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Re: Sonderman's continuing saga





---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 11:00:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Sonderman's continuing saga 

In a message dated 97-10-01 16:17:06 EDT, you write:

<< 
 Have you checked the primary for shorts? A shorted primary turn will
 suck up energy like mad while still allowing the coil to be "tuned"
 and "work", but with greatly reduced output. Sometimes when I am
 changing tap points I will accidentally short a turn, and the effects
 are immediately evident. Also, the voltage between primary turns can
 be pretty high, and once in the bad old days when I was using wood
 separators I had a burn short develop via the separator. This
 "partial" short was not immediately visible because it was internal
 to the wood. I finally noticed it when I spotted a little wisp of
 smoke at the primary after a long run.
 
 Just a thought.
 Fr. Tom McGahee
 
  >>
Fr. Tom,

Thanks for the idea, I will check the primary carefully.  The clip that I use
on the tap lead is subject to shorting to an adjacent turn.  I use an
aligator clip that has some copper tubing split open and soldered to the jaws
so as to form to the 3/8" tubing of the primary.  I noticed the other day
that I need to carefully position it (due to the angle of the lead coming up
from under the primary) to keep it from shorting to an adjacent turn.  I
would like to have some type of clip that is thinner which would allow more
air gap to the adjacent turns.  I have never noticed any sparks or burn marks
near the clip on the primary.

Ed Sonderman