Re: Gets all "wimpy" seeks help still

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

Original poster: "colin.heath4 by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <colin.heath4-at-ntlworld-dot-com>

hi jim i have experianced this myself this was caused when i built a really
crappy mmc 5kv and as the internals of the cap get hot and brekdown the
performance went really bad if i turned it off the caps self healed a little
bit then the same happened again
i wish i had vid of it happening then you could hear it ill see if i still
have the mmc if i do ill get vid and put on my site
many thanks
colin heath

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: Gets all "wimpy" seeks help still


> Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
>
> A change after running for a few seconds sounds like some sort of thermal
> effect.  I noticed that a gentle breeze from a "muffin" fan on a static
> spark gap is all it took to greatly improve performance.  Without the fan,
> a couple of really hot spots developed on the electrodes, but with the
fan,
> the sparks occur essentially randomly over the entire surface.
>
> Also look for a change in capacitance with internal capacitor temperature.
> That is, maybe the coil is going out of tune as the cap heats up and
> changes.  Especially if you're adding more transformer power, this might
be
> an effect.  Here's an experiment that might help isolate it.  Tune in very
> short bursts to find the optimum point.  Then, deliberately detune
slightly
> on one side or the other.  See if a longer run works better or worse. In
> theory, as the cap heats up, the value will change and it will actually
> come into better tune as it runs then, probably, get worse as you go out
> the other side of the maxima.
>
> If no change is noticed, try detuning on the other side of the maximum
> (that is, maybe you detuned the first time, and the thermal drift pushed
it
> farther away).
>
> There is also a possibility of increased loss as something heats up.
>
>
>
> > I would agree if not for the first few runs. This thing threw arcs as
> > soon as the spark gap starts firing when I first fired it up. Power
> > levels at about 40VAC!!
> > Another thing I noticed is when it decides to go into wimpy mode the
> > whole sound gets different. Almost like when it was first fired and was
> > out of tune. Even the spark gap loses its sharp snapping sound.
> >
> >
> > >> But remember to make the most of the 2nd NST
> > you should increase your primary capacitance as well.
> >
> > How would I do this? My cap is .01mfd and according to Tesla CAD I need
> > .008 so am I already in the right direction? That is to say do I have
> > more cap than I need now for the lone NST? I also have a 4 inch toroid
> > that will break out with the new gap but not as well as the 3 inch one.
> > I am tapped in at 8 turns out of 13 now
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
> >
>
>
>
>