-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of bartb
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:53 PM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] Chokes and Terry filters
I think all of us are preaching proper gap spacing via NST and gap
setting (workbench approach) which eliminates the various electrodes
chosen. Another aspect to consider is that DC typically runs at about
1.3 x Cres for his cap size. So he is taking advantage of some resonant
charging as far as bps is concerned. The static gap still clamps the
voltage regardless and I agree is the main problem with NST failures.
If I were to weigh in on the filter discussion, I would say the chokes
are unnecessary with a filter. However, I have even pushed my gap
setting wide enough to kill an NST even with a Terry filter installed.
This is when I realized the safety gap was useless due to my gap setting
and sort of what drives me to stress the margin between safety and main
gap needs to be large enough to allow the safety gap to work, otherwise,
it's just a waste of labor and electrodes.
I do push my transformers with what I can get away with. If it fails,
I'll just fix it or replace it. There are probably a few like me out
there on that subject. With that in mind, I've even been thinking about
doing away with the safety gap (my static gap coils only). The reason is
I have little margin and it's an annoyance when set correctly and
useless when it's not an annoyance.
The fact is, the probability of a decently built static gap failing is
slim to none. So, what's the point of the safety gap in that type of
system?
Take care,
Bart
Lau, Gary wrote:
> Indeed. I think the reason that DC has been successful in not killing
> NST's is his
conservative approach to keeping static gap width small. That, more than
using
any kind of filter, is the key to long NST life, and that's what we should
be
preaching. But human nature being what it is, the desire to increase
performance
has us opening the gaps to the max, and that's where Terry filters become
useful.
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> MA, USA