Re: ...sounds totally newbie, but...

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi C.L.,

Without the secondary in place, the gap dissipates almost all the power as 
heat.  The primary current is also maybe 2X higher.  That is "maybe" ok, 
but just be aware of it.

Operating without the spark gap with resonant sized caps is a sure killer 
of NST or caps.  But having the spark gap in circuit should protect in that 
case since the gap will keep the voltage from going too high.

Cheers,

         Terry


At 02:00 PM 1/31/2003 -0600, you wrote:

>I know this sounds like a majorly newbie question, but
>I (for some unknown and mysterious reason) can't quite remember this...
>
>Would it harm a Tesla coil's circuitry to operate it without a secondary
>coil in place?  This is in the
>context of testing primary circuit functionality, before
>actually proceeding with secondary coil construction.
>
>---
>C.L. Mayeux
>Owner, MSB Data Systems
>http://www.msbdatasystems.tk
>
>Hate Osama BinLaden?
>visit http://www.moonosama.tk