Re: All pain no gain

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

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

In a message dated 3/6/01 9:45:20 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

<< Original poster: "Nathan Morris by way of Terry Fritz 
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <themfam-at-home-dot-com>
 
 I need some help figuring out why my TC is not breaking out.  After months of
 planning and building I am afraid that this thing is a lemon.  Ground is 
ground
 right? Isn't earth ground the same as an RF ground?  Shouldn't I be able to 
tie
 the bottom of my secondary to ground via an extension cord and wall outlet? 
 How close to tuned (number of turns) does the primary tap have to be before I
 will see breakout.  Maybe I was in the wrong neighborhood.  My primary is 23
 turns.  I will add another 2 turns. How often should the safety gap across 
the
 cap fire?  I adjusted the gap distance from loud blue light to none at all. 
 This had no effect.
  
 --Nate
  >>
Nate,

Are you using a static gap?  If so, you do not need a safety gap across the 
cap - just don't open the static gap up too far.  If you are using a rotary 
gap, you should use a safety gap, but connect it across the rotary gap 
instead of the cap.  This is much easier on the cap than a dead short when it 
fires.  Will the toroid break out with a wire or bump on top?  If yes, then 
you just need to increase the power into the coil.

I don't know what size your coil is or how much power you are putting in to 
it.  I have heard other coilers using the wall socket ground for small, low 
powered coils.  The wire used for the RF ground connection should be large (I 
use solid #10 copper for my 3.0" dia. coil) and as short as possible.  Using 
the house ground is dangerous and can cause problems with electrical 
appliances and equipment throughout the house.  A separate earth ground is 
best, water pipe second.  If the power in is less than 1,000 watts or so 
(arbitrary number) you can use a counterpoise type ground which might be just 
a large piece of metal or screen laying on the floor - maybe four or five 
feet square - just guessing on this, as I have not done it.

>From the ideal (best) tuning point on the primary, the coil will probably 
still operate tuned out one turn either way, just not as well.  More than 
that and performance will drop off sharply.  When I am experimenting with 
different toroiod configurations, I can tell by the sound of the static gap 
right off if the tuning is close.  Did you run the math on this coil to 
figure out where it should tune?  If not, supply all the information about 
primary and secondary sizes, number of turns, wire size, length, diameter, 
spacing, etc and the toroid dimensions and we can calculate it for you.

Ed Sonderman