[dr_lew]

Right, that’s what I said in post 28: that I realized I was wrong in post 18 when I said that the long coil would reinforce the action of the short coil.

[The Cajun]

I'm the type that needs to draw it out or see it on a schematic to see what's going on.
Polarities, magnetic and electrical, along with current flow were all getting jumbled up in my little mind on the open loop and close loop configurations :)