RE: It Just Stopped

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

Original poster: "rb" <randyaz-at-cableone-dot-net> 

Did you try to pull an arc directly from the NST's? I had an allanson 15/30
do what you are describing and it would only make an 1/8th inch arch...

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 5:10 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: It Just Stopped


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

Hi All,
      Something happened last night that has me puzzled. I was testing 4.25"
coil. It had been run intermittently for about 1/2 hour. I fastened a
pointed rod to the center bolt of the topload (dual toroids) pointing
upward, preparatory to making a "pinwheel". I was getting nice 3ft+ arcs to
the ceiling of the lab, (coil is caged 10' x 9' x 8'.) After about a
minute, it suddenly went dead. No arcs, no gap spark, no sound except the
vacuum on the sucker gap. It had been drawing ~18 Amps on 30 Amp circuit
prior to problem. Indicator lights showed power reaching primaries of NSTs.
Variac output showed 120V. No racing sparks noted, no arcing to primary. I
shut system down, waited ten minutes, tried to restart... Nada!
      I disassembled everything and checked each component:

Xfmr 1 Allanson 15/60:  6000v left and 5990v right to ground terminal with
102V input. (My HV meter limit is 6 kV)
Xfmr 2 Transco 15/60: 5995v left and 5980v right to ground terminal with
101.8v input.
Tank cap: Maxwell 37xxx series, 30 nF nominal,. measured 29.95nF with RdShk
DMM and 30.91 on AADE L/C II-B. On the 14th of July, it measured 31.07nF on
the L/C II-B when air Temp was 11F warmer and Humidity was 30% higher.
Sucker Gap 1 HP vacuum spaced 7.5 mm.
Safety Gap spaced 5 mm Left and 4 mm Right.

      Reassembled everything and... Nada!!

Any Guesses??

Matt D.