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Registered Member #120
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 07:07AM
Location: Westchester New York
Posts: 83
I'm basically posting since I'm out of ideas on how to cure this problem. I just finished my mini DRSSTC and when I fired her up it arcs between the secondary and primary at about 40Vac of input. I'm using a voltage double so theres like 110 Vdc or so volts (no calculator with me at the time). Now the problem is that everything is fixed. I can't adjust anything like the distance between the primary and secondary. Does anyone have any suggestions that I could do? This distance between the primary coil and secondary is about 2.3cm, I thought that it would be enough, but apparently it is not. Secondary coil is 3" by 12" (winding length is 10").
Registered Member #58
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:40AM
Location: Tri-Cities, Washington, US
Posts: 317
Eek maybe get some sheets of polypropylene or some type of good insulator to slip inbetween. all i can think of instead of redoing the primary altogether. sorry :(
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Thats easy. Your coupling is way to high.
Just as a comparison, on my minibrute system, the bottom turn of the secondary is even with the top turn of the primary.
Move that secondary way up. No other way around it. Insulating with polyethylene or other sheets isn't going to do anything either. It will still arc and destroy your secondary.
Based on my experience and from your photos, i'd say you need to move your secondary up at least 3-4 inches to start.
Registered Member #120
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 07:07AM
Location: Westchester New York
Posts: 83
Okay I'll try raising the secondary. I already have the secondary about 1/2" above the primary's bottom turn, thought that was enough, eh live and learn. Thanks for the input all. Now my problem is that I cut the screw, this one I can work out myself though :). I'll give it a good 1" raise and start from there. Till now I didn't realize how bad my first photo is, it shows no prospective of the coupling, hope it wasn't too miss leading.
Registered Member #146
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 04:21AM
Location: Austin Tx
Posts: 1055
In some cases plastic sheeting can help, but it has to be the right geometry. For example my saucer shaped primary had a similar arcing problem (just at really high power levels) so i fixed it by adding a thick plastic sheet over the primary. It helps by spreading out the e-field of any problem areas of my primary. This works ok with plastic where the sheet runs perpendicular to the secondary. On the other hand, putting plastic parallel to the secondary (as in, something that sleeves over the secondary) can make matters worse by providing a good surface for sparks to track along.
In your case, the only real options are to 1) move the secondary up higher, or 2) add a plastic disk around the top of your primary. Check out Chris Hooper's (Dr Spark on the forum) primaries, they are made like this and work rather well.
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DRSSTC secondary to primary arcing problem :(
