Re: Terry's NST protection circuit?

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

Original poster: "Ed by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <edtrind-at-hotmail-dot-com>

> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

> I was wondering if those that have used it are happy or have any
> suggestions or improvements.  Or, if it has not help your NSTs or anything
> "bad" like that?

I have been using it with a Jef/Mag 12/60 NST for a while now, and have been
trying different setups ... and generally abusing my coil just to
get a feel for it and all.  I can justify this to myself since I have a
spare NST or two and deep down I want to fry this one because I'm looking
for an excuse to switch to a different, less unsightly one and to write
"depot NST" on my list of things to do that I know I'll probably never get
to.

It survived the no RF ground connection event that I wrote about a few days
ago and I've been cranking the variac up to 140V (ok, 143V) even with my
coil out of tune with odd shaped toploads on it and what not ...
overcoupling it to check out the 'racing sparks' thing for myself, .. etc. .

No problems to report from me ... the NST has been protected well so far.

I have 5k 50 watt resistors in my filter, and I realize that it is natural
for them to get hot, .. but every time I feel the heat radiating off of
them, I can't help but wonder what impact that 'wasted' energy is having on
my spark length (<10%?).
I have it on my list to leave the filter out for a run or two to see if
there is any noticeable change.
If I roast an NST with the same setup without the filter I'll be sure to
report it.

Also wondering how low I can reasonably go with the resistors/resistance
before it's no longer an effective filter.

BTW, I've 'over-volted' those 1800V MOVs by about 25% and they did their
job! .. they got pretty warm .. but actually survived.

Great filter from my limited-experience vantage point anyway.

Ed T.