Hi again James! Glad the last message was helpful.

With the Pulse Ignitor, it produces high powered pulses when it is the "Easiest Path For Current To Flow Through" - such as when the Lamp has no arc established across the tube.

Prior to Lamp ignition (no arc established), the Lamp is a very high Impedance - but still Conductive.
Consequentally (sp???), the Ignitor is a much lower Impedance at this time, so higher Current levels flow through the Pulse Ignitor, and towards the differences in Potential. In this case, high flow heads to the "Common" side of the input Circuitry.

Not all the Current flows straight through it to the Common side; some Current is retained within the Tank Circuitry - resulting in the output Pulses of Current under a high voltage.
These pulses see a lower opposition path through the Lamp than through the Tank Circuitry of the Ignitor, so the Pulsed Current flows through the Lamp's Arc Tube, then to the "Common" side of the input Circuitry.

Pulses continue in this fashion until the Lamp's Impedance changes (arc is established).

Once the Lamp's Arctube has an established Arc within it, the Lamp now has much lower Impedance than the Pulse Ignitor, so the higher levels of Current flow through the Lamp, and very small levels of Current flow through the Pulse Ignitor.
Since the Lamp has such a low Impedance now, the Tank Circuitry of the Pulse Ignitor will not be able to create a high voltage, whereas previously it built up a high voltage against the high Lamp Impedance.
So now, there is no high voltage output pulsed current, and since the Lamp has drammatically lower Impedance at this time (compared to the Ignitor's Pulse Circuitry), very little Current flows through the Tank Circuit as well.

It all has to do with which one is the lowest Impedance at the time. The lowest Impedance device will allow the highest Current to flow.
When the Ignitor is the lower Impedance, it uses the high Impedance of the Lamp to build up a high voltage, by attempting to push a burst of Current through that Impedance.
Once the Plasma is setup, the Lamp's Impedance nearly dissappears right away, and eventually the Lamp becomes negative Resistance.

Lastly, the Ignitor is fed through the Reactor section, so the Current can be limited.
If connected across the input line, the Lamp would be able to draw input Current through the Pulse Ignitor without any regulating / limiting / choking factor; therefore will destroy its self, almost immediately.
The Ignitor will just pass Current to the Lamp.

Sounds odd, doesn't it? By limiting the level of Current, the Ignitor works as intended, plus the Lamp operates as indended.

Glad to be of help here, even if each of my replies results in more questions!
BTW, that's what is supposed to happen!!! [Linked Image]

Scott35

Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!