Re: Ground ring experiment

[Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>]

Hi John,

	The wire is so skinny it is basically like a resistor and can't wast power
to the full extent possible with a shorted strick rail.  If you really want
to see power loss, try foil tape or somhow directly connect the tubing.
Then the rail will really be able to eat power ;-))

Cheers,

	Terry


At 07:10 AM 10/5/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Hello
>
>I did a little experiment two nights ago.  To some of you this might be
>common knowledge but it was new to me and rather interesting.  On my
>coil (http://communities.msn-dot-com/WeaselsTeslaCoil/) I use a stock 15/30
>NST with almost 15 turns of 1/4" refrigeration tubing and a 5/8" split
>grounded ring a few inches above the primary.  I don't run for any
>extended periods of time.  Under 1 minute runs though maybe 1 minute on
>20 seconds of 1 minute on again, etc.  The primary stays cool as a
>cucumber and my caps just start to feel slightly warm to the touch.
>Anyhow I digress.  After I completed the coil I sent Terry a scanned
>picture of it and he had asked if the ground ring was split since that
>area was blocked in the picture by the secondary.  He said if it isn't
>it would affect the coil.  As I said it is split but my curiosity
>finally got to me.  I decided to take one of those 12" or so jumper
>wires with alligator clips on each end that are maybe #22awg stranded
>wire or something to reconnect the split ends of the ground ring.
>Normally I get pretty steady 34" sparks into free air.  After shorting
>the ring I lost about 2" - 3" of arc length.  I did not try retuning
>anything.  I just didn't expect that to increase the ouput length.  Any
>how after about 90 - 120 seconds of total run time I took off the jumper
>wire and it was VERY hot.  I didn't expect that much current to flow though
>it.  Last night i connected a 40 watt incadescent bulb in between these
>bulbs and had it lit dimly.  Just some interesting (at least to me)
>observations I thought I would share with the group.
>
>Happy experimenting!
>John M.
>
>