re: Streamer loading effect

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

Original poster: "Steven Ward by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Well,
i ran the coil again tonight, and it was amazing!! I reached 2 long awaited 
goals.  1, which i had since ever making my first coil, is having the arcs 
strike down to the earth!!  Oh i love that!  Coolest thing ever.  and 2, ive 
exeeded 5 feet! by one inch :)  I cant wait to get pictures!  But about this 
loading effect.  Its very apparent with my coil.  I think im detuning by 
about 3 turns due to the streamer lenght, and these turns are about 20" 
diameter.  When at low power, i tune in at 11 turns, but at full blast, im 
tuned to about 14.  I cant say i notice the "growing streamer" effect, where 
when slightly out of tune, the arc pulls the coil into tune.  Now the arcs 
ar so big that its really not noticeable, but what do i care, the arcs are 
great!

I have a question about efficiency with my coil.  On the classic tesla java 
TC calculator, they say my coil with a rotary gap, could produce a 6 foot 
arc.  This makes me wonder about how helpful rotary gaps really are.  Im 
using a somewhat undersized RQ gap, and getting close to the theoretical, 
optimal output for my coil.  Am i missing something here, or is my coil 
quite efficient for the spark gap that i have?  Or would perhaps a RSG boost 
my output beyond 6 feet?  This 6 foot figure that the calculator gave me is 
somewhat puzzling.  If John F. can get 42" (or 44" now) from a 12/30, why on 
earth would a figure for 6 feet on a 1800w coil make sense for high 
efficiency?  I know larger coils loose efficiency per power.  Oh well, i 
should just be happy with what i have, and what i have is good enough for me 
:)

Steve Ward


>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: re: Streamer loading effect
>Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 06:47:17 -0600
>
>Original poster: "Wells Campbell by way of Terry Fritz 
><twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <wellscampbell-at-onebox-dot-com>
>
>hi
>
>I actually sent a post a few weeks ago musing whether lowering the 
>frequency
>as a coil operates could "Grow" streamers out past their usual size,
>by keeping up with the falling frequency as the streamer grows and adds
>more effective topload. I'll repeat the question: has anyone done this?
>
>
>Steve's observation of the streamers growing when the coil was tuned
>a little to the low side seems to support the theory. I don't have a
>coil I can experiment on yet, and would like to know if slowly adding
>turns as the coil fires could extend the existing streamers...
>
>--
>Wells Campbell
>wellscampbell-at-onebox-dot-com
>
>