Hi Matt, I would guess that the metal surface of your SG contacts heats up to the point of near incandescence and this causes increased ionization of the air between the electrodes and does not allow for the conduction to completely stop in between cycles. In short, your SG isn't sufficiently cooled for the power that you are pro- cessing through it. Try either increasing the surface area of your SG contacts or introducing forced air cooling (fan) - or possibly a combination of both, to address this issue. David Rieben From: matty mcqueeney <matty_queeney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "tesla@xxxxxxxxxx" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, April 1, 2014 5:57 AM Subject: [TCML] Tesla coil spark gap dies away AFTER working Hi everyone, I tested my tesla coil yesterday and it worked brilliantly, However after a while the sparks started to die away. The spark gap I use is similar to the one below https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=static+spark+gap&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB451GB451&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&imgil=NWnKp-waegpo3M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQ2JuOAoqZ_hysRtikPUS02F5iqJfou3s420mxZljldrdHUHmAs%253B640%253B366%253BALVlAI-_8sEZyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.teslacoildesign.com%25252Fconstruction.html&source=iu&usg=__ehjc7fNIUcOTpWPuz5o-zTDUOLI%3D&sa=X&ei=spo6U-29Ga3s0gWY9oCwDw&ved=0CDsQ9QEwAw#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=AchLHojuxBwHJM%253A%3BUaN-2DPwohW_nM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flab.dereklow.co%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252Fteslacoil-31-470x328.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flab.dereklow.co%252Fspark-gap-tesla-coil%252F%3B470%3B328 I do not use a fan to cool it down either. I was wondering if you knew any reason why the spark gap was dieing away? Thanks Matthew. _______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla _______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
