Re: Grounding Problem???

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 1/24/02 7:25:48 AM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes: 

Winston, 

You certainly are not overpowering your coil.  I run my 6" coil up to 7 kva.  I
use no corona rings.  I do have a 33" x 6" toroid mounted on top of the
secondary with another 40" x 6" toroid mounted above that.  The coil was
finished with several coats of polyurethane after winding.  I don't recall, is
your primary flat - or inclined? 
You can see pictures of this coil at my web site: 
http://members.aol-dot-com/esondrmn/index.html 
How does your set up differ from mine? 

Ed Sonderman 

>
> Hi John, Scot, All 
>
>    I have tried loosening the coupling quite a bit.  To get rid of the 
> racing sparks the coupling must be around 0.08.  Spark length is pitiful 
> in that case.  I have tuned the coil as well as I can.  The tuning point 
> is about 1.5 turns in from the calculated point.  Moving the tap just 
> decreases spark length.  I am running a 6 inch coil using two of those 
> GE copier xfmrs for a supply.  I'm using a 0.1 uF cap, for a bang size 
> of approx. 5 joules.  My specs are in the "Help! suicidal secondary" 
> thread, except that I'm now using a smaller toroid of 6" by 22".  I 
> tried a 0.066 uF cap, but racing sparks remain.  Spark length goes in 
> the toilet too.  On a good humid night, I can get a few 6 ft. strikes to 
> the ground.  Dry nights give short streamers, and long racing sparks 
> :-(.  I can't believe that I could be overpowering an epoxy coated 6 by 
> 28 inch secondary with 1600 VA.  I wish I had pictures of the secondary 
> for everyone to see, 'cause it looks ridiculous with those insulating 
> washers on it!   Maybe I should give up and build a new system.  Any 
> suggestions?  BTW, I did all the math for this coil (more than I needed 
> to, actually), and everything looked fine. 
>
> Thanks