Re: Grid leak problem

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 11/3/01 10:50:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

> The moral of the pic,  "This is what grid leak resistor should *NOT* do!"  
>  Thoughts? (other than something is *really* wrong with my setup)    
>  http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/hot_resistor.jpg
              
>  Shad

Shad,

A good way to tell if an 833 tube coil is set up well is to observe
the spark length vs the tube redness.  If all is well, (assuming just
one 833 being used), then the tube plate should be acceptably red while
the spark length is about 19" to 23".  If the tube is red and the 
spark is only 12" to 15" or so, after running for awhile, then the 
coil is not efficient. 
However if the plate voltage is below 3.5kVAC to 4kVAC, then the
coil will run less efficiently anyway.  The grid resistors do tend to
run hot in a tube coil, but if yours never got so hot in the past, then
something must have gone bad.  I've had ones glow white hot like
that when they were undersized power-wise.

Cheers,
John