Re: neons & rsg

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: neons & rsg
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 22:53:49 -0500
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Mad Coiler[SMTP:tesla_coiler-at-hotmail-dot-com]
Sent: 	Monday, August 04, 1997 11:59 AM
To: 	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: 	Re: neons & rsg


>>      I know many have said not to use rotary gaps with neon xformrs. 
>>What is the theory behind this? Could you use a rsg with a neon if you 
>> use protective chokes on the neon outputs?
> 
> TES
>  >>
>TES,
>
>If the optimum capacitor size is used for a particular neon xformer, 
the
>gap will only be able to fire once per half cycle.  Whenever a gap 
fires
>once per half cycle, it's best to fire at the peak.  Using a fixed 
static
>gap, firing will occur near the peak, but with a rotary, the firing may
>attempt to occur "anywhere" along the half cycle.  If the gap presents
>too soon, while the voltage is still too low, it will not fire.  Thus 
the gap
>may not fire at all on that half cycle and may wait until the next half
>cycle to fire.  Due to resonant charging effects, the cap will be 
charged
>to an extra high voltage if this occurs, and this will stress the
>transformer.
>It is also possible that the irregular firing of a non-sync rotary 
causes
>occasional voltage resonant spikes which can damage the transformer.
>Another way to look at all this is that a fixed gap LIMITS the firing 
>voltage, whereas a rotary does not.
>
>If a synchronous rotary is used, the situation is changed for the 
better.
>The synchronous rotary will fire at the same place at every half cycle,
>and will not skip a firing, thus the voltage will not rise as high as 
if a
>half cycle was skipped.  Sync-gaps work very well with neon trannies,
>and I suspect that they can outperform a regular static gap.  I have
>never blown out a neon tranny while using a sync-gap and I do not 
>use any chokes...but i do use a safety gap.
>
>Some people do use non-sync rotaries on their coils, and obtain
>reasonable results, but YES it is probably important to use chokes,
>safety gaps, and perhaps even current limiting resistors in series
>with the chokes.  The wrong sized chokes can make the situation 
>worse.
>
>Interestingly, a non-sync rotary will not be any better than a static
>gap towards producing spark output length...unless perhaps you 
>have paralleled  quite a few neon trannies so that the power input 
>is high, and the superior quenching abilities of the rotary are called 
>upon.
>
>John Freau
>
>
John, Thanks for the info.

I think I will try and build a synch gap. But I don't understand what 
makes a synchronous gap to be synchronous. How could one be assured that 
it would always fire at the right time? My coil right know is using two 
12,500v 30mA neons (60mA total) and the primary resonates at about 
400kHz.
Thanks again for the help.

Tristan Stewart, CET




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