NST Current Limiting

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

Original poster: "Daniel Reinders by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <danreind-at-shaw.ca>

Hi Everybody,

I find myself in a rather rare position on this list.  I'm trying to get 
LESS current out of my neon sign transformer.  I had built a Marx 
generator, and was running it off of a 12/30 NST (possible since charging 
rate >> 60 Hz), or at least I was until the capacitors spewed smoke one by 
one.  Guess those 10 kv/0.001 ufd ceramics just aren't up to the job.

We'll I've got a bunch of new capacitors that I'm hoping will do the 
trick.  The only catch is that their capacitance is much lower.  So the 
Marx generator fires successfully, and then an arc gets established that 
does not "quench" - hence no more Marx arcs.  I figure that if I scale back 
the current to better match the capacitors it should do the trick.  So I'm 
wondering what is the best way to do this without losing 
voltage?  Admittedly a non-Tesla question but I hope you'll indulge me.

Thanks,

Dan Reinders