[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: I'm a little confused

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Tom,

I looked at your other post (specs). I didn't see anything to cause concern. Your number of turns is fine. That isn't your problem. Coupling is also good at about 0.156 (assumed the i.d. was even with bottom sec winding when I looked at that).

I suspect you either have losses in the gap or wiring. Another possibility is your tranny may be running at 1/2 voltage (7500). You mentioned the 6 inch coil is run at 900W giving 32" sparks. Is 900W a calc'd figure based on the tranny specs or are you actually measuring watts? The reason I asked is that at 900W you should be near to 51", but if you were only at 7500 sec volts, then you should hit about 31" (near what your getting now). If using an NST, this is possible (typically one internal winding fails leaving the other one good, but delivering only 1/2 voltage). Thought I would mention this in the event you haven't checked.

Take care,
Bart B.

Tesla list wrote:

Original poster: Thomas DeGregorio <tommacs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

    Okay I am fairly new to coiling I started this winter. I can't
seem to make my coils efficient though. I think my main problem is
the secondary coil LC circuit. I know that on both of my coils the
primary is perfectly fine. If you wish to see my coils I will more
then likely show them.
   My problem seems to be pure confusion. I've read many things on
tesla coils and heard some different opinions. What I mainly heard is
that a coil should be around 800 to 1000 turns so I wound both my six
inch and 2 inch coil in that range. Then for my 2 inch coil I made it
13 inches high it was not a true 2 inch dia (2.25) and it's wound
with 28AWG. Same with my six inch coil I made it 25 inches high since
is not a true 6 inch dia (6.25) and is wound with 23AWG. Both coils
cannot get anywhere in the max spark length range. My 2 inch coil can
only get about 12 inch sparks  running at 270W and my 6 inch coil can
only get 32 inch sparks running at 900W. What I would like to know is
what am I doing wrong? Can anyone tell me if I should add more turns
or less? Oh my 2 inch coil has a 12nF prim cap and 15pF toriod. My 6
inch has a 18nF prim cap and a 40pF toroid (2 stack). So basically
what should I do to improve my sparks, but mainly how many turns
should I use?
-Tom