Re: RQ gaps was -JF efficiency theory (again)

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

Original poster: "Jon Tebbs by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <jgtebbs-at-eos-dot-net>

Hi David, all,

I have noticed this discoloration in my TCBOR/RQ gap. Apparently my total
runtime is not sufficient to get the flashover you have experienced. Then
again,
my gap is used on a modestly powered 12KV/30ma NST demo coil with a 5.1 nF cap,
2" by 15" secondary. Thanks for the _heads up_ on the problem.

Waiting for warmer weather,
-- 
Jon G. Tebbs
<jgtebbs-at-eos-dot-net>


Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

snip

> 
> Hey Ross, all,
> 
> You mentioning RQ style gaps has reminded me of a question
> that I had about these gaps that I have been wanting to post to
> the list for a while. This may have been covered in the past, but
> if it was, I must have slept thru that class :-) I've constructed one
> of these in the past and ran a medium sized NST system with it.
> I also utilized a "Dirt Devil" vacuum cleaner motor for forced-air
> cooiling of the copper tube electrodes. The question I have is has
> anyone else noticed browning of the PVC pipe support between
> the copper tube spark gap electrodes, where the sparks blaze
> against the PVC? I've heard that PVC is susceptable to UV radi-
> ation and I've noticed that the browned areas are electrically
> weaker and tend to want to flashover more than the unstained
> areas of the PVC. BTW, I was running (3) 15/30s in parallel with
> an 18 nFD primary cap. The gap worked good at quenching the
> arc for a couple of hours of continuous operation, but after a while
> it started giving some problems due to this discoloration of the
> PVC between the SG electrodes (namely, a loud flashover that
> crawled over the surface of the discolored area of the PVC between
> the electrodes, and can be heard over the regular SG sound). I
> was just wanting to see if any of thge other coilers had noticed this
> effect.
> 
> David Rieben