Re: I've lost my k. Can someone help me find it?

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

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>

Hi Dan,

On 25 Sep 2002, at 23:07, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Daniel Barrett by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dbarrett1-at-austin.rr-dot-com>
> 
>     Hi List-
> 
>     Thanks to everyone who helped me find my K. I spent about 3 hours with
> my single-MOT coil  today constructing an arrangement to vary my secondary
> height. I carefully measured K12 at each 1/8" interval beginning with the
> bottom turn of secondary 1/2 inch below the primary plane, all the way up to
> 4" above. Armed with this spiffy spreadsheet we went out to the backyard to
> play. After trying all the variations I came to the following conclusion:
> 
>     "It just doesn't freekin' matter."
> 
>     I don't see any sweet spots, nulls or anything exciting at all. Arc
> length appears to be proportional to K until it gets so high that racing
> arcs occur and corrona starts coming out of all the bits it isn't supposed
> to.
> 
>     I get arcs about 60 inches (at 1.4kW) with k at about .19 and racing
> sparks above about .21.  My observations suggest that K is not something
> worth tweaking, at least not as important as detuning to compensate for
> streamer loading, spark gap, etc.
> 
> Is this consistant with what others are seeing?

You're getting about the same sparklength as I got in one coil with 
about the same power and a bit lower k. k is not a parameter I've 
bothered playing with much. I mainly measure it in a finished coil 
for interest's sake.

Regards,
Malcolm
 
> Does it become more critical at higher power levels or other conditions?
> 
> db
> 
> 
> 
>