RE: First high Power session since '99

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

Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>

John,
Did the breakrate sound high? This is a very interesting question. I can't
say that I've ever listened specifically for this parameter, though I surely
will in the future. I listen for general tune, of which breakrate is
obviously a part---I can't really describe what I listen for. I know it when
I hear it.

Reviewing my aural memory banks: I did note that with NST power, the
breakrate sounded quite low. This changed some with gap width and power
level. Moving to Piglet power--scanning memory banks--the report from the
discharge was so incredibly loud that I'm not sure what was going on. I'm
sure this can be measured with a scope, but I've not endeavored to master
those scoping techniques.

One thing's for sure: I had forgotten the daunting sense of power exuded by
coils at higher powers. The scouring, screaming note. I lift the hearing
protectors on occasion just to increase the intimacy. And the appearance of
the discharge. One truly gets a feel that extremely high voltages are being
produced. This is not the case at lower power levels.

The aesthetics of coiling. We really should examine it with greater depth.
"What Coiling Means to Me"....

Yes, I've been hoping that series operation  of these caps would insert more
safety factor. To use them in a system other than that whose gap is a 120
BPS SRSG is Probably foolish, though it's hard to see how those teeny weeny
(relatively) little MMC caps are able to withstand the punishment, though
they obviously do.
Dave




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

Dave,

Nice report.  Does the breakrate sound rather high?  If so, that
can throughput a lot of power even with a moderate bang size
without destroying the secondary.   Although the caps are
rated at 120 bps max, they can probably withstand a higher
bps since you have them in series.  Some of those cap specs
are somewhat inter-related.  In any case a higher bps won't
necessarily destroy them quickly but will just shorten their life to some
degree.  I have no idea how much though.

>
> Piglet time.



Indeed, sounds like something I might say   :)


>
> You see, I had been firing with 2 15/30 NSTs, but I was starting to tire
of
> the wimpiness,



One does tire of wimpiness....

Those multiple striped streamers may be showing the banjo effect.
This tends to show up in certain coils more than others, and is
the actual individual streamers from individual breaks it seems.
These rise due to heat.  One would think the individualness of
the streamers would hurt the spark growth, maybe it does.
Air currents may accentuate this.  The air from the gap blower
may have been contributing to this effect, and also helping
to cause the looping streamers perhaps.

Yeah, I don't much like the acrid odor from coils.  My coils
produce it a lot too.  Yeah, bad nitrogen stuff.

I don't know if a TCBOR gap will be of benefit.  A series quenched
rotary will work, but will probably give no benefit over a regular rotary.
At least I've never seen any benefit in tests I've done.  It helps the
quenching slightly, but didn't help the spark length, and didn't
permit me to tighten the coupling.  Maybe at higher powers, it
can give more of a benefit, who knows?

I've never considered 1/2" copper tubing to be hard to work with.

John