Re: sparks running down secondary - why?

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

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

In a message dated 5/28/01 4:15:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

Bill,

I see that you stopped the racing sparks by narrowing the spark
gap spacing.  This works because you are reducing the tank
cap charge or bang size.  Larger bang sizes tend to create
racing sparks for a given coupling.  Racing sparks can be stopped
by reducing the bang size as you have done, or by loosening the
coupling.  When the safety gap fires, that can sometimes 
promote racing sparks too.  The use of a larger toroid can also
promote racing sparks, because the energy builds up higher
before it breaks out.

John Freau