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Re: "Draining Energy" and Location of HV Supply Parts
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 18:14:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: "Draining Energy" and Location of HV Supply Parts
> For what it's worth, I've built two systems with the pulse caps and the
> rotary and stationary gaps directly under the primary. Since I use a pole
> pig it's not really practical to try and fit that puppy under there too! I
> have about 8-9" from the primary to the top of any of the components
> metioned with no problems discovered to date.
> I really decided to do this after seeing several photo's and video tapes of
> systems in operation with the spark gaps and caps set off to the side of
the
> primary/secondary structure. What caught my eye was the fact that setting
> these items off to the side made a wonderful target for the spark--these
> items did seem to take lots of hits. If the parts are located under the
> primary and a strike rail is also employed, I believe you have a lower risk
> of damaged components--so far, it has worked well for me. Another
advantage
> of placing the gaps under the primary is that a convient structure is then
> available to enclose the spark gap so that no one is staring at it which is
> an intense enough light source so that eye damage is a real possibility.
> One more thought, putting these items under the primary allows you to keep
> your connections short. If you are lugging these parts around and
> connecting and disconnecting things, your system tune could be perfect one
> time and off the next. I vote for components under the primary, with
proper
> spacing.
> Chuck
- >>
Ted,
I agree with all that Chuck says above. I also find that mounting the
components below the coil makes for a very nice looking coil, and is
especially convenient in small portable demo coils. All the guts
including the neon tranny can be placed on a wooden base, and the
primary and secondary can be placed on another wooden piece that
is held above the first one using turned legs, etc. This also creates
a coil that is small in width and easy to store. The only possible
disadvantage is the height of the total assembly. My present 12kV,
30ma, neon, 42" spark TC is also built this way, except that there
are 3 levels; bottom level which is near the floor holds the sync-gap
and neon tranny, next level holds the 2 series'd caps, and the top
level supports the primary and secondary. The wooden structure
looks basically like a small table.
BTW, in the small 9" demo coil, I lashed it up at first with the
components at the side just to finalize the design, then I built it
with parts underneith. No degradation of spark length was seen.
If I remember correctly, there was about 5 1/2" between the top
of the neon tranny and the bottom of the primary.
Regarding spacing to the floor, it seems better to place the
components under the coil, which keeps the coil farther away
from the floor. If the coil is too close to the floor, esp. a concrete
floor,it can dampen the coil's performance. The components
themselves, tranny, gap, caps, etc, will not tend to be affected
by the floor's proximity, IMO.
John Freau