Re: LTR vs. more primary turns

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

Original poster: "Chris Roberts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com>


Hi Malcom,

Actually, I haven't built a secondary yet, as I am still experementing with 
calcs. But I do know it will be using 32 gauge magnet wire (as thats what I 
have on hand). I was just using a given secondary frequency so there wern't 
that many varibles to deal with.

  Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz "

Hi Chris,

On 3 Dec 2002, at 22:36, Tesla list wrote:

 > Original poster: "Chris Roberts by way of Terry Fritz
"
 >
 >
 > Hello, it's me, the guy who can't build a tesla coil right. =P
 >
 > Since my big coil is out of order for a while, I'm going to take some of
 > the caps off of it and use them to build a 4kv, 38ma mini coil. However, I
 > ran into a problem. We all know how a LTR cap increases the coil output,
 > but as I was running calculations, I found that the higher the tank
 > capacitance the fewer the number of primary turns it required to reach
 > resonance. But I read on John Freau's website
 >
! http://hometown.aol-dot-com/futuret/page5.html

 > that using a higher number of turns on the primary will increase primary
 > surge impedance, and will reduce spark gap losses. Is this true? If it is,
 > then I pose the following question: Using a given secondary frequency, is
 > it better to have an LTR cap with relatively few primary turns, or to have
 > a smaller tank cap and more primary turns? Thanks for your infinite
 > knowlege and wisdom.

What John said is true. Starting from a given secondary is not the
best way to design a good coil. You should be starting from the
capabilities of your chosen supply. That is exactly how I design
coils. Once you've wound the secondary, you're stuck with it for
better or worse.

Regards,
Malcolm





-Chris