Re: Weather/coil performance

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Terrell Fritz <terrellfone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

Sontube and other cardboard tubes will have much higher loss in humid 
weather.  That might decrease spark length roughly 20%.  Plastics 
should not be affected.

But I think the original poster was seeing practically NO spark 
output.  Unless the secondary was covered in ice or dripping wet, 
humidity or temperature effects alone would not explain a total loss 
of spark output.

Since everyone uses poly caps, capacitor temperature drift would be 
tiny too and would not explain the problem.

Cheers,

        Terry



At 09:37 PM 1/19/2007, you wrote:
> Original poster: BunnyKiller <bunnikillr@xxxxxxx>
>
> Dont know about frozen ground where I live ( New Orleans) but 
> humidity and cool air does have a significnt impact upon my coils 
> streamer length.
>
> Runs in the summer ( 95+ degreees at 90+ humidity) average 10-12 
> foot long streamers
> but in the winter when things are more like 50 degrees at 40% 
> humidity the streamers can reach 12 - 15 feet
>
> also seems that any secondary coil in storage ( quantity of 3) will 
> pick up voltages from the running coil more so than during the 
> summer conditions...why this is I dont know but I have to be careful 
> when handling "offline" secondary coils during winter..  I have been 
> bit by the "offline" secondaries after running the bigpig coil in 
> the winter months...  I m going to suppose that the lower humidity 
> doesnt offer a "leakage" to the ""offline" secondaries...
>
> another option to consider is that the secondary of the actively 
> used coil has a bad tendency to want to "bite" when handling it 
> after a run during disassembly more so during the dry colder 
> evenings as compared to the summer nights.
>
> I had the bigpig coil secondary "bite" me on my thigh one time which 
> left me on the ground and immobile for a few moments...  now mind 
> you, the coil had been off for several minutes and the secondary was 
> totally disconnected from the system for 60 or so seconds...  all I 
> can say is that a secondary coil will behaive as a capacitor during 
> cold dry weather.... :)~
>
> Scot D