RE: [TCML] Coil pics & many thanks

["Andrew Nettles" <anettles@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve, Bart, Herr Zapp,

I will try re-tapping the primary.  My extension cord is a 25' 14AWG and the
ground is 25' of 2AWG welding cable - those didn't change when I tried
running it outside and I figured 25' was good enough to set it up somewhere
else without letting the cables get too long.  I haven't checked but I think
I should be drawing less than 10 amps with the PFC caps in place.

Thanks for the suggestions

- Andrew

-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Quarkster
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 10:29 PM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: RE: [TCML] Coil pics & many thanks

Andrew -
 
Here are some of the factors that can cause a coil to run "differently"
outdoors, relative to running in a garage or other enclosed area:
 
1. Voltage drop through an extension cord. If you had a 6' line cord in the
garage, and now add 50' of #16 AWG extension cord to get the coil
outside, you will see a drop in the input voltage at the NST, especially if
you are drawing 15A or more.
 
2. Additional length of ground wire. If you had your secondary ground tied
into a cold water pipe in the garage, and now have 20' or more of additional
ground wire, your secondary resonant frequency will change.
 
3. Air currents. Even a very slight breeze will affect streamer formation
and appearance, especially if your coil normally generates multiple
simultaneous streamers. Generally, any detectable air movement will adversly
affect coil output.
 
4. Capacitance to adjacent objects. All nearby physical objects in the
garage will affect the capacitance-to-ground of the secondary and topload.
If you were optimally tuned for best performance in the garage, the coil
will almost certainly be somewhat out-of-tune when run in the open.
 
5. Optical illusion effects. When running in a garage, there are all sorts
of surrounding objects that give some sense of scale to the streamer length.
Run outside, you lose many of these physical references, and the streamers
will usually look a bit less impressive then they did indoors. A full moon
looks huge when just rising above the horizon, but seems to "shrink" at a
higher zenith angle and there are no nearby objects as optical references.
 
Regards,
Herr Zapp
 
 
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