Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks

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

Original poster: "John Couture" <johncouture-at-bellsouth-dot-net> 

Steven -

How you measure the TC input isn't important. This is a free country and you
can do as you please, within reason. The point that matters is to understand
what you are measuring. If you don't understand what you are measuring you
cannot talk intelligently about your coil. For example, if you are rating
your TC in power units (watts) it does not make engineering sense to say the
efficiency is equal to anything. Efficiency refers to energy units not to
power units.  However, if you are rating your TC in power units it does make
sense to say it has a power gain of a certain amount. You can then use this
number to compare with other TC's.

The above, of course, does not solve the problem of how to properly test and
rate a Tesla coil when using spark length as the TC output. In the past only
a few coilers could rate and test their coils properly. This resulted in
shorter sparks. However, everyone was more impressed by that random extra
long spark so any tests that gave shorter sparks were not popular.
The problem was the true input energy that actually created that special
extra long spark could not be determined so true TC comparisons could not be
made. Only continuous sparking with fixed lengths made sense. But it does
not appear that we will ever get away from that mysterious random extra long
spark test with an unknown input ( except maybe for one shot tests).

John Couture

-----------------------------------------------------


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 9:35 AM
Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks


 > Original poster: "Steven Ward" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>
 >
 > Hmm,
 >
 > Good question, how do we measure the input/output power?  I dont know
 > myself and wasnt sure it really even mattered, aside from being reasonably
 > close and honest with my guesses.  Someone wanna seal up a TC in a big
 > styrofoam container and see how much heat we create? hehehe.  Seriously, i
 > cant myself afford such measuring equipment other than some cheap ammeters
 > and a small wattmeter (that is too little for this coil).  What i *can* do
 > is use previous knowledge gained from my first prototype and others work
to
 > make good guesses at things like how much power im using and what
efficiency.
 > The other thing i can rely on is simulation results from pspice.
 >
 > The way i see it is, i havent blown the 20A fuse yet and ive had several
 > long runs so far (telling me it likely isnt pulling more than 20A).  Other
 > thing is that my coil slightly beats Freau's spark length formula... well
 > this makes perfect sense, no gap losses (and i will tell you, my power
 > components arent wasting much at all, they run cold to the touch).
 >
 > So i guess whats most important to me (and likely many others) is that you
 > can get 11 foot sparks (i hit 11'4" the other night) on a 20A 240V line
 > without popping breakers and without a pig.
 >
 > Steve
 >
 >
 > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > >To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > >Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
 > >Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:03:02 -0600
 > >
 > >Original poster: "john cooper" <tesla-at-tesla-coil-dot-com>
 > >
 > >Very intersting stuff, how do we agree on a baseline or procedure for
 > >energy in/energy out measurements?  Or am I asking too much?  I'd be most
 > >interested in someone describing and identifying the
equipment/measurement
 > >techinques necessary, then we can either follow those procedures or 'wave
 > >our dix in the air' claiming whatever.
 > >John
 > >
 > >---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
 > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > >Date:  Sun, 20 Jun 2004 17:03:02 -0600
 >
 >
 >