Re: Capacitor Help

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "MalcolmTesla" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 5:52 PM


> Original poster: Terry Fritz <vardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi,
>
>
> >How does the safety gap drop the excess voltage across the caps any
better
> >than the spark gap is already doing when the spark and safety gaps are in
> >parallel?
> >
> >Thanks
> >Malcolm
>
> The safety gap is normally useless...  In fact, it may be useless in
> your case.  Back in the good old days of caps blowing up, resonant
> size caps, "new guys" that had no idea at all what they were
> doing...  Safety gaps were sort of a last resort to keep them from
> blowing up the NST.  But with MMCs, LTR cap sizes, and new folks that
> know a whole lot to begin with, that danger is vastly reduced.

Well I don't know that I know a whole lot to start with ;) but you guys are
surely pointing me in the right direction and helping me out a lot.

> Just resist the temptation to increase the main gap size to get
> larger arcs.  But LTR MMCs should fix that risk anyway...

Humm but I thought the correct way to set the spark gap is to hookup nothing
but the NST to the spark gap and then set the gap as wide as I can with the
cooling fan blowing on it.  My understanding was set the gap as wide as it
will reliably go without been intermitent.  Is that not right?
Or is my above described proceedure correct but once the caps and primary
are hooked up it's possible to increase the spark gap because of all the
extra power in the circuit and that's what I should not do?

> BTW - Someone mentioned not to short Tesla coil caps directly...  If
> there is nothing to limit the current (like a primary coil) the
> capacitor current is probably 5,000 to 10,000 amps into a dead
> short.  That will damage the caps.

Wow that's unbelievable.  Sounds like that could be deadly if you accidently
touched it.  I will be sure to never short them out directly like that.

Thanks
Malcolm