RE: MMC-What should I expect???

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Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>



I've so far ran my 4" coil using 15kV/60mA and 0.0275uF, 24kV MMC (12 x
0.33uF, 2kVDC PolyCaps) for periods of at least 20 minutes with no problems.
The only failuers i've ever gotten from an MMC was when i tried powering up
full power when the system wasn't tuned at all.

Dan




Hi All,

	I soon will be getting by Geek MMC caps (thanks Chris!), and I'm
wondering what to expect.  Until now I haven't run either of my coils
with a "real" MMC.  My first cap is (it's still alive) a 3x4 array of
3kV, 0.1 uF filter caps.  I run my coil for about 20 seconds max, then
shut it down to let the caps cool.  They are hot to the touch after 3
runs.  My second cap was (it's VERY dead) an array of what were claimed
to be pulse caps, but which turned out to be more like firecrackers. 
After 10-30 seconds of run time I would hear POP!...BUZZZZZZ! and then
see flames erupting from the array.  I used up my 10 spare caps very
quickly, and I doubt that I got more than 7 minutes of run time from the
array ;-P.  I know I've never overvoltaged either unit, since I'm really
paranoid about openning the gap up.

	With both units I've gotten 4-5 feet from my 6", 2kW coil, and the
sparks are "bright" purple.  Ground strikes are thin and white.  So,
what should I expect besides longer run times?  Would it be reasonable
to expect a significant improvement in spark length?

Thanks,
Winston K.