Re: First Firing since 1999: The Glorious odor...

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>
> 
> Greg,
> While coiling in the garage, I reached a threshold where I finally figured
> out how to make a coil work properly. Suddenly, I was getting much longer
> spark than I anticipated and an arc struck the garage door opener antenna,
> frying the PCB control board. 

	The first time I got a "much longer spark than I anticipated" it was
from the newly-added toroid to the top of my head, which was pointed
toward the coil as I adjusted the Variac.  No harm done, fortunately. 
This was a small coil powered from a 12 kV, 60 ma NST.  Where I run it
in my attic the maximum streamer length is limited to about 30 inches,
which was about the distance from my head to the toroid.

	There's been a lot of talk about grounds.  A good ground connected to
the bottom of the secondary seems like life insurance to me, in the
event of a primary to secondary breakdown.  [At least one which doesn't
open up the secondary.]

Ed