[TCML] RE: Need assistance in diagnosing poor performance

["Lau, Gary" <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx>]

We can't give you additional input until you give US additional input.  We can't see your coil, remember? ;-)  Pictures and specs are needed, particularly of the gap.  Yes, 3" is clearly below par.

As stated earlier, the 555 tuner is useful for a rough tuning, but the final tuning must be determined experimentally - i.e. which tap yields the longest sparks.

I'm not sure I follow how you used the tuner.  The tuner is used to determine the resonant frequency of the primary and secondary circuits, individually.  It's up to you to get them to resonate at the same frequency.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Stephen J. Hobley
> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 7:54 PM
> To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
> Subject: [TCML] Need assistance in diagnosing poor performance
>
> We're still not getting the performance we would expect out of the Tesla
> coil we built.
>
> It might have been the humidity that killed it tonight, as performance
> was the worst yet - spark length was only 3" using the safety wand.
>
> Where should I start in looking for problems? I've built the 555 timer
> based tuner and re-tapped the primary at coil 11, as this gave the
> dimmest indication, as per the instructions.
>
> Apart from that, I'm a bit stumped.
>
> I've seen evidence that this coil can give much better performance -
> Alan sent me some recent pictures of a US military coiler over in Iraq,
> getting at least 25" arcs out of his coil - exact same specs.
>
> Maybe the desert air helps...
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
> Steve

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