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First tesla coil question



Original poster: "Ryan Miller" <pballjunkie@xxxxxxx>

Hi All,
I've been a subscriber to this email service for a bit of time now but this is my first ever contribution to it...or at least use of it beyond reading material. I am attempting to build my first tesla coil and want to make certain everything goes as well as possible. I have designed multiple spark gaps each of which appears to work but I am stuck on a simple question. How do I know when it is "working" and not just producing an electrical arc but instead a fully charged shot with my entire capacitor behind it. I do not have any tools beyond a physics textbook, paper, pens, and a 10 dollar voltmeter. The best simple observations I can gather to show that it would be working is when it produces the exceptionally loud crack with each firing and that it shoots nice clean blue shots across as opposed to the fuzzy orange common of electrical arcing. Is there a better way to know or is that all I have to work with without an oscilloscope or more tools. I've done all the calculations to find my gap spacing on a few models and made a few by trial and error. Thanks for your help.

Ryan Miller
19 years old - CA

.-= Miller =-.

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