RE: All pain no gain

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

Original poster: "John H. Couture by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net>


Nathan -

The JHCTES program indicates that your TC system is out of tune.
Go to my web site at
      http://home.att-dot-net/~couturejh
go to the on line JHCTES Ver 3.2 program
and enter Secondary parameters

Rad      2.25
Turns    1577
TPI        83   1577/83 = 19 " lg
Sec term   18

Pri cap    .01
Avg rad   9.00
Width     5.00
Gives    15.58 pri turns

Measure the actual pri cap value (.01?) and enter.
Verify the other pri and secondary parameter values and enter.
Your coil will then be in tune.
All you will then need is to make sure the NST is working properly. You
should get a 16 inch streamer spark or a 9 inch controlled spark. A larger
NST can be used with this coil.

John Couture

----------------------------------


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 6:55 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: All pain no gain


Original poster: "Nathan Morris by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<themfam-at-home-dot-com>

All,
Thanks for all of the suggestions.  Here are the specs on my coil and more
information on my attempted first light setup.

I used the JavaScript Tesla Coil Designer
For Classic Dual-Tuned Resonant Transformers
JavaTC 7.04
Copyright © 2000 by Barton B. Anderson

My primary is 23 turns of insulated #10 AWG stranded.
My secondary is #30 mag wire on a 19 x 4.5 PVC form.
My torroid has an ID of 8 inches an OD of 16 inches and a chord of 4 inches.
For the first light attempt I was running small a 7.5 kv 20 ma NST (no
variac)
My cap is two rows of four .02 uf 3kv caps.  The two rows of four are
parralled for a total tank capacitance of .01 uf.
My gap has 4 gaps that are quenched by a 120 VAC microwave blower.  Each gap
is individually adjustable.  Before energizing my primary I set the gap so
that all 4 were sharing the duty.
JavaScript Tesla Coil Designer suggests a primary tap at turn 25.  I got
shorted on my wire from the hardware store so I was using the length of my
primary.  I thought it might be close enough to get me started but to be
quite honest I believe it is the main issue with my current setup.
Oh yea, almost forgot, I was using the wall outlet for grounding my
secondary.  While mowing the yard however, I did find 2 inches of a copper
ground rod sticking up near my service entrance/breaker pannel.


----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: All pain no gain


> Original poster: "Bert Hickman by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net>
>
> Nate,
>
> Did you use any design tools (WinTesla, JHCTES, etc.) to aid you in the
> calculations/design of your coil? If you have a small coil (~500 VA or
> less), you can get by with using the power line ground (although its
> really not recommended). There are many reasons why you may not be
> seeing breakout, but in order to figure out what to do more information
> is needed about your system. Please provide the information below and we
> should be able to suggest some fixes. The fact that your gap is firing
> loudly is a good sign - it appears that your HV source and tank cap are
> operational.
>
> Some possible reasons for failure to break out can include:
> 1. Tank cap is too small (energy/bang too small)
> 2. Toroid radius of curvature too large
> 3. Coil is severely mistuned
> 4. Secondary is internally shorting
> 5. Coupling coefficient is too low
> 6. Primary circuit miswired
>
>------------------  snip