RE: Srike rail/tank circuit shield grounding

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

The first question about the counterpoise and strike rail is tricky, I'm 
not sure.  Strikes really should go to a good ground.  Tank circuit 
shield?  I've not heard of this.

On your question about the distance between the primary coil and the tank 
circuit - the tank circuit is comprised of the capacitor and primary coil 
(and spark gap).  So I'll assume you're just asking about how long the 
interconnections between these 3 components can be.  On my 4kv/20mA powered 
mini coil, I originally lashed it together with maybe 2-3 feet of 
wire.  When I tidied it up, reducing the interconnections to under 1 foot, 
performance increased an inch or two.  Definitely worth doing.

I doubt that a fan motor would be affected by being close to the primary 
coil, unless it's a DC motor that uses Hall-effect sensors and other low 
voltage electronics.  3-4 inches should be fine for an AC motor near a 
small primary, preferably off to one side.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

 >Original poster: "Mudford, Chris by way of Terry Fritz 
<teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" ><chris.mudford-at-agresearch.co.nz>
 >
 >It is my understanding that the strike rail and shield for the tank
 >circuit are to be connected to RF ground.  If this is indeed the case,
 >if using a counterpoise are the before mentioned still connected to the
 >counterpoise?
 >
 >Also, although wanting to keep the distance from the tank circuit to the
 >primary coil short, how long can this realistically be on a small 6 kV
 >30 mA coil.  On the same coil if one decided to mount the tank circuit
 >beneith the primary coil what sort of clearance is required and would a
 >fan motor on the spark gap be affected?
 >
 >Thanks for your help.
 >
 >Chris.