Re: Static Spark Gap

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

Original poster: "Stephen Conner by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-scopeboy-dot-com>

At 14:07 24/04/03 -0600, you wrote:
>Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>
>
>I've been following this thread, and something one of
>the posters said is bugging me. Somebody mentioned
>that the only way to get control over break rate is to
>go to with a rotary. Am I to assume then, that an RSG
>only fires ONCE on each presentation of the
>electrodes?

Well, they're only supposed to fire once per presentation. The ARSG on my 
DC coil can be adjusted between 0 and 500bps. If I turn it down below about 
200bps, I can clearly see it firing twice per presentation. The flying 
electrodes move about 3/4" between the first bang and the second.

Of course YMMV, depending on your power supply/RSG design. I use a 
high-speed RSG disk with two electrodes, a charging voltage of around 20kV, 
and a large charging choke (about 30H). This makes for good quenching. 
Other DC coilers have reported that if the RSG is run too slow it fails to 
quench and just power arcs.

Here is a pic of the RSG design I use: http://www.scopeboy-dot-com/tcpropeller.html

I also remember reading about some guy who built a RSG coil (AC charging, 
pole pig powered) but found that it worked best with the RSG stopped. He 
obviously had very many firings on one presentation of the electrodes %-p

Steve C.