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Registered Member #5300
Joined: Thu Jun 14 2012, 12:00AM
Location: California
Posts: 31
Joining in super late here, so I apologize if anybody has suggested these but:
Make sure your tank capacitance is close to the correct level. That'll severely affect the length of the sparks.
When you get there, tuning the primary also greatly affects this.
Finally, I wasn't able to get my first spark gap working until I grabbed a metal rod, attached that to the ground as well, and used it to draw the spark out. Your spark may not have enough of a "push" to jump out, and the grounding wand will help immensely.
Registered Member #3768
Joined: Tue Mar 22 2011, 12:46AM
Location:
Posts: 107
koolksmart wrote ...
Joining in super late here, so I apologize if anybody has suggested these but:
Make sure your tank capacitance is close to the correct level. That'll severely affect the length of the sparks.
When you get there, tuning the primary also greatly affects this.
Finally, I wasn't able to get my first spark gap working until I grabbed a metal rod, attached that to the ground as well, and used it to draw the spark out. Your spark may not have enough of a "push" to jump out, and the grounding wand will help immensely.
My tank capacitor is of the correct level I believe, if you look at the attachment in the previous thread about the details of the secondary it says that. Also I am starting to speculate whether or not it is the ground that is the problem, would it be safe to use the house's ground to ground the secondary?
Registered Member #10052
Joined: Thu Feb 07 2013, 11:31PM
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
Posts: 78
If you haven't already tried conducting an arc with a ground rod, I would do that. I suspect you'll get at least something, and tune from there.
Also add a break out point (tape a nail or other sharp object to the outer diameter of the toroid. You'll see blue fuzz called corona jumping off of the point. This is the first step towards big sparks.
Registered Member #5300
Joined: Thu Jun 14 2012, 12:00AM
Location: California
Posts: 31
the mad scientist wrote ...
I am starting to speculate whether or not it is the ground that is the problem, would it be safe to use the house's ground to ground the secondary?
You can do that, though you sometimes risk high voltage spikes through your mains ground. I've always preferred to pound a separate grounding rod into some wet soil nearby. It also helps to have very thick grounding wires, and you want to have all your connections as short as possible. Can we get some more information on how your grounding is set up? In my experience, the biggest problems with SGTC's has been grounding.
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Spark gap Tesla coil STILL not working...
