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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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inconsistent performance from high voltage ignition coil/ lamp dimmer circuit
I recently built a robust lamp dimmer to drive an ignition coil. The dimmer
circuit uses both a triac and diac along with a capacitor, resistor, and variable resistor. The dimmer feeds a 1 uF AC capacitor which in turn drives the coil. I have the coil in a mineral oil bath to provide greater output voltages without arcovers and I have sometimes been able to achieve 2.5" sparks to ground. However, I am finding output very inconsistent, especially after the unit has been running for a minute or so. Both the triac/diac are heatsinked, which helped a lot but I still can't achieve consistent output. If I leave the unit off for a while and then come back and turn on, sometimes I'll get the longer sparks and sometimes not. Any idea what's going on? I've been thinking of switching to a NPO capacitor and metal oxide resistor, but is this really necessary or is there something else that could be done to improve output consistency? Thanks, Jack |
#2
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"Jack Walston" wrote in message nk.net... | I recently built a robust lamp dimmer to drive an ignition coil. The dimmer .... | else that could be done to improve output consistency? 1) Why? 2) Perhaps search for Tesla Coils? N |
#3
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"NSM" wrote in message news:ddxmd.179779$9b.94095@edtnps84... "Jack Walston" wrote in message nk.net... | I recently built a robust lamp dimmer to drive an ignition coil. The dimmer ... | else that could be done to improve output consistency? 1) Why? 2) Perhaps search for Tesla Coils? N I got very impressive results by driving an old monitor flyback with the output from one of those cheap Advance F32T8 electronic fluorescent ballasts. Wire both outputs in parallel and connect them to the primary winding of a flyback, I could strike the arc at more than an inch and draw it out to 3" or more. |
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