RE: Timing RSGs (was: easy rsgs)

["Colin Dancer" <CMD-at-datcon.co.uk> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Paul,

I tried playing with a similar mod and found that strobe phase relative to
the main was quite sensitive to component tolerances.  This made it poor for
setting the gap phase (but still good for checking lock).  I now use a very
similar circuit but with a zero-crossing IC in the strobe trigger circuit
and get much better results.  Using the strobe I set my gap to a firing
angle estimated using the RSG simulations on Richie Burnett's site and it
worked great first time.  A bit of tweaking showed the peak performance was
at another  4-5 degrees advanced but I didn't feel that was too bad for a
simulation.

Anyway, if it helps a schematic of the circuit can be found near the bottom
of my tesla page at http://www.pyrochrome-dot-net/tesla.

Cheers,

Colin.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: 03 August 2000 07:03
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Timing RSGs (was: easy rsgs)


Original poster: "Mark Broker" <broker-at-uwplatt.edu> 

> Original poster: "Paul Mathus" <pmathus-at-learningco-dot-com>
>
>      Terry Fritz's Radio Shack strobe light modification works well for
>      timing sync rotary gaps as well.
>
>      http://users.better-dot-org/tfritz/RS-Strobe/RSStrobe.htm
>
>      paul

Paul and list,

When beginning tuning on my coil, I decided to try this option, even though
I really didn't have the $40+.  I ended up with less than desirable
results.  I spent a bit of time aligning the electrodes (NSTs off) using the
modified RS strobe.  When I hooked everything back up and applied the juice,
nothing happened.  I ended up turning the motor about 20deg in order to get
it to fire.  I think that I finally got it working about the best I could
hope for using trial and error.

I am using some PFC caps (maybe 240uF on a 15/90 setup), which I think was
the problem, as I was using the standard wall socket to power the strobe.
What was I doing wrong?

Mark