Re:Re: Terry's Tesla Coil Tuner

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <uncadoc-at-juno-dot-com>

Hi Terry, Mike, All.         Terry, I have a frequency counter but have
been leery to use it when approaching the Tesla coils that I have. Also I
have several DVM'S and a solid state scope with the appropriate high
voltage probe and an antenna I made wound around the probe to approach,
but never ever get right next to the operating secondary coil just to see
what kind of wave form the fully operational Tesla would produce with a
constant voltage of 15kv at roughly 200 to 400ma input power from
modified neons...all the time adjusting the tank capacitor bank by adding
or deleting 2.0 and 1.2mf oil can caps in various series/parallel
combinations to augment the barium titanate cap bank that we have, and we
also throw in an old bank of trusty beer bottle caps as needed to tweak
the tank for maximum output.    Now then;  Are these schemes that you and
others follow while measuring  voltages performed on a actual working
coil firing at high magnitude, or are you just messing around with lower
scale voltages without the coil being lit up and firing at full capacity.
 In other words, are you just ringing these circuits at minimum power in
a circuit minus the secondary coil or can your measurements be preformed
in the actual full maximum voltage operation of a Tesla coil? Meaning,
does anyone have any instruments that will show the true workings of a
fully powered coil in operation?  Seems a lot of the list I have read is
dedicated to trying to estimate the power of a Tesla by just ringing the
tank circuit without a secondary attached at full power, or am I wrong
about that?   Or do we just speculate about the parameters of our coils
while testing them without a secondary coil attached?   If that is the
case, then how can a true measurement be made without having a fully
operational coil.  Please, no baloney about extrapolated parameters with
under fired coils, since I have seen a awful lot of that stuff on the
list.   Does anyone out there have a true way of showing a wave form on
the scope and frequency counter while maximum power is applied to the
coil as an entity?    Is this possible at full output while the coil is
generating 6 to 8 foot plus sparks from the top of the secondary coil?  
Al.   

On Fri, 09 Feb 2001 08:00:08 -0700 "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
writes:
> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
> 
> Hi Mike,
> 
> I hooked up the ARB and ran the 100kHz to 600kHz spectrum to check 
> out the
> square wave/harmonics thing.  As it turns out it is pretty cool!  
> the following
> is the spectrum with just a resistor in the circuit which clearly 
> shows the
> square wave harmonics:
> 
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/TCTs1.jpg
> 
> Next is the same spectrum with the bi-color led.  As it turns out, 
> the LED
> seems to remove the harmonics!  Probably because they cannot 
> overcome the turn
> on voltage of the LEDs
> 
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/TCTs2.jpg
> 
> One problem is that the stray capacitance in the timing circuit 
> makes the
> "calibration" thing worthless.  It has to be calibrated against a 
> frequency
> counter as it turns out.  Many DVMs have a frequency function too.  
> Since I
> cannot control how the circuit is built, there is no way to come up 
> with an
> easy fixed calibration scheme.  I will probably offer a $5 
> calibration
> "service" to those that don't have access to a frequency counter.  I 
> am already
> going to send people the 1.8nF cap for free since it is easy to mail 
> (small).
> 
> I still need to clean the plans up a lot before this is ready for 
> prime time. 
> Many thanks to all who have given their thoughs on this!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
>         Terry
> 
> 
> 
> At 11:39 AM 2/9/2001 +0000, you wrote:
> >On Thu, 08 Feb 2001 07:55:53 -0700, you wrote:
> snip..
> >One problem I've found with using square waves for tuning is that 
> you
> >can get strong responses at harmonics. 
> >
> >Have you tried using a single-colour LED in series with the 555's
> >supply? (maybe with a parallel resistor) 
> >
> >
> 
> 

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