Re: ...And then there was silence.

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

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Hi Matt,
Remove the wood between electrodes and inspect for carbon track through the
wood. Also, try it without
the wood in there. Next, don't put the piece of wood back in again. If you
must, use something else
which has better insulating properties.

Good luck,
Bart

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Matt Woody Meyer by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <meyerml-at-stolaf.edu>
>
> I got it running again... had some problems before which turned out to be a
> shorted capacitor (ah, the troubles with homebuilt caps!) and the spark gap
> wasn't working correctly.  I also changed my large toroid to the small
> toroid.  All told, tonight during my final night of testing before my big
> symposium, I was able to get 36" arcs (a guy in my class bet me a pint of
> beer for every 3" I was able to get... that's 12 beers!)
>
> So, while taking pictures after tuning, something happened, and as of now I
> am not sure what it was.  Everything was working very well, and then, the
> gap stopped firing suddenly (just happened right away, didn't "ramp down"),
> and I heard the transformers "sizzling".  I am using a RQ style gap (like
> the one on Vince's website: http://www.teslafx-dot-com) with a small piece of
> wood between the two end electrodes (to prevent arcing between them.  I am
> at this point very desperate for any answers.  I have so far ruled out the
> following:
> -NST's are working correctly
> -Wiring is correct
> -Capacitors failed continuity test (good thing- they're not shorted again).
>   (will measure capacitance tomorrow morning to verify these aren't the
> problem)
> -NST Protection should be working
> -Spark Gap has no faults in it.
>
> My setup is:
> 15kV 60ma & 15kV 30ma transformers, in parallel
> Terry's NST protection filter
> RQ style gap (see http://www.teslafx-dot-com)
> 2 capacitors, in parallel for total capacitance of .034uF
> 11 turn primary, .375" copper tubing
> 8x32 secondary, 22AWG magnet wire
> smaller toroid (don't have dimensions)
> All grounding done directly to earth with two grounding rods.
>
> Any suggestions would help me VERY much, as my presentation is at 2:00 on
> Wed (CDT) and the firing is at 9:00pm CDT Wed. as well.
>
> Many thanks,
> ><>Matt
>
> ps: please e-mail me directly, so as not to clog up the list with answers.
> :)
> meyerml-at-stolaf.edu
>
> >