Re: Quenching Safety Gap?

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

Original poster: "Luc by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <ludev-at-videotron.ca>

Hi Bill

When you have the cap in place the safety gap will quench,
because when the gap fired it short the cap and an empty cap is
like a short, the current will go to the cap instead of the gap
because the cap have less resistance. The only time you could
have a problem with safety gap not quenching is if you use a lot
of power with a small cap; the gap have no time to cool before
the cap is charge. 

Cheer,

Luc Benard

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Bill Vanyo by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<vanyo-at-echoes-dot-net>
> 
> I just put together the power supply for my first coil: three 15/60
> NST's with line filter on one side and NST protection filter, with
> safety gap, on the other.  In trying to adjust the safety gap, I found
> that I could set it wider than the arc would jump, but that if I coaxed
> the arc to jump, such as by momentarily bridging the gap with a metal
> object (on end of insulated pole), the arc would then sustain itself.
> Wouldn't this then be a problem during operation of a coil?  It seems
> that if the safety gap fires, it will not quench.
> 
> I also hooked up a jacobs ladder, with a gap narrower than the safety
> gap, and similarly, could force the arc to move from the jacobs ladder
> to the safety gap or back again by bridging either gap momentarily, and
> then the arc would stay there (at the ladder, or at the safety gap).
> 
> I don't see how, once the safety gap fires, it will quench.
> 
>         Thanks
>         B i l l   V a n y o