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Re: Racing sparks study, was A couple cruddy coil pics
HI Sundog,
Thanks for sharing your racing sparks observations to coupling and tuning. I
have found when out of tune and trying to put in some power, there is a
potential where the racing sparks would travel down the secondary the entire
length "starting" at the top and traveling to the bottom. (Sometimes it would
breakout about 2/3 of the way down and arc outward to the strike ring or
vicinity).
You mentioned that when "overcoupled", racing sparks travel "up" starting at
the bottom. I'm curious if these two spark traveling directions will give a
quick determination to the problem for coilers when they get racing sparks.
Racing Sparks overcoupled = bottom to top direction?
Racing Sparks out-of-tune = top to bottom direction?
Is this true for other coils out there or just coincidence?
Bart
Tesla list wrote:
>
> Original poster: "sundog" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net>
>
> Hi all,
>
> The rings do increase the creepage distance for the racing sparks, but they
> aren't a "cure all" for them. Proper tuning is still required, but they
> allow you to couple it tighter. I tried it (5 rings on a 2" coil, ~1.5"
> apart, all at the bottom (where 90% of my racing sparks are). On a side
> note here,
>
> I'no noticed 2 kinds of racing sparks on my coils, both my 8" (before I
> blew the tranny) and my 2" coils (before they burned up). The out-of-tune
> situation usually made sparks from top (or close to it) to bottom.
> Overcoupling usually flashed from the bottom windings to ~1/4 to 1/2 the way
> up, but rarely all the way to the top. Also, when *really* tightly coupled,
> I get a "fan" of sparks from the first turn of the primary to the first turn
> of the secondary. Very weird. They don't seem to burn the wire or form,
> but they rob serious power from the coil.
>
> So the discs may help you couple it tighter to a point, and they can
> definately cut down on tuning-based flashovers, but eventually it *will*
> flash if you keep pushing it, and when it does flash over, it ooh boy..On
> just the 2" coil I blasted the wires at the base of the secondary apart when
> it shorted, through a generous layer of silicon. But while it ran, man did
> it crank out some really hot arcs :)
> Just my $.02
>
> Sundog
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tesla list [<mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 12:24 AM
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: A couple cruddy coil pics
>
> Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>
> Mike,
>
> Nice observation. I took another look at the image, saved it to disk, then
> changed the gamma to 1.8. The rings were then clearly visible and kind of
> tinted
> blue? This is a similar design that Robert Stevens' has used. If I remember
> correctly, these type of disks are used to increase surface creep distance
> between top potential and ground along the secondary's length. But "cool" is
> another likely candidate. It will be interesting to hear if the disks were
> used
> to correct a problem.
>
> Bart
>
> Tesla list wrote:
>
> > Original poster: "Mike Novak" <acmnovak-at-email.msn-dot-com>
> >
> > What's with the rings on the secondary? Do you need these or are they just
> > there for looks? I was thinking of putting three HDPE rings on the
> secondary
> > of my next coil, just because it looks cool :) What material are yours
> made
> > of?
> > -Mike
> >
> > > Original poster: "Rod & Patti" <rstapivic-at-cfl.rr-dot-com>
> > >
> > > Hi folks,
> > >
> > > I tried the best I could to shoot with what I have. I promise that
> > > sometime this weekend we will fire up again and I will put all pictures
> > > that I have, incuding the enire setup on the page. But for now...
> > >
> > > <http://home.cfl.rr-dot-com/stapivic/>http://home.cfl.rr-dot-com/stapivic/
> > >
> > >
> > > Happy coiling!
> > >
> > > Rod & Patti
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >