Re: Safety gap - setting

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Dennis,

Good queation and I'm not really sure what would be
the correct answer to this. "I" would say set it for the
abrupt full power up, but I'm sure others probably have
differing opinions. I have indeed noticed what you are
talking about, where the gradual dial up of voltage will
not fire the gap as reliably as with an abrupt power up,
though. Anyone else care to throw in their two-bit's
worth?

David Rieben

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 10:54 AM
Subject: Safety gap - setting


> Original poster: otmaskin5@xxxxxxx
>
> I just finished rebuilding & resetting my safety gap, but I'm not
> sure I got it right.  Basically I set the gap so it just barely
> wouldn't fire at full 130v variac setting.  I tested the setting by
> dialing the variac from 0v to 130v pretty much the way I would do it
> if I were actually starting up the tesla coil.
>
> My question is this.  When I already had the variac set at 130v &
> then hit the "on" switch, the safety gap would fire.  This abrupt
> powering up would fire the gap at settings that would not fire when I
> gradually dialed up the voltage to max.  To get the gap so it
> wouldn't fire when I powered it up abruptly, it required a much wider
setting.
>
> Which of the 2 methods to test gap setting is correct - abrupt full
> power or gradual dial up?  Thx for any suggestions.  Dennis Hopkinton MA
>
>