Re: HV cap flashover, :-0

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

Original poster: "R Heidlebaugh by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <rheidlebaugh-at-zialink-dot-com>

on 10/22/01 8:07 AM, Tesla list at tesla-at-pupman-dot-com wrote:

> Original poster: "Jason by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <jasonp-at-btinternet-dot-com>
> 
> The caps/leads/everything is prbably close together... try sticking it in
> oil :)
> 
> TCs are wierd beasts sometimes!!! I got a 2" flashover from my caps to the
> RF ground - Im not sure how it worked, probably from the ground to the caps,
> not the other way round - explain that if you will!!! But you will find very
> strange things happening that you will never be able to explain...
> 
> Good Luck,
> Jason
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 8:06 AM
> Subject: HV cap flashover, :-0
> 
> 
>> Original poster: "Shaun Epp by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <scepp-at-mts-dot-net>
>> 
>> Help,
>> 
>> my 0.02uF, 30Kv  parallel mmc capacitor is flashing over on my 12Kv NST
>> tesla coil.  It's located under the primary coil, if that matters?,  and
>> it's made up of 2 rows of 7 capacitors all in parallel, 0.0015uf per cap.
> I
>> tried to make smooth solder connections using extra solder.  This was
> going
>> to be my first light, sigh.
>> 
>> I powered it up with a variac,and at 55 - 60 vac input, my 2 gap spark gap
>> started to fire, then the capacitor flashed across a solder joint and
>> opposite conductor.  I fixed the cct board and insulated with glpt all and
>> tried again, ---- it flashed across at several other points.  The flash
> over
>> distance was 7/8 inch, holy smokes, and these occured at several spots in
> my
>> mmc.
>> 
>> Can any one explain, am I getting resonance voltage rise?  I did pre tune
>> with a signal generator, Im also running LTR.  Anyone have a quick easy
>> solution to fix this problem?
>> Thanks in advance for any comments, and this group has been really
> helpfull
>> in the past,  Thanks you all!!
>> 
>> Shaun Epp
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
When all else fails pot it. I use clear RTV silicon or fiber glass resin.
My system will arc over with less than 1-1/4 inch of clearance with out any
resonant voltage spike.
  Robert H