Re: 3/4, 1/4, or 3/4 copper tubing? Is a Strike Rail needed?

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dhmccauley-at-spacecatlighting-dot-com>


 > Following past list discussions, I think there is a general concensus
 > that if the coil is inclined to send arcs to the primary, a strike
 > rail is a good idea. The reason is not obvious but intuition shows it
 > to be valid. What happens is that a common mode spike races back
 > towards the transformer terminals elevating *both* momentarily,
 > compromising insulation between the transformer secondary and primary
 > and/or core.


I still don't think a strike rail is necessary.  In my four inch coil, I run
parallel 15kV/60mA NSTs with no protection filter and no
strike rail.  I'd say that 25% of my strikes (read that as a lot)  strike
the primary coil.  I've been running this coil to death almost every other
day and have yet to have a failure.

Dan