RE: Safety Gap Puzzle

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

Original poster: "Pete Komen by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <pkomen-at-zianet-dot-com>

Greg,

When your safety gap fires, the primary circuit is operating at a higher
than normal voltage.  Higher voltage means more energy in the bang.  The
energy goes up as the square of the voltage.  IMO.

Pete Komen

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2001 10:26 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Safety Gap Puzzle

Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Dear List,

I shot a few minutes of video tape of my newly
refurbished 4" x 24" 1080VA coil last night, and
grabbed a bunch of the frames as JPG stills.  One of
the stills revealed an interesting effect.  The shot
happened to catch the NST supply in the background
behind the Tesla coil with the safety gaps firing, and
the toroid streamer is MUCH thicker & more intense.
Marc Metlicka mentioned a similar observation to me
some time back, but I needed to see it to appreciate
how dramatic it is.  What is that about?  I have a
safety gap going to ground from each HV bushing on the
NSTs, so for an instant, the tank circuit is
effectively shorted to ground, and it's increasing the
streamer current!  Do I need to redesign my main spark
gap with a grounded center electrode???

I'll attach "sparkz10.jpg" should you wish to have a
gander.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/sparkz10.jpg

Greg
http://hot-streamer-dot-com/greg


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