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New cap test run




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From:  Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com [SMTP:Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com]
Sent:  Wednesday, June 10, 1998 10:59 AM
To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:  New cap test run


Well, I fired up the coil last night with the second .025 mfd cap in parallel
with the first - for a total of .05 mfd.  The safety gap across the caps was
set to .50".  I had calculated best tune to be at turn 8.0.  It actually is at
turn 8.5.  With 3.3 ohms of resistive ballast in series with a 5000 watt
variac used as inductive ballast, I had 28 amps of primary current and primary
pole transformer input voltage of 200 volts.  The system ran good with best
discharges to a grounded wire of about 72".

I tried changing from 3.3 ohms to the new 2.4 ohm resistor array and at max
power the system was some what erratic.  Primary current was 35 amps bouncing
up to 45 amps.  Switched back to the 3.3 ohm resistors and changed the variac
tap from the 240 volt output to the 280 volt output.  What a difference - we
had long sparks all over the place.  I had a wire extending about 2.0" off one
side of the toroid, aiming toward a grounded wire target.  From this point, I
had 75" plus sparks to the ground wire but also had multiple breakouts all
over the toroid, some as long as the ones leaving from the wire.  Had several
hits to the strike rail, must have had a couple into the primary also since
the main safety gaps fired a few times.  Primary current was 35 amps with the
transformer primary voltage at 250 volts (8.75 kva). Also had hits down to the
concrete driveway.  This is the first time this coil has had strikes that hit
the earth.  The cap safety gaps never did fire!  This is great as that was my
major problem a month ago.

Based on the big increase in performance gained by going to the 280 volt tap
on the variac, it kind of makes me want to open up the pole transformer and
find the next higher voltage tap - maybe.  Next run I will try using both
toroids, the 40" on the bottom with the 33" raised up above it about 12".
This works good on my smaller coil to keep the sparks from hitting the
primary.

I know there are several other 6.0" dia coils out there.  What kind of
performance have you achieved?  My secondary winding length is 27.6" so I am
getting sparks that are 2.7 times as long as the secondary.

Finally happy in Spokane, Ed Sonderman