Re: the cure for racing sparks

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

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Hi Steve,

Tesla list wrote:

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

> I feel as if maybe ive got my signals crossed with something.  Lets define
> racing sparks, and the problem that i HAD.  Racing sparks occur at random
> throughout the secondary coil.  Perhaps an arc that travels from a point at
> 1/2 the coil lenght, to another point 2/3 of the coil lenght.  Is my
> interperetation correct??

Racing arcs can travel in partial steps or completely along the length of
the coil. They can also
travel in direct straight paths or leap frog down the coil. Not too long
ago, I was testing racing
arcs on my 8.5" coil as part of a TSSP discussion. The particular type of
racing arc that was
occurring was the kind that travels from the top winding straight down to
the bottom (the full
length of the secondary). It was found that lowering the toroid stopped the
racing arcs, thus
shielding the voltage at the top of the coil. Also, raising the secondary
stopped the racing arcs
(less coupling, less top volts, etc..). Also, the use of a corona ring
allowed the toroid to be
raised back up without racing arcs reoccuring.

The spheres ability to shield the top secondary windings is less than a
toroids would be (sized
similarly). If a sphere is to be used as is, then top volts will need to be
lowered. With the
sphere, reducing coupling by raising the secondary would be the best
recommendation in this case -
IMHO.

Take care,
Bart