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Jacobs Ladder
Posted by mario occhipinti on 12/13/2003, 12:28 am
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Re: Jacobs Ladder
Posted by Bert Hickman on 12/13/2003, 12:52 am, in reply to "Jacobs Ladder" Hi Mario, That's great news! If your circuit breaker is now "holding", then the problem is that the bottom of the Jacob's Ladder is spaced a bit too far apart to enable the spark to restart on its own. Following are several things you might try: 1. Decrease the distance between the rods a bit and try again. You should reach a point where the ladder consistently reignites at the base as soon as the top arc is extinguished. 2. Connect a 500 pF 30 kV doorknob capacitor acoss the ladder electrodes. This will elevate the open circuit voltage a bit, and it will make the sparks sound a bit snappier and "snarly" as well. 3. Wrap a short piece of small diameter bare wire around each electrode at the points where you want the arcs to start. The smaller diameter wires will create corona at the base which should help to restrike the arc. 4. Connect your pig to a 240 volt variac that has been configured to deliver 0-280 volts. This will make the pig deliver higher open circuit output voltage which should make restriking the arc easier. Good luck and best regards, -- Bert --
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