Re: Grounding Problem???

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

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: "Marry Krutsch by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <u236-at-earthlink-dot-net>
>
>Hi everyone.
>
>	I've been doing a bunch of reading, and found that most people have
>extensive RF grounds (compared to mine, anyway).  The problem with my
>secondary hasn't really gone away, and I have 1/8 inch of epoxy coating
>on the thing.  I still get racing sparks, and now I have arcs (very hot,
>thick) breaking out of the corona ring to the strike rail.  Is the
>corona ring actually supposed to contact the secondary, or does it sit
>there "suspended", w/o contact.  Anyway, My RF ground is 8 Al stakes
>stuck 18 inches into the soil, with 12 gauge solid wire connecting
>them.  I then use one strand of solid 12 gauge wire to connect to the
>coil, 15 feet away.  I use bend a hook into the wire, and connect it to
>the secondary with a nut.  I water the ground before firing the coil. 
>I've read that bad grounding can cause secondary breakdown.  I'd like an
>opinion or two before I spend money on more material.
>
>My posts may not reflect it, but the help I've gotten from you guys has
>been a tremendous help.
>
>Thanks,
>	Winston K.
>
>
>
>
>


Hi Winston ...

sounds like you have the grounding "problem" solved  ( btw what size 
coil are you running ??  NST or Pig?? ) ...  altho you may want to try 
something a bit heavier than 12 Ga. going to the rod system

what you seem to be dealing with now is something called close coupling 
...   the primary is putting too much energy into the secondary ....   
try raising the secondary about 2 inches, leaving the primary in its 
original position....  if that doesnt reduce the secondary arcing ....   
try tapping the primary about one more turn in or out ...


Scot D