Re: More triggered gap testing

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi J.B.,

I wonder if it has to do with the "direction" the dimmer is wired?  Even
though the two wires out of it look the same, they are quite different
internally as far as their function.  Maybe reversing the dimmer wires
would changes things significantly?

It could be because you are using two filters also...

Hmmmm...

Cheers,

	Terry

At 12:31 PM 8/6/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>
>Hello Terry & others,
>
>Some of you may recall my post on Saturday of the experiments I've
>been conducting with the triggered gap configuration Terry and Marc
>have come up with.
>
>I did some more testing last night and thought I'd share my findings
>with the list for comments.  As I mentioned in my first post, I was
>wondering if the 400 Watt load resistor was an overkill, so that was
>the first test I did.
>
>Using some heating elements I liberated from an electric furnace in
>various series and parallel configurations, I determined that in my
>setup the best results where obtained with a 150 Watt load.  Going
>to 400 Watts as Terry is using gave me very eratic firing of the GM
>HEIC, with a usable mechanical range of perhaps 20 degrees on the 
>dimmer's control knob.  I get about a 90 degree mechanical range as
>usable with 150 Watts of loading.
>
>After settling on the 150 Watt dummy load, I tried a wide range of
>capacitor values from as low as 0.74 uF. up to a high of 4.5 uF. and
>found that a 3 uF. motor run cap gave the best results.  I'd be very
>interested in knowing why I'm finding I need such a smaller value of
>a resistance for the dummy load than Terry is using.  By the way, my
>load resistor is connected directly across the dimmer output, while
>the ignition coil/capacitor are connected after the second filter.
>
>For the record, my setup is composed of the following:
>
>two Corcom dual-stage filters, one before and one after the dimmer
>a Leviton 600 Watt dimmer
>a "dummy load" resistor of 103.5 ohm (three furnace elements)
>a GM high energy ignition coil
>a doorknob coupling cap, 500 pF. -at- 30 KV.
>
>The HV lead from the doorknob cap connects to the centre electrode
>of my RQ/TCBOR 7 electrode static gap.  The ground is connected to
>the "created centre tap" of my radar transformer secondary as per
>Bert Hickman's suggested method.
>
>
>73, Weazle, VE3EAR/VE3WZL
>
>Listening: 147.030+ and 442.075+
>E-mail:    weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca
>           or ve3ear-at-rac.ca
>Web site:  www.hurontel.on.ca/~weazle
>