safety gap

[thedoc298]

Im getting ready to test fire my srsg coil, and adjusting the safety gap, I read statements like, ("The safety spark gap should now be firing once and a while") which sound plural as in sparks. With my testing, I get the ball close enough to fire and it does fire and stays fired until I remove power or blow it out. The spark is the spark of a Jacobs ladder, more of a fire than a hot blue spark. This is with nothing running sep the transformers from one end to ground. What puts the safety gap out if it fires during run time.

Im thinking, that once the safety fires it won't go out unless I run a blower on it.

[davekni]

"Im thinking, that once the safety fires it won't go out unless I run a blower on it."

Yes, I think that's a good assumption.  Either need a fan or slightly higher gap spacing so it doesn't fire unless there's a significantly anomalous event in the synchronous gap.  Or, skip the safety gap if your caps and transformer have enough voltage margin to handle anomalous events.  That's the way I went.

[thedoc298]

Thanks and yes I have plenty of overhead. I moved the gaps to the position of worst case. No need to remove em now. Thanks again.