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Re: got it working... now need to make better



Original poster: "J. Aaron Holmes" <jaholmes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

500mH on the ballast?!  Are you sure about that?  That
works out to like 188 ohms, which would limit your
input (at 120V) to less than one amp.  That's not even
100 watts.  That would certainly account for poor
performance!  In fact, 6" streamers don't sound all
that bad for 100W.  They sound pretty good to me! :)

Another thing:  Tell us more about your spark gap.
How many gaps and what kind of spacing?  Are you
blowing air across the gap?  You really need to.
Running a MOT stack into a static gap definitely calls
for active quenching.  I built a smallish 3" coil and
ran about 1.5kVA into it.  I used a three-gap static
gap quenched with a Shop Vac.  With the Shop Vac on,
I'd easily get 36" or better streamers.  With it off,
all I got was faint corona around my breakout point!!

Regards,
Aaron, N7OE

--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Original poster: "Langer Giv'r"
> <transworldsnowboarding19@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hey, so I FINALLY got my tesla coil working... wow
> it has been a
> long, long time trying to get it working, but im
> only getting about a
> 6 inch spark to my secondary ground wire.
> Here are my specifications
> -2KVA 20A variac
> -500-800mH (i dont know exact inductance) ballast
> -15A circuit breaker
> -4MOTS immersed in mineral oil
>     -pri --> parallel
>     -sec --> series mid point ground
> -multi static spark gap (series)
> -~30nF saltwater cap (parallel)  (assuming 28
> bottles)
> -safety gap to ground
> -47mH primary 11 turns 1/4 copper tubing
> -3"   18000 (dont know exact) mH secondary
> ~1200-1300 turns 26AWG magnet wire
> -15" outer diameter  4" diameter aluminum ducting
> toroid
>
> So i turn it on and put variac full power, and I get
> a shorter than
> expected spark gap firing and when i bring my
> secondary ground wire
> to the toroid i get only 6" maximum streamers.  I
> tried tuning it in
> close to every place but the place that yields the
> largest discharge
> is the 10th turn.  I also put the spark gap in
> parallel instead of
> the capacitor but saw no real imrovement.  I dont
> know whats wrong
> concidering this is my first coil, but perhaps
> everyone here who has
> the expertise does.  Help would be very much
> appreciated, thank you.
>
>
>
>