Thanks for the responses guys.
Update: The racing sparks run randomly throughout the length of the secondary, many times they are multiple inches long. All parts are identical to what I used before, but closer observation showed that a perimeter ring surrounding, and a couple of inches above the primary, had some corona and occasional strikes to it. I was using this ring as a "hot" tap so that I could more easily tune the primary with a floating lead. I subsequently removed the ring (especially being I had the best tune location/turn determined), which appeared to eliminate the racing arcs.
So my thoughts are that perhaps the toroid is so large that the breakout voltage is significantly higher without the barb, than with the barb in place. I just don't recall there being that much difference in performance between using the barb, and not using it. Because I'm only testing this to see if I can reassemble everything properly being it's been such a long time. I really don't have the proper clearance in my garage to really crank up the power, and see if breakout occurs at a higher power setting.
Terry
From: Yurtle Turtle via Tesla <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>; Terry <terry@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2017 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] First coil
Look closely at the location the racing sparks occurred. You may have damaged the coating, beyond just visible carbon tracking. I had to remove a few of my lower turns due to damage, a long time ago.
On Saturday, October 28, 2017, 9:18:46 PM EDT, Terry <terry@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Terry,
It does sound like over coupling. Is tuning proper, that is the same
primary tap point as years ago? Maybe need to re-tune?
Is the arc length with "Barbed" the same as it was ten years ago.
Might try cleaning the secondary but not sure if that will help.
Happy coiling to you.
From another Terry - Terry Leonard
On 10/28/2017 2:12 PM, Terry Oxandale wrote:
> It's been a long time since I was more active on this list. I never was a
> "technical" enthusiast, so being I've had the coil in storage for probably
> 10 years, and have forgotten more than I remember about coiling. I'd like to
> tap the group for some help or advice please.
>
> My coil appears to operate as I remember it did, as long as I've got a sharp
> pointed barb sticking out the side of the toroid to promote a discharge.
> When I remove the barb to get a normal toroial discharge, I get racing
> sparks along the secondary, and nothing out of the toroid, all for the same
> power setting as the "barbed" setup (2kva). Thus I separated the secondary
> from the primary in terms of vertical distance to lower any excessive
> coupling (shooting in the dark here), but still racing arcs along the
> secondary.
>
> Any ideas on the huge difference (or lack of performance) between "barbed"
> and "non-barbed? No component changes have been made since a decade ago when
> it all worked great, and both configurations performing equally well.
>
> Terry
>
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