Re: Noob Question

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Jared E Dwarshuis <jdwarshui@xxxxxxxxx>

Capacitors die quickly when coils are out of tune, or when you get
primary strikes. (The symptoms you describe do sound a lot like
failing tank capacitors.)

It is well worth the extra time to make a jacobs ladder from
coathangers to test the output of your NST. Over time NST can get
weak. This can also cause hard starting and general poor performance.

Some people swear by RF filters. My personal feeling is that they are
only usefull for coils that are being tuned.

(no real data is available on the topic of RF filters for increasing
the longevity of NST, just opinions!)

I do hope that you are using a safety gap, lack of such a gap leads to
tank failures during initial tuning.

Sincerely: Jared Dwarshuis