RE: Problems with Information Unlimited transformer

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau@xxxxxx>

I'm not familiar with the circuit configuration of your coil, and it
wasn't clear if your cap and primary coil (the high frequency coil, not
the xfmr) were connected in step 20.  Is the spark gap wired in parallel
with the xfmr secondary?

If your capacitor and primary coil were hooked up, and you prevented the
gap from firing, the xfmr secondary and capacitor may have resonated at
the mains frequency and rang up to a destructive level, which could
destroy the xfmr.  If Information Unlimited instructed you to do this,
they gave you bad advice, and they should be held accountable and give
you a new xfmr.

One should never, not even briefly, operate the xfmr with the capacitor
in the circuit, if the spark gap can't fire, is open, or is "too wide".
How do they instruct you to set the gap width?

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 9:26 PM
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Problems with Information Unlimited transformer
>
> Original poster: Lkeen89@xxxxxxx
>
> I'm building the BTC3 Tesla coil from Information Unlimited, and
tonight we
> did the first test run of the HV wiring. This step kinda pertains to
my
> situation, so I'll cite it here:
>
> 20: Open up spark gap or place a piece of insulating material between
> electrodes to prevent firing. Verify proper assembly and plug unit
into
> 115VAC three wire grounded outlet. Check action of S1 (The main power
> switch), and note the neon indicator light lighting. (It did) Quickly
short
> out the spark gap electrode attached to the capacitor to the chassis
ground
> with the safety probe. Note a loud noisy bright discharge (It did.)
Only do
> this momentarily, as it subjects the components to unusual stress, and
only
> serves to verify proper operation up to this point.
>
> (The actual primary/secondary coils were not attached.)
> (The actual coils are not concerned in this problem. All talk about
coils
> is referring to the transformer.)
>
> Now, here's my problem: As soon as we flipped the switch, there was a
bit
> of sparking inside the secondary of the transformer. We ran through
the
> test as far as grounding it, and it worked just fine, except for the
> sparking in the transformer. We then shut everything down and
attempted to
> ground the capacitor again to discharge it, to see if it had any
residual
> charge. There was no spark. We were kinda concerned about the spark
inside
> of the transformer, so we turned the coil on again and the transformer
> started to produce smoke, and there was an orange glow inside of the
> secondary of the transformer. We tried step 20 again, to ground the
> capacitor, but with no results. Are there any suggestions as to what
might
> be the problem? I feel that there was an internal problem with the
> transformer, as we have gone through the wiring several times to
verify its
> accuracy. The coil itself is due next week for a physics project.
Could
> anyone provide any insight?      Thanks, Matt Keen.
>
>