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Re: Bumping above 40%



Jim,

If the bumping you are referring to is the same thing I have 
experienced at higher power levels, the explanation is a simple one.  
You are drawing power arcs.  That is, the gap is doing a poor job of 
quenching at high power levels and the transformer is briefly arcing 
through the primary system.

You can try a number of things:
Increase the gap size.
Change to a more sophisticated gap (sectioned and/or rotary).
Add inductance and/or resistance to the low voltage side of the 
transformer.
Play with the coupling.  Sometimes that fixes it.

Richard Hull recommends running with a small amount of resistance in 
the mains circuit.  He claims it "smooths out the rough spots" in the 
coil's performance.  By this I'm sure he means those bumpies.

Zap,
Mark