Re: [TCML] At a loss. No light on second coil (Update)

[David Dean <deano@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Andrew

Congratulations on first light. From looking at the video, I'd have to guess your 
tuning is not too far off. Good job.

later
deano

On Saturday, March 30, 2013 10:26:40 PM Andrew Webster wrote:
> All,
> 
> I cannot thank you enough for you time helping me out with this. I
> took all of the advice that I received and went to work. I pulled it
> all down, checked it piece by piece. The big task at hand was my power
> supply. I pulled the entire thing back out of the oil and set it up on
> the workbench, hooked up one of my spare mots backwards to get a nice
> 6.3v input and started testing my phasing and wiring. Once I had that
> complete I dropped them back in the oil and started on a ballast. The
> easiest thing I could do right away was a shorted MOT.
> 
> Well, I got first light tonight! And what a show it was. Seeing as I
> am still working on the ARSG I just used my sucker gap but it runs and
> runs well. I haven't even had time to tune it yet but it lives and it
> was a great show and a wonderful night!
> 
> Thank you all again!
> 
> Here is a video of it up and running!
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nq-X-xtEGw
> 
> Have a wonderful night!
> 
> -Andrew
> 
> On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 8:06 PM, Bert Hickman <bert.hickman@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Andrew and all,
> > 
> > David is absolutely right.
> > 
> > The root cause is that your tank capacitor and gap electrodes are too
> > small for the current delivered by your HV power source. After the first
> > "bang", the high power supply current recharges your tank cap too
> > rapidly - before the tips of your electrodes can cool below
> > incandescence. When the tank cap voltage rises too rapidly, the gap
> > re-fires at a relatively low reignition voltage. If the electrode tips
> > are still incandescent (from the previous firing), they readily emit
> > free electrons (thermionic emission) into the gap, causing it to
> > reignite at a much lower low voltage compared to if they were cooler.
> > 
> > The result is that your tank cap never has a chance to recharge to
> > anything near full voltage before the gap re-fires. The gap develops a
> > fiery appearance that quickly oxidizes/melts up your gap electrodes.
> > Since the "effective bang size" declines substantially, your coil's
> > output drops catastrophically - sometimes to virtually nothing!
> > 
> > Bert
> > --
> > Bert Hickman
> > Stoneridge Engineering
> > http://www.capturedlightning.com
> > ***********************************************************************
> > World's source for "Captured Lightning" Lichtenberg Figure sculptures,
> > magnetically "shrunken" coins, and scarce/out of print technical books
> > ***********************************************************************
> > 
> > David Dean wrote:
> >> On Friday, March 29, 2013 09:26:22 AM Andrew Webster wrote:
> >>> I swung by the local metal recycling facility yesterday and got some
> >>> .25 inch tungsten rod I'll have to cut down and ordered a new sheet of
> >>> phenolic. I'll have the new gap up soon.
> >> 
> >> So maybe it takes twice as many "few seconds" to melt the tungsten as
> >> the brass.
> >> 
> >> In order to "cure" the power arc you need to reduce the power (via
> >> suitable
> >> ballast) to a level the coil and gap can process.
> >> 
> >> IMHO
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla