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Re: Question about ballasting and VA



> Original Poster: "Robin Copini" <rcopini-at-merlin-dot-net.au>

Hi Robin,

It seems you and I have observed nearly the same situation. I know about
multitasking - I guess we all do it. This is similar to what I've observed (so
far). There is a different activity in the streamers as you noted, and it
does have
to do with the spark gap behavier that you also noted. There may be a
relationship
between our ballast control and coil setups vs. other coilers control and
setups
that has to do with not being able to introduce enough inductance to the
system in
relation to our mains resonance and tank cap relationships that prevents us
from
reaching the resonance point some of the other coilers have found. However,
I can
almost guarantee there is still a sweet spot where your coil and gap runs
smoothly
(somewhere just below where the gap acts irratically?). I don't think this is a
resonance situation on your coil or mine. I think it may have to do with
something
similar to what John Freau was describing - power factor becoming very
poor. I'm
not sure, all I can do is be an arm chair cowboy right now - which is not my
routine. Your coil seems to be up and running, so maybe you can figure it
out for
me. Otherwise, I'm going to have to wait until I can get the rest of my
equipment
home (the cabin where I have my pig and control mod stored is snowed in
right now).

Bart

>  I have been reading this thread with some interest as I too vary my coil
> using a large variac to control current. Last night I went and spent
considerable
> time dialing in
> various levels of current, (my meters show V and A to the transformer), at a
> certain point
> the spark gap becomes markedly brighter however the arc lengths do not
increase
> in length but
> there is some increase in activity although this may be subjective as I am
> looking at the
> meters, the gap, and the arcs somewhat at the same time, (multitasking
:-)),. The
> point is that I can still
> increase current but all that happens is sporadic firing of the safety
across the
> gap.