Re: [TCML] Rotary Spark Gap and Safety Gap Behaving Weirdly [VIDEO]

[Gary Lau <glau1024@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Brandon,

I'm not sure that I have a clear picture of the circuit configuration.  Is
it that you have only the RSG across the output of the Terry filter, with
the cap & primary disconnected?  I'm thinking so, because if the L/C were
hooked up, the arcing in the RSG would be much brighter, especially without
a dummy load.

Assuming my assumption is correct, I don't have a solid theory for why the
presence of the RSG causes the safety gap to fire.  The Terry filter
presents a small degree of capacitive loading to the NST and that may
result in some resonant rise.  Perhaps the gap firing results in there
being a longer interval to charge the capacitance...  Starting to talk
through my hat here, I'd have to run it through a simulator to see if that
holds water.

If you're running the RSG without the L-C circuit to get a handle on where
the sweet-spot of the SRSG is, be advised that adding the tank cap will
change everything.  The final sweet-spot will be dependent upon the variac
setting and tank capacitance.  I cannot strongly enough endorse the use of
the John Freau phase controller for controlling the SRSG phase.  IMHO, the
RSG phase is always something one should diddle in real time.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 6:41 PM, Brandon Hendershot <
brandonhendershot@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Decided to give my SRSG a spin with just the transformer hooked up, and
> although it didn't explode catastrophically, it didn't play nicely with the
> others. I took a video and put it up here:
> youtube.com/watch?v=lBi0Rl9jLuU<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBi0Rl9jLuU
> >
> MAKE
> SURE annotations are ON (Left-most icon in the group of icons at bottom
> right of the video player, looks like a speech bubble (On by default).).
>
> I'll summarize the issue here for archival purposes should the video ever
> disappear. I've made sure to set the safety gap properly without the rsg
> connected. The safety gap will not fire with the variac turned up to max
> voltage, but as soon as the RSG is engaged, the safety gap will fire
> immediately. After turning the variac down and extenguishing the arc, it
> will reignite when re-approaching max (130-140V) voltage. Again, the safety
> gap will NOT fire even at max voltage when the rsg is turned off.
>
> Thoughts, solutions, and further test procedures welcome.
>
> Thanks,
> Brandon H.
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