Re: Capacitor help

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

Original poster: DRIEBEN-at-midsouth.rr-dot-com 

Bart,

My comments are that I have to agree with you 100% ;^)
My understanding is that the LTR design basically serves
2 purpoases: (1. It prevents the resonant voltage rise
from going thru the roof and destroying the NST and/or the
primary capacitor(s). (2. The higher capacitance is also
supposed to lower the spark gap losses, so in this respect,
there may be a SLIGHT increase in output spark length.
All in all, though, even the most efficient coils (efficiency
defined by greatest spark length vs. input power) are pretty
much relegated into the restraints of John Freau's spark length
formula of which most of us are familiar with.

David Rieben

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Saturday, December 13, 2003 5:46 pm
Subject: Re: Capacitor help

 > Original poster: Bart Anderson <classi6-at-classictesla-dot-com>
 >
 > Hi Mark, All,
 >
 > I just noticed the "reason" you are looking for an LTR cap was to
 > achieve
 > possibly longer sparks. I almost always run a PDT which forces me
 > into an
 > STR cap. From my understanding, LTR values do not give longer
 > sparks or
 > anything of that nature, but are used to reduce the stress on the
 > NST in
 > SRSG situations. The static gap apparently is also to benefit in
 > this same
 > respect. The tradeoff is capacitance for voltage.
 >
 > I sometimes get the impression coilers think using LTR gives
 > greater spark
 > lengths, but again, this is not my understanding from past posts
 > on this
 > subject.
 >
 > Comments, anyone?
 >
 > Take care,
 > Bart