Re: A coil's temperment

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

Original poster: "Steven Ward by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>

I have seen my coil perform under a few conditions now.  Just recently (last 
night) i ran under the conditions that i would expect at the Dells 
Teslathon.  It was freezing cold, and the coil performed amazingly!  The 
only problem was a few racing sparks that tuning did not take care of.  My 
guess was that since it was warm in the garage where it is kept, that 
condensate formed on the coil.  It didnt appear to be a very bad problem, 
since it only happened every 20 seconds or so and never happened on not so 
cold nights.  Interesting problem ive been having is that the streamers tend 
to arc to the most strange places.  My coil is set up on a 2 level base.  
The tran, cap, PFC, and gaps on the bottom, and pri/sec on the top.  The 
base is 24" diameter x 16"tall and the toroid is 26" diamter and secondary 
26" tall.  Oddly enough, many times the arcs will travel beyond my strike 
rail, to almost hit ground(It does hit ground lots though ;) but make a turn 
and hit my transformers, gap, caps, PFC caps, dimmer switch even!  Luckily 
it doesnt seem to do much damage.  Its quite strange because the arc is only 
about 7" away from ground when this happens.  And it needs to travel about 
10 to turn at hit something downstairs.  Does anyone else have this problem, 
or know how to solve it reasonably.  Thanks guys, and sorry to make another 
story out of the original post...

Steve Ward.
>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: A coil's temperment
>Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 23:33:59 -0600
>
>Original poster: "J. B. Weazle McCreath by way of Terry Fritz 
><twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca>
>
>
>Hello Coilers,
>
>The recent discussion about the effects of barometric pressure on the
>streamer length, and possibly the overall operation, of a coil got me
>to wondering about keeping a log about such things.
>
>I've noticed that my coil has a totally different temperment depending
>on the weather of the day.  On cool, dry days it sounds like a finely
>tuned formula one racer, while on a more humid and/or hot day it can
>be described as sounding like a top fuel dragster with a wee bit too
>much nitromethane.
>
>I'm planing to keep a log of my runs noting the temperature, humidity,
>and barometric pressure (in in. of Hg.) along with the power level and
>spark gap air volume.  Hopefully after a period of time I'll have data
>that will shed some light on these "temperment changes" of my coil.
>
>I'd be interested in hearing from other coilers who are doing the same
>measurements and perhaps we can collaborate on our findings.
>
>73, Weazle, VE3EAR/VE3WZL
>G-1#1214
>
>Listening: 147.030+ and 442.075+
>E-mail:    weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca
>            or ve3ear-at-rac.ca
>Web site:  http://www.hurontel.on.ca/~weazle