Re: smoking secondary

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: smoking secondary
From: Open Minded <bturner-at-apc-dot-net>
Date: Sun, 05 Jan 1997 15:53:47 -0800
Subscriber: bturner-at-apc-dot-net Mon Jan 6 22:26:41 1997

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Subscriber: RRice43147-at-aol-dot-com Sat Jan  4 21:39:15 1997
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 12:34:54 -0500
> From: RRice43147-at-aol-dot-com
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: smoking secondary
> 
> Hi all!
> My tc started to quit working (no sparks)
> upon checking it out,the secondary was filled
> with smoke,i assume from internal arcing.
> When i wound the coil,I didnt know about NOT
> drilling holes thru the form(I learned that from this
> list) but i had the holes filled with putty.
> Can anyone think of a fix?I would hate to wind
> a new coil!
> Thanks,Rick

Thoroughly examine the surface of the secondary form. You might
get lucky and have only mild surface burns in the form. Try using a
dremel tool and burr to gently excavate the burned form material out,
leaving a clean, original form material surface.

Use a bunch of RTV around the holes where the wires lead in from
the outside. You might also wish to try installing some acrylic
(plexiglass) disks as a bulkhead as well.

I was able to successfully ressurect a 'burned-out' secondary (was
given to me) this way. Works fine now. Also check your tuning and
coupling. A happy coil shouldn't break down like this - at least
until you are pushing 3 times the secondary length in spark.

- Brent