Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks

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

Original poster: "Eastern Voltage Research Corporation" <dhmccauley-at-easternvoltageresearch-dot-com> 

I don't agree with that one bit.
There are two parameters.  RMS input power (measured at the incoming AC) and
spark length.
Although it may not be scientifically correct to measure a tesla coil like
this, its about the easiest way
to compare two coils and how efficient one coil is to another.

Coil A puts out 10 foot arcs with only 1kW RMS power measured at the plug.
Coil B puts out 5 foot arcs with the same 1kW RMS power measured at the
plug.

For 99.9999 percent of the coilers out there with the exception of yourself
who always insists on making things more
complicated than they need be, this comparison is perfectly okay.

If Steve Ward's solid state tesla coil can put out 10 foot arcs with only
500 watts RMS input power and my coil can only put out
3 foot arcs with the same 500 watts RMS input power, then damn, Steve's got
the much better coil.  All this energy stuff just confuses
everyone.  Keep it simple.

Now if you want to go all the way and make true scientific measurements to
compare two coils, thats fine too.  But for straight out of the
bucket comparisons, this way works just fine for me.

Dan


 > If you don't understand what you are measuring you
 > cannot talk intelligently about your coil. For example, if you are rating
 > your TC in power units (watts) it does not make engineering sense to say
the
 > efficiency is equal to anything. Efficiency refers to energy units not to
 > power units.  However, if you are rating your TC in power units it does
make
 > sense to say it has a power gain of a certain amount. You can then use
this
 > number to compare with other TC's.
 >
 > The above, of course, does not solve the problem of how to properly test
and
 > rate a Tesla coil when using spark length as the TC output. In the past
only
 > a few coilers could rate and test their coils properly. This resulted in
 > shorter sparks. However, everyone was more impressed by that random extra
 > long spark so any tests that gave shorter sparks were not popular.
 > The problem was the true input energy that actually created that special
 > extra long spark could not be determined so true TC comparisons could not
be
 > made. Only continuous sparking with fixed lengths made sense. But it does
 > not appear that we will ever get away from that mysterious random extra
long
 > spark test with an unknown input ( except maybe for one shot tests).
 >
 > John Couture
 >
 > -----------------------------------------------------
 >
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 9:35 AM
 > Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
 >
 >
 >  > Original poster: "Steven Ward" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>
 >  >
 >  > Hmm,
 >  >
 >  > Good question, how do we measure the input/output power?  I dont know
 >  > myself and wasnt sure it really even mattered, aside from being
reasonably
 >  > close and honest with my guesses.  Someone wanna seal up a TC in a big
 >  > styrofoam container and see how much heat we create? hehehe.
Seriously, i
 >  > cant myself afford such measuring equipment other than some cheap
ammeters
 >  > and a small wattmeter (that is too little for this coil).  What i *can*
do
 >  > is use previous knowledge gained from my first prototype and others
work
 > to
 >  > make good guesses at things like how much power im using and what
 > efficiency.
 >  > The other thing i can rely on is simulation results from pspice.
 >  >
 >  > The way i see it is, i havent blown the 20A fuse yet and ive had
several
 >  > long runs so far (telling me it likely isnt pulling more than 20A).
Other
 >  > thing is that my coil slightly beats Freau's spark length formula...
well
 >  > this makes perfect sense, no gap losses (and i will tell you, my power
 >  > components arent wasting much at all, they run cold to the touch).
 >  >
 >  > So i guess whats most important to me (and likely many others) is that
you
 >  > can get 11 foot sparks (i hit 11'4" the other night) on a 20A 240V line
 >  > without popping breakers and without a pig.
 >  >
 >  > Steve
 >  >
 >  >
 >  > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 >  > >To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 >  > >Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
 >  > >Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:03:02 -0600
 >  > >
 >  > >Original poster: "john cooper" <tesla-at-tesla-coil-dot-com>
 >  > >
 >  > >Very intersting stuff, how do we agree on a baseline or procedure for
 >  > >energy in/energy out measurements?  Or am I asking too much?  I'd be
most
 >  > >interested in someone describing and identifying the
 > equipment/measurement
 >  > >techinques necessary, then we can either follow those procedures or
'wave
 >  > >our dix in the air' claiming whatever.
 >  > >John
 >  > >
 >  > >---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
 >  > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 >  > >Date:  Sun, 20 Jun 2004 17:03:02 -0600
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >