Hi Jim,
I do have about a 2" gap in my Strike Rail.
Good idea to run a solid copper wire from ground up next to the toroid and a having breakout point on the toroid to see if anything is happening up there.
I have the coil on the floor of my garage which is a cement slab poured on earth. My ground is a copper wire that runs to a metal stake pounded down about 2.5 feet into the earth outside my garage.
Thanks!
Paul
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 12/27/15, Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Subject: Re: [TCML] No topload output
To: "Heather & Paul Novotny" <p_novotny@xxxxxxxxx>, "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015, 9:02 PM
On 12/27/15 5:29 PM,
Heather & Paul Novotny via Tesla wrote:
>
Hi guys,
>
> I just
tried my TC for the first time tonight after COUNTLESS hours
of work on it. Unfortunately, I am getting no streamers
from the topload.
>
Do you have a breakout point
on the topload?
And something to spark to? I
use a piece of grounded (as in connected to
the bottom of the secondary/counterpoise)
copper tubing that sticks up
and I can
move closer and farther from the topload.
In your picture, I'd put
it sticking up from the edge of your cart,
until you get things working.
Does your
strike rail have a gap in it? (It should, or it looks like a
shorted turn)
What's your ground scheme look like? For a
coil this size, I'd use
something like
a 3-4 foot square piece of chicken wire or hardware
cloth, or sheet metal under the coil. (rule
of thumb is that "ground"
should
have a radius comparable to the height of the secondary).
In
your case, that ground
screen/counterpoise should be at the level of the
top of your cart.
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla