I've been a subscriber to this email service for a bit of time
now but this is my first ever contribution to it...or at least use
of it beyond reading material. I am attempting to build my first
tesla coil and want to make certain everything goes as well as
possible. I have designed multiple spark gaps each of which
appears to work but I am stuck on a simple question. How do I know
when it is "working" and not just producing an electrical arc but
instead a fully charged shot with my entire capacitor behind it. I
do not have any tools beyond a physics textbook, paper, pens, and a
10 dollar voltmeter. The best simple observations I can gather to
show that it would be working is when it produces the exceptionally
loud crack with each firing and that it shoots nice clean blue
shots across as opposed to the fuzzy orange common of electrical
arcing. Is there a better way to know or is that all I have to
work with without an oscilloscope or more tools. I've done all the
calculations to find my gap spacing on a few models and made a few
by trial and error. Thanks for your help.
Ryan Miller
19 years old - CA
.-= Miller =-.
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