Re: MMC warming

["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>


>I would work on getting the 2 x 10 array working.  Your present 1 x 8 may
>last a while but it is under a lot of stress.
>
>Cheers,
>
>	Terry
>
>

WOW!!

I took out more shunts and tested with a single coil and used the 2x10 cap.  
The sparks were fantastic!!  The primary on the NST gets rather warm, 
similar to other small LV transformers i have.  I have not tested how much 
current is being drawn but i bet its a lot(time to PFC).  With a single coil 
set at 5 of 9 gaps, i got about 16+" arcs with bright primary arcs.  One 
incredible thing to notice is that the small toroid below my 2 larger ones, 
had a burning hot center!!  There was no sign of arcing, and its steel 
center piece was almost too hot to touch!  I looked for burning PVC or a 
burn mark on the toroid but didnt see anything.  I thought that was pretty 
amazing.  I cant wait to try the twin set up, i bet it will be great!  The 
caps had absolutely no sign of warming.  The spark gap got totally hot 
though.  The secondary coil got slightly warm.

Now im writing to find out how big of a cap i need for a PFC cap.  Im 
guessing that my lousy core is drawing about 11 A now so i need the PFC.  
Would 36uf be any good??  I have that so far, in my junk box, with large 
motor start caps.  What would be a good value??  Also, can i use a smaller 
cap than needed, and get less power factor correction?  And, will a PFC cap 
reduce the current flowing in the primary, reducing heating???  Thanks in 
advance.

Steve Ward.