding very high value resistors (~30 Meg) across them would
help even out the voltage distributed across each gap.  That may help them
fire more Uniformly and perhaps nearer to what the ratings would suggest.  

Cheers,

	Terry



At 02:46 PM 8/8/99 +0100, you wrote:
>hi terry, all
>
>	I have just been trying out the victoreen gaps on my coil.  I am using 7
>of them in series with a 9 kv 60mA neon and getting breakout all over my
>toriod with a 24" arc to a grounded rod. I was wondering what the
>relationship of the series resistance/ capacitance to breakdown voltage is,
>they are rated to breakdown at 2700 volts, but this is presumably going to
>drop with more of them in series. I measured one of them for capacitance
>with my bridge at about 10 pF. Am I really getting a breakdown voltage of
>18900 volts across 7 of them or am I missing something here? What does the
>curve look like and when should I stop adding more gaps.  
>
>cheers 
>bob golding
>