Re: More on small caps (with a bang)

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: More on small caps (with a bang)
From: "Barton B. Anderson" <mopar-at-uswest-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 07:22:03 -0700
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Sam,
Some thoughts interspersed below.

Tesla List wrote:

> Original Poster: Sam Laur <slaur-at-sekunda.pp.utu.fi>
>
> Haunted by the disappointing performance of the capacitor I previously
> constructed (110 pF), I returned to the same PCB's and found a total of 8
> 100 nF X2-rated capacitors. I thought to myself, that's too little, there's
> no way they'll take that much punishment. But still I was determined to try
> it out. A 12.5 nF cap is over a hundred times bigger than what I had
earlier!
>
> Well, they worked better (scared the hell out of my wife - the spark gap got
> a LOT louder!) but not really well. Now the fluorescent lamp gets a bit more
> noticeably lit, it's just that nothing "great" happens. Is my power supply
> so pitifully small that it can't feed the secondary properly? Or is the
thing
> so mis-tuned that there's no chance it would work anyway...

When you say "nothing great happens", do you mean your getting "no" spark
off the
secondary terminal? If your not getting any spark, make sure your tuning
using a
pointed object off the top terminal to direct the discharge path to a grounded
rod of some type. Bring the grounded rod close enough that breakout occurs.
Once
breakout begins, increase the distance a bit until no spark can reach the rod.
Then tune until breakout reaches the rod. Keep doing this until the longest
possible discharge is established. Then, try it without the nearby grounded
rod.
If you get breakout, then remove the point from the top terminal. If for some
reason you cannot breakout without the nearby ground rod, your top terminal
may
be too large for the coil or power input.

Hope I understood your situation correctly,
Bart