Re: Weather/coil performance

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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

Scot,

Stangely enough, I have not experienced the "shocking
offline secondaries" with large coils, summer or winter.
The only time that I have experienced this phenomenon
is with smaller coils. I don't know the rhyme or reason
for this electret effect in the first place, but that has been
my experience. Also, I haven't really been able to tell
any noticable difference in the output of my Green Mon-
ster coil between running it in hot, humid summer air or
cool to cold, dry winter air. I'm pobably just not obser-
vant enough on this issue, though. One disadvantage to
winter firing that I have noticed though, since I have to
roll mine outside on the driveway to fire, is that there is
usually more wind and/or rain to contend during the winter
than the during summer. Water falling from the sky on an
operating multiple-100 kVs apparatus is obviously a "bad"
thing, but I've also found that even light winds can blow the
thermal currents of the streamers and disrupt their cascading
growth as well as "blow" them back into the secondary coil,
causing havoc and sometimes damage to the secondary coil
and the primary tank circuit ;^o Ask me how I know this ;^O

David Rieben


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: Weather/coil performance


> Original poster: BunnyKiller <bunnikillr@xxxxxxx>
>
> Dont know about frozen ground where I live ( New Orleans) but
> humidity and cool air does have a significnt impact upon my coils
> streamer length.
>
> Runs in the summer ( 95+ degreees at 90+ humidity) average 10-12 foot
> long streamers
> but in the winter when things are more like 50 degrees at 40%
> humidity the streamers can reach 12 - 15 feet
>
> also seems that any secondary coil in storage ( quantity of 3) will
> pick up voltages from the running coil more so than during the summer
> conditions...why this is I dont know but I have to be careful when
> handling "offline" secondary coils during winter..  I have been bit
> by the "offline" secondaries after running the bigpig coil in the
> winter months...  I m going to suppose that the lower humidity doesnt
> offer a "leakage" to the ""offline" secondaries...
>
> another option to consider is that the secondary of the actively used
> coil has a bad tendency to want to "bite" when handling it after a
> run during disassembly more so during the dry colder evenings as
> compared to the summer nights.
>
> I had the bigpig coil secondary "bite" me on my thigh one time which
> left me on the ground and immobile for a few moments...  now mind
> you, the coil had been off for several minutes and the secondary was
> totally disconnected from the system for 60 or so seconds...  all I
> can say is that a secondary coil will behaive as a capacitor during
> cold dry weather.... :)~
>
> Scot D
>
>
>
> Tesla list wrote:
>
> >Original poster: <davep@xxxxxxxx>
> >
> >  May or may not apply:
> >
> >Beware the Frozen Ground.
> >
> >If an outdoor 'ground' be used, once the dirt at the
> >ground level freezes the ground gets worse.
> >Documented in notes here, past.  Also well documented in
> >professional (power line, RF) ground studies.
> >
> >Most significant on 'hi power coils', typically.
> >Sometimes goes away after 'some' operation, as the
> >current melts the ice.
> >
> >If dirt 'ground' be deep enough: not an issue.
> >
> >Physics:
> >  Once the water is no longer liquid, the ions that
> >allow current flow are trapped, more or less immobile.
> >If natural warming, or warming from current from coil
> >melts water around 'ground electrode', thing simprove.
> >
> >best
> >  dwp
> >
> >
>
>
>
>