RE: New Lab, Family Coil, 1st Light

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>

>Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>
<snip>
>
>Query: If running 2 matched Maxwells in series, is there any 
>advantage/disadvantage to putting one on each leg with primary between
them? 

I've heard strong disagreement to this in the past but I must say what I
believe.  You are referring to the so-called equidrive configuration
where the two caps are each tied to opposite ends of the primary coil.
In both the 60Hz charging phase and the post-bang RF ringdown phase, the
primary circuit is a series configuration.  Electrically, a series
circuit will behave the same regardless of what order the series
elements occur in.  Like a flashlight with two D-cells, a switch, and a
bulb, it would work the same if the bulb were between the two D-cells.
This is Circuit Analysis 101, and these rules are inviolate and apply
equally to AC and DC circuits.  Tesla coils are no exception.

There is nothing wrong with this configuration, it does appeal to one's
sense of symmetry, and it may or may not physically work out better
wire-routing-wise.  But the components and electrons don't care either
way.

Gary Lau
MA, USA