Re: [TCML] Running at 15/120

[Joe Mastroianni <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David,
Well, the nice thing about the NSTs is that they're "controllable" in as much as anything in our sport can be controlled.  I can increase the power in quantized increments, so the tuning and tank caps are all pre-planned.  So I can order all the parts I need a week or so in advance and have everything on hand when I'm ready to go.  At any point in time I'm only increasing power by some 10s of percent, so the stresses on my parts (and me) are gradual.

But yes, I can see that at some point I'm going to want to get into the less quantized power side of things.   Ive read here on pupman where someone said he switched to a pole pig and he felt like it was someone else's project he was working on.  I can imagine that.  After the past 3 months I've been all over this coil and the power supply and I like to think I know what's happening in it.  But I'm protected, ultimately,  by my safety gaps, my terry filter,  my line filter, and the current limiting of the NSTs.    

Still, it would be nice to get into that end of things to extend the range.  Though I do like making continual tweaks.  When I was a kid I spent Saturday afternoons in the driveway tweaking my car.  I guess my coil is a substitute for that.

I'm still hunting for a pole pig and may have a source (or two).

Cheers,
Joe



On Aug 15, 2010, at 5:12 AM, David Rieben wrote:

> Hi Joe,
> 
> Sounds like you're aquiring quite an "NST farm" in your never-
> ending quest for ever longer sparks ;^) You may have reached
> the point that you just need to break down and get yourself a
> pole pig. I've been down the same path you have and trust me,
> one decent 10 kVA pole pig will plainly blow the doors off of
> any PRACTICAL arrangement of NSTs. I speak from exper-
> iance, as I had gone all the way up to (10) 15/30s in parallel-
> that's 15 kV @ 300 mA! Of course, the only draw back with
> pole pig driving of your coil is that your transformer will require
> external ballasting. Still, if you're looking for sparks that are 10
> ft.+ and very bright, which means more current, then a pole
> distribution transfromer is the way to go as a HV power source
> for SG driven Tesla coil systems. Of course, you would need to
> upgrade the components of the rest of your coil to accomidate
> the increased power throughput, too.
> 

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