Re: curious ballast behavior (fwd)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:12:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: curious ballast behavior (fwd)

This sort of thing has been reported before on the
list.  Sometimes as input AC power goes up, spark
production goes down.  This counter-intuitive behavior
is a classic symptom of failure to quench.  As the AC
current increases, the spark gap quits behaving like a
switch and starts behaving more like an arc welder. 
Power transfer to the resonant system declines because
the arc never extinguishes.  Sparks get shorter
instead of longer.  The spark gap is converting most
of the input current to light and heat.  Turn the
wallplug current down (with a ballast, etc.) and
quenching improves.  The sparks get longer.  If you
want to run more wallplug power, you'll have to get a
gap with more aggressive quenching.

You may also see a coil that runs like a champ for
30-60 seconds, only to have the sparks gradually
shrink down to almost nothing.  Turn the coil off. 
Check everything for failure.  Switch it back
on...runs great again for 30-60 seconds!  This is the
same deal as above.  The spark gap quenches well when
its cold.  As it heats up and then overheats, it
becomes an arc lamp instead of a switch.  Once it
cools down, it works ok again for a little while. 
This gremlin is easy to cure with a big sucker gap or
a powerful air blast gap.

Cheers,

Greg

--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:44:15 -0400
> From: Scott Bogard <teslas-intern@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: curious ballast behavior
> 
> 
> Hey all,
>      A few weeks ago I did an experiment, I removed
> the Ballast form my
> 4-MOT coil to see if my sparks would get bigger (not
> a good idea for my
> setup, but a few couple second runs will not hurt
> anything).  They did
> not, the arcs grew incredibly tiny, a few inches
> long.  I re-tuned, and
> tuned, and tried every primary configuration
> available, but It never
> worked.  Thinking I may have fried a MOT with my
> rash behavior, I put it
> back on and tried again, the coil lit up like a
> champ.  I just thought
> this was curious and felt like sharing it with the
> group, especially in
> light of the "Bogus Ballast" thread a while back.  I
> know some people run
> their MOTs without a ballast, but I guess I cannot
> without some other
> design changes!
> 
> Scott Bogard.
> 
>
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