nst matching

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

Original poster: "Laurence Davis by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <meknar-at-hotmail-dot-com>

I'm trying to find out if my 4 nst's are wired correctly (in phase.)
this will sound overly wordy, but I wanted to make sure it was clear.

ps1=power supply 1, ps2= ps 2., etc.
each nst is 12kv/30ma -rated-
alanson. hv out is on top.

one hv term is closer to the pri side.  I'll call it term1.
connect ps1 and ps2 term1 together and to one side of small spark gap.
connect ps1 and ps2 term2 togerher and to other side of small spark gap.

connect pri to 120vac for each nst.
if power is applied and no spark (gap is about 1/4"), switch one nst's
pri wiring around. then you get a spark.  i tested all four transformers 
this way and marked the pri wires so I could reconnect them
again later.  the way i wanted them to work was when a spark occured, not 
the other way around.  i tested two nsts at a time.  kept the first one as a 
reference for the other nsts that i tested. Have i wired them correctly?

I had few odd observations and questions.
when they were 'out of phase' (no spark produced), I connected a HV probe to 
the hv output.  I was getting something like 9kv ac. and I heard 'sizzling' 
that meant to me that it was ionizing the air. but it didn't produce an arc. 
  I reduced the gap to almost a millimeter. and STILL no spark. and the 
probe still read 9kv.

I could widen the gap to almost 1/2" and it would still arc (when in phase). 
  I checked the voltage and it was peaking 20-30kv, with an average of about 
15kv.

when I found the in phase wiring, I connected each pri to a polarized 
extension cord with the end cut off, then to a junction box with polarized 
outlets. (makes connecting them to power much easier then wire nut HELL.) 
and on the secondary a buss bar made from copper strapping.  found that 1/2" 
wasn't enough to keep the buss bar from arcing to the nst case. (which i was 
told shouldn't be grounded or connected to other nsts being used)  the buss 
bar looks much better than the wire nut xmas tree i had.  (six wirenuts, 12+ 
pieces of 12gauge solid wire).

thanks for listening.
comments appreciated.
larry (Pittsburgh, PA)