Re: tesla coil does not work...

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

If the sec coil is around 2" x 25" (I'm guessing because you didn't 
list), the primary tune point is likely between 11 and 12 turns.

There may be a few different issues that need to be addressed. How 
did you hook it up? Gap details? I can tell you a 23 mA 10000 volt 
transformer using 1/2" diameter cylinder segments will arc about 0.2" 
(5mm) total gap spacing.

The burning smell, well, who knows. You'll have to track that one down.

My gut tells me the toroid is too big for the power input. You might 
try attaching a breakout bump to the toroid. Just take some aluminum 
foil out of the kitchen and wad up a 1" round ball. Simply set it on 
one part of the toroid and see if that gets things going.

Take care,
Bart

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Langer Giv'r" <transworldsnowboarding19@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> hello, Ive been working on my tesla coil for 6 months now, and i 
> just plugged it in today.  I was expecting to see nothing until i 
> properly tuned it but i didnt see anything at all no matter what i 
> did.  I tapped the primary everywhere, i switched the cap and spark 
> gap from paralell to series and what not and tried everything but 
> nothing worked...  I was really dissapointed because i spent about 
> $350 on it.  The most confusing part is when i just run my spark gap 
> on my xfrmr, i can draw it quite long, but when i wire up the entire 
> tesla coil, the spark gap goes about 0.5 millimeters...  how is this 
> possible?  what am i doing wrong?  please help!  Here are my specs:
>
> xfrmr - 10KV OBIT 23mA
> spark gap - multi static spark gap
> Cap - 2 strings of 12  CDE  942C 0.068 2KVDC caps   total of 11.3nF 
> (LTR) at 24KV
> Primary - 10mm copper tubing, 11 turns for primary
> Secondary - 1350 turns 26AWG magnetic wire with 10 coats of 
> polyethylene sealant
> safety spark gap to ground, properly set.
> 3 inch diameter toroid.
>
> When i turn it on, the spark gap fires on a very short distance, and 
> i smell something burning, but I dont think its my transformer 
> because it still works...  I am seeing absolutely NOTHING on my 
> secondary, so i think my capacitors might have something wrong with 
> them.  Help would be increadible, thanks!
>
> _