[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Racing arc's casued by strike rail

In a message dated 5/26/99 1:54:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

> 
>  Vivian,
>  
>  You really don't want to run at higher power levels without a
>  strikerail. Replace it, and let's try some other things.
>  
>  The easiest thing to try is raising the secondary somewhat versus the
>  primary. This will reduce the coupling a bit (reducing racing sparks)
>  while also increasing the distance from the toroid to the primary
>  strikerail. Then try raising the toroid relative to the secondary - this
>  may require that you retune the system a bit. The strikerail should be
>  the same diameter, or slightly larger, than the outermost primary turn
>  and about 1.5-2.5" above the outer turn.
>  
>  BTW, using an inverse conical primary significantly reduces the distance
>  between the toroid and the strikerail, limiting ultimate coil
>  performance. Going to a flat primary will also make most of your current
>  problems go away. At higher power levels, it's sometimes necessary to
>  use a longer coilform and winding length so as to simply get more
>  clearance from the top of the coil to the bottom. 
>  
>  Safe coilin' to you!
>  
>  -- Bert --
>  
Viv,

I agree with everything Bert has said above.  As I started getting longer and 
longer sparks from my 6.0" dia coil, I rebuilt the primary from a 30 degree 
saucer style to a flat primary to move the strike rail further away from the 
toroid (with no decrease in performance).  On this coil and my 3.0" dia coil, 
I use two toroids.  One is mounted on top of the secondary as usual to 
provide shielding for the top windings and a second larger toroid is mounted 
on top of that with an open cylinder of aluminum flashing used as a spacer 
between them.  The distance between the two toroids depends on the size and 
power of the system.  Without looking at my notes, the spacing between the 
toroids on the smaller coil is about 6.0" and the spacing on the larger coil 
is about 14".  Most of the sparks will now leave from the top toroid, 
providing additional clearance to prevent strikes down into the primary.

Ed Sonderman