[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Toroid Testing
I think I might have answered one of my questions that I posted yesterday. I
was curious about my safety gap firing most of the time with my new small
coil.
I built two toroids when I put this system together. One is 10" x 1.5" and
the other is 12" x 1.75". I have been using the 12" version. Tonight I
placed a shot glass (1 to 1.5" high) on top of the toroid and placed the 10"
toroid on top of that. I noticed the coil now ran with much larger
discharges (more power) with the longest discharge going up from a previous
11" to 14". (My primary is only 16" away, I see a new strike ring coming.)
I figured the strikes would get longer, this thing needs much more toroid.
I noticed the safety gaps were firing less often - much less. I speculate
the added capacitance of the second toroid in proximity of the first changed
the frequency of the secondary to more closely match that of the primary.
Better tune - less firing of the safety gaps. Does this make sense? Has
anyone ever used the minimizing of the safety gap firing as a tuning
technique?
I tried a different height glass spacer and noticed different results. I
think this might be a good method of tuning. Get several different height
glass spacers and place them between the toroid mounted on the coil and
another sitting above it - and maybe another above it. The arcing between
the two toroids also makes a nice display. Anyone tried this?
I tried this once on my large system running with a 40" toroid and a 33"
toroid sitting directly on top of it. It is difficult to learn much outside
at night, running at 7kva with discharges going all over the place. It's
nice to see that you can learn as much or more working with a small coil in
the basement. Not rocket science, but I am still learning something.
Ed Sonderman