Re: [jlnlabs] TESLA COIL REVISED6

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

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

In a message dated 1/2/04 11:11:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>Hi,
>Although I am a newcomer to the list, I respectfully disagree that several
>hundred turn secondaries reduce the gain. I built a 20" dia x 48" L coil
>with about 560 turns of 20G Teflon covered wire. Resistance was only a few
>ohms, compared to the inductive reactance which is quite high. One of the
>equations for Q is "Q = X(subL)/R".  If for example the inductive reactance
>is 1K ohms and R is only a few ohms you will have a very high Q like 200! In
>my opinion Q is what its all about along with a lot of drive power rich in
>harmonics.


CK,

Since your secondary coil is large, it will still have a rather
large inductance.  This will permit the primary to also have
a reasonable inductance, thereby keeping the primary surge
impedance low, and the gap losses low.  The gap losses
can be rather significant.  In a physically smaller coil, using
more turns would be more efficient because of the gap loss issue.
Still it's possible that using more turns on your coil would
improve the efficiency.  Have you done a comparison?

John