Re: 2nd light of the "Green Monster" - sec vs. pri height

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Kidd6488@xxxxxxx 

Yes, I've ran it and at one point (after removing part of the Terry 
Filter  :-\  which seemed to have failed....) I was getting about 
40-42" sparks... but this last time I was only getting about 35"... I 
guess I've never spent a whole lot of time getting it perfectly in 
tune, i've always been in a hurry when running it. Does anyone care 
to share their method of tuning?

More later....

Jonathon

In a message dated 8/8/05 5:44:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Jonathon,

Have you operated and tuned in your coil yet? If so, you should
reasonably be able to expect 40" to 50"+ sparks from it once it's
completely tuned in and adjusted. Oh yea, what kind of toroid output
terminal do you have or are you planning to use? I would suggest
a 6x24 toroid size if you're using the dryer duct type. If you have
employed all of the above things into your coil but are still getting
considerably less output than say 45" sparks, then I would try
fiddling with the coupling. Remember, though that if you tighten the
coupling too much, you'll get those dreaded racing sparks. If you
ended up having to actually loosen the coupling (race the secondary
higher), it may be easier to remove a few of the bottom secondary
windings while leaving the secondary coil form vertical setting intact to
accomplish this. If you end up getting at least 50" output sparks from it
once it has been tuned in, then I wouldn't even mess with the coupling
as you're probably already adjusted for optimum coupling (if it's
working that good, leave it alone) ;^) Also make sure that you have
a spark gap design that can effectively remove the excess heat
that the SG produces for proper quenching. The SG is pretty
much the heart of a Tesla system and excessive SG losses due
to poor quenching/electrode overheating can really suck a lot of
energy from those streamers before they even have a chance to start (;^<

David Rieben