to start off, I have been able to create the circuit and it works. but only on a bread board. I've tried too many times to get it to work on a perf board but for some reason i'm not able to get it to work. i've tried "isolating" the circuit by soldering it together w/ jumper cables from a bread board and still nothing. the bread board is the only place where it works.

when connected to power the transistor get extremely hot and draws ~2.8-3 amps of current. so i'm assuming there is a short somewhere.

Also when working the transistor only gets warm but when soldered together it's like the Chernobyl disaster. I've also added the parasitic capacitance for reference.

 

As drawn, the transformer phasing is wrong. If the dotted end of the primary goes to the positive supply, the dotted end of the the secondary must go to the base of the transformer in order to produce the positive feedback required for switching.

 

As drawn, the transformer phasing is wrong. If the dotted end of the primary goes to the positive supply, the dotted end of the the secondary must go to the base of the transformer in order to produce the positive feedback required for switching.

what do you suggest adding the primary to the base, and the secondary to the collector?

what do you suggest adding the primary to the base, and the secondary to the collector?

also I don't see how it would be wrong since the circuit does work, by setting it up on a breadboard like I've mentioned before. it's just that when I solder it together onto a prototyping board the Transistor draws a lot of current. as if it was connected to the main 12v 3amps. as a matter a fact it draws the same amount of power 36~ watts. almost like it's skipping over the booster. though i have looked there is no connection to them the circuit is totally isolated from that power source. also R1 isn't 1k i meant to put in 20k

 

If it worked before and won't now with no change in the transformer, I have no idea what may be going on. Are the connecting wires for the power supply, the boost converter and the transformer about the same? What voltage are you expecting from the boost converter? Are you using the same transistor and diode now as you were when you had it on a breadboard? If you are using a different transistor, and the circuit is "marginal" in some way, the difference between one transistor and another might be responsible. Transistors can vary quite a bit from one to another of the same type.

If the transformer were connected incorrectly you would simply exchange the connections to the primary - the side that goes to the boost converter would go to the transistor and vice versa.

If you overload a boost converter and it is designed to that it turns off with an overload, which is fairly common (usually it will restart if the overload is removed), the input is connected directly to the output through the inductor and a diode, so the output will typically be around a volt or so less than the input. (This refers to a non-isolated boost converter - one with just a simple inductor, not a transformer.)

Try turning it on by powering up the boost converter first, then making the connection from its output to the rest of the circuit. This will give the output capacitor(s) in the boost converter a chance to charge and that stored charge may be enough to get things going, though I rather doubt it.

3 A is a lot for an MJE3055 with 20k to the base from 12 volts. That is only about 0.6 mA of base current. For 3 A the transistor would have to have a current gain of about 5000. At 3 A the expected gain is only about 50 and not much more than about 200 under any conditions, so something very odd is going on.

Please measure all the voltages on all the transistor terminals relative to the circuit ground/common and post what you measure.

If you have a meter with a diode checking function and you can take the transistor out of the circuit, try measuring using the diode checker to check each pair of transistor terminals in each polarity (e.g. base to emitter with base positive and emitter negative, then with base negative & emitter positive; same for base-collector and collector-emitter) Also measure all of those with the meter on normal resistance range. Check the diode the same way.

 

Slayer exciter circuits are like that - they work if they feel like it.
Stray capacitance is one thing that will affect operation. There is likely to be more of that if it is built on a breadboard.

 

If it worked before and won't now with no change in the transformer, I have no idea what may be going on. Are the connecting wires for the power supply, the boost converter and the transformer about the same? What voltage are you expecting from the boost converter? Are you using the same transistor and diode now as you were when you had it on a breadboard? If you are using a different transistor, and the circuit is "marginal" in some way, the difference between one transistor and another might be responsible. Transistors can vary quite a bit from one to another of the same type.

If the transformer were connected incorrectly you would simply exchange the connections to the primary - the side that goes to the boost converter would go to the transistor and vice versa.

If you overload a boost converter and it is designed to that it turns off with an overload, which is fairly common (usually it will restart if the overload is removed), the input is connected directly to the output through the inductor and a diode, so the output will typically be around a volt or so less than the input. (This refers to a non-isolated boost converter - one with just a simple inductor, not a transformer.)

Try turning it on by powering up the boost converter first, then making the connection from its output to the rest of the circuit. This will give the output capacitor(s) in the boost converter a chance to charge and that stored charge may be enough to get things going, though I rather doubt it.

3 A is a lot for an MJE3055 with 20k to the base from 12 volts. That is only about 0.6 mA of base current. For 3 A the transistor would have to have a current gain of about 5000. At 3 A the expected gain is only about 50 and not much more than about 200 under any conditions, so something very odd is going on.

Please measure all the voltages on all the transistor terminals relative to the circuit ground/common and post what you measure.

If you have a meter with a diode checking function and you can take the transistor out of the circuit, try measuring using the diode checker to check each pair of transistor terminals in each polarity (e.g. base to emitter with base positive and emitter negative, then with base negative & emitter positive; same for base-collector and collector-emitter) Also measure all of those with the meter on normal resistance range. Check the diode the same way.

the transistors and everything is the same i'm just trying to pass that exact same circuit to a perfboard. the voltage on the collector is about 15~ ish is from what the booster outputted. it's the same transistor that i passed over and it works too from my diode function test. nothing is different from what is above. only when the collector is disconected. and this is just w/0 any secondary connected. i've just been connecting the primary to see if it works. i just don't understand why it overheats and draws so much current when passed over. even when everything is isolated. nothing is connected to the supply 12v or the ground everything is connected to the output ground and output positive.

Currently i'm adding a diode facing the collector to try to prevent feedback. but that just lowered my output and the input 12v drops to almost 1v from what my meter tells me.

either i find a way to prevent such high current draw or add a bigger heat sink.

at this point i've been eyeing down an old intel heatsink

 

i just don't understand why it overheats and draws so much current

That will happen if the circuit doesn't oscillate - for whatever reason.

 

Albert, will they go off at some frequency far higher than expected? I'm hard pressed to explain the 3 A current. I just can see a 3055 at 3 A with such low base current. Without the secondary to add feedback the thing should just sit there at maybe 100 mA max from a 12 volt rail.

Violet, is the 3 A the current into the boost converter or from the output of it? If it is from the output, how much current is there if you take the boost converter out and power the circuit directly from the 12 volt supply?
The circuit will not work with just the primary connected. It must have the connection from the secondary to the base of the transistor to make the transistor switch.

 

The circuit will not work with just the primary connected. It must have the connection from the secondary to the base of the transistor to make the transistor switch.

that actually makes sense. since the switching between the two will give it time to "cool off," but that really cover the fact that even when it was removed from the breadboard it never overheated. it was about the same temp as it was when it was connected to the secondary. ill send pictures w/ the traces drawn in, and ill also check out the current from the booster alone.

 

What is the output voltage of the boost converter?

 

3 A is a lot for an MJE3055 with 20k to the base from 12 volts.

The circuit given has a 1k resistor from the base to the supply and that supply is not 12V, it is the output of the boost converter which, so far, has no voltage specified.

 

Albert, note Violet's comments at #4 about the boost converter not boosting (or at least not boosting much) and that the resistor is 20k.

My suspicion now is that the booster is running, it's just limiting the switch current so there isn't much of a boost.

 

to start off, I have been able to create the circuit and it works. but only on a bread board. I've tried too many times to get it to work on a perf board but for some reason i'm not able to get it to work. i've tried "isolating" the circuit by soldering it together w/ jumper cables from a bread board and still nothing. the bread board is the only place where it works.

when connected to power the transistor get extremely hot and draws ~2.8-3 amps of current. so i'm assuming there is a short somewhere. View attachment 158715

Also when working the transistor only gets warm but when soldered together it's like the Chernobyl disaster. I've also added the parasitic capacitance for reference.

EDIT

the 1k resistor is actually a 22k

 

here's the board that is soldered together. I tried to make it as simple as possible (sorry if a mess). I used jumpers so it looks sorta off to "simulate" a bread board.

 

actually i'm not able to check the current w/ my meter. i'm only able to when it's just the wire itself from the supply. might be my meter.

the most i can really get out of the circuit is that between the collector and the positive of the output is that it's between .15-.2 amps when not underload

also between the input of the booster to the output of the booster. it is around 5 amps. if that makes any sense. still doesn't make sense though. i might just be doing something wrong on the perf board.

 

I just ordered solderable breadboards to see if that would affect my outcome of the circuit just to do a small simulation.

also an edit to the 'scheme' i sent. none of the legs have been trimmed but have been isolated from each other to prevent shorts of any sort. also to make it easy to move components in a modular fashion. i guess i could make a sort of breaboard out of one of the perf boards by adding pins and bridging all of them too.

 

Maybe try a dual resonant circuit instead. This will probably allow for better arcs and more reliability.
https://www.idc-online.com/technica...ng/Dual_Resonant_Solid_State_Tesla_Coil_1.pdf

 

also I was thinking of adding a voltage divider to drop it down so the transistor wouldn't burn. but that in general is just inefficient.

 

well now that I have a scope. i noticed that when i connect the collector to the output of the booster the voltage goes negative.

 

Albert, will they go off at some frequency far higher than expected? I'm hard pressed to explain the 3 A current. I just can see a 3055 at 3 A with such low base current. Without the secondary to add feedback the thing should just sit there at maybe 100 mA max from a 12 volt rail.

Violet, is the 3 A the current into the boost converter or from the output of it? If it is from the output, how much current is there if you take the boost converter out and power the circuit directly from the 12 volt supply?
The circuit will not work with just the primary connected. It must have the connection from the secondary to the base of the transistor to make the transistor switch.

now that checked w/ my scope. the transistor is switching with the breadboard version. so meaning something is shorted causing it to work w/o overheating. but w/ the soldered the voltage was going negative. so i should add the secondary coil to cause it to resonate.