Re: 20 joules at 100 bps vs 4 joules at 500 bps

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts" <m.j.watts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hello Dmitry,
              Due to some major changes in my living circumstances a
few years back I have not been actively coiling for some time (in the
exploratory/experimental sense - I occasionally whip up a small one
if a neighbour requests a look-see). However, during the years I was
active I put plenty of hard yards in and gained what I consider to be
a reasonably good knowledge of most things pertaining to coils and
coil operation. More below.....

On 8 Aug 2005, at 8:00, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Dmitry (father dest)" <dest@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hello Malcolm.
>
>  > Original poster: "Malcolm Watts" <m.j.watts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>  >
>  > I remember well a quote once from Richard Hull when speaking about
>  his > experience of increasing power input to his Nemesis coil. To
>  paraphrase he > said that up to about 7kW "the sparks grew slowly to
>  about 2 - 3 feet" (I > am trying to recall all this you understand -
>  you will come across it one > of his posts in the list archives). The
>  he said "we added in another kW > and suddenly the 8 footers were
>  there" or words to that effect.
>
> i`m now finishing 95 year - reading goes slowly, but it goes %-) one
> coiler run 8kw and get only miserable 73" - it`s _very_ funny to read
> :-) i`m going to shoot myself right in my face if my 2kw mot coil will
> not outperform this 10-years-old pole pig powered dinosaur :-)))

You should realize that the wealth of information that is available
to yourself was gained by people building and experimenting with a
vast range of coils and power supplies such as the one you are
laughing at. It is only a decade since a reliable method for
designing secondaries to operate at a predictable frequency was
widely adopted. Experimenters have had to sift through a century of
data of often dubious quality to winnow out the grains of truth which
have culminated in our current understanding of all facets of the
technology. I suggest that you would be wise to wait until you build
your first coil before laughing at the efforts of others ;)

 what
> power levels did you personally worked with? you`re coiling more than
> 10 years - haven`t you seen something similar in your coils? and what
> - after 5-10 years this effect is still a mystery for all? :-)

Is it? Coiling is about more than basic electrical theory and
resonant circyuit behaviour as you should have gathered by now. The
peculiar mixture of gases we call air and its ionization
characteristics are as much a part of sparking Tesla Coils as any
other component. The highest power I ran at was about 1800W. That was
more than enough to enable me to witness and measure the phenomena
which occur.

>  > Another coiler (Robert Stephens)  killed a  tendency for one of his
>  > coils to flashover by placing a series of  acrylic disks along the
>  > length of his secondary to increase the  creepage distance, fluted
>  > insulator-style. > > > > it`s widely used in power engineeringc,
>  really - why not glue these > > discs with a poly? the coil would
>  look like a giant > > insulator :-))) i must try this in the future -
>  maybe then up to 6 > > secondary heights  would be shooted? :-) > >
>  Maybe - try it and let us know.
>
> you prefer to wait a year instead of trying this by yourself? why -
> don`t you have time & resources as i don`t, or you just don`t
> "believe" that this may help? :-)

I have neither the time, nor the facilities to indulge in more coil
building. I am active in many other facets of electronic technology
which deserve the kind of time and attention I have already put into
coiling. I am still free to sit back and think and note the results
of others having previously conducted a wide range of experiments in
a very active coiling career. I would like to become active again but
it is not possible at present. I don't believe anything - I live by
evidence and proof. It is your wish to obtain 6x the sparklength from
a specially constructed secondary, not mine. What are you trying to
prove - that it can be done? Well guess what - it can. As a matter of
fact, 6x is a trivial goal (for a pancake secondary ;)

Malcolm