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Re: Ross-O's 1st Run - secondary arcing



In a message dated 2/8/99 8:09:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:

> --BIG Snip--

>  Once you've decreased the coupling, run the system in a dark room, again
>  looking for any signs of unwanted corona. If you're still seeing the
>  "Christmas tree", you may also want to lower the toroid relative to the
>  secondary. For best sheilding, the bottom-most part of the toroid should
>  be roughly level with the top of your secondary winding. This should
>  have the effect of increasing the e-field between the toroid and
>  strikerail, and reducing the electrostatic stress from the top of the
>  secondary to the strikerail. This tends to "throw" streamers outward,
>  and away from the secondary and strikerail. You've got a relatively
>  large toroid, which should be fairly effective at this. Adjusting for
>  best performance here is a bit of a balancing act. You may also need to
>  do a bit of retuning, since lowering the toroid will also lower your top
>  terminal capacitance a bit. 
>  
>  Finally, as you indicate on your website, you may also want to consider
>  migrating to a flat primary eventually, since an inverse conical primary
>  will not provide adequate clearance between the top of your coil and the
>  strikerail at higher power levels. This will ultimately limit the full
>  potential (NPI) of your system. 
>  
>  Safe coilin' to you!
>  
>  -- Bert --
>  
Bert  -  Excellent comments.  My 6" coil originally used a 45 degree saucer
shaped
primary.  I also had the intense blue Christmas tree effect.  You can see a
very
intense field with this set-up.  I raised the secondary up to eliminate the
arcing.  I also
eventually rebuilt the primary as a flat spiral.  Just took all the copper
tubing off, made
new support ribs and retied it in place - a mere afternoon's work.  I also
operate with two
toroids with one above the other and now have very little problem with
downward stirkes.

Ed Sonderman