Re: What's going on?

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

Original poster: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com 

In a message dated 4/13/04 10:06:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>Last week, I added an extra turn to my primary, and improved streamer
>length from 8 inches, up to 18 inches... but now, streamer length is
>varying between 12 and 18... have I missed something?  Calculations
>show longest possible streamer is at 36 inches.  What else could I be
>missing?


Chris,

I seem to remember that you're using a static gap?   This will often
reduce the spark length by about 10% if it's a good gap.  If your
gap is not quenching well, or overheating or something, this can
limit performance.  In any case you got a good improvement over
the original 8".  Did you try adding even more turns to see if
you have enough turns now?  If not that may help.  Your' toroid
should be at least 4" x 17" also if it's corregated dryer ducting.
Blowing some air on the gap may help too.  I forget your exact
set-up so I just gave general comments here.  There's always the
possibility that the NST is damaged too, unless you've compared
it with other ones, etc.  Tesla coils don't have
many components, so there are only a few things that could be
limiting the performance.  Usually limitations are caused by;
spark gap quality, tuning accuracy, NST condition, or toroid size.

John