Re: Very strange problem, please help

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "David Kronstein by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <david_kronstein-at-telus-dot-net>
>
> I took out my coil after not using it for a long time, and I decided to use
> only 4 gaps out of 10 for now, so I put a CD on top, and I turn it on. I'm
> getting sparks about ten inches, but after a few seconds, the arcs start
> getting longer, and longer, and longer, until about 12 seconds later there
> about 30 inches long, so I turn it off, and go searching for something
else to
> put on, and I find a tin can, so I put that on top, and turn it on.  Again I
> start out with 10 inch arcs, and they grow, over about 15 seconds, to
about 36
> inches long, so long they started striking the fluorescent light above, also
> the capacitor safety gap starts firing about once a second, so I shut down.
>
> Any idea what's causing this? Please help.
> Also, is the cap rated high enough?

Hi David....

sounds like the cap is warming up and the plates are getting closer
together which increases the capacity
just enuf to change variables in the setup ALSO ... is the coil being run
in a room with little or no
ventilation?? it can make a difference due to the production of ozone and
the such which increases the
streamer length.
Another situation is since you went to 4 gaps, the amount of energy between
those gaps is a bit more than it
was when it was 10 gaps...  the metal from the gaps begin to ionize a bit
more than normal ( the 10 gap
setup) and this allows more energy to conduct thru the plasma arc of the
gaps...

try going back to 6 gaps or more and put some type of air flow on them if
it isnt there already... also try
ventilating the room some more too...  and last but not least  set up a
strike rod ( an old microphone stand
or something connected to the RF ground ) off to the side of the coil to
draw the streamers away from the
light   ( no noooo dont go into the light ;)  )  and if you want
directional streamers... put a breakout
point on the toroid ( aluminum tape works great ) .....



Scot D