Yes sir absolutely I love that guy hahaha. His super unsafe with some stuff but yea I like alot of his videos.

So I think other then the SGTC. I got my second project. I found this guy that made a SSTC with circuit inside a PSU box and the coil on top. It's freaking sweet man.
http://loneoceans.com/labs/sstc2/

That's his link. So the picture below is his driver circuit. So maybe you can help me. I wanna recreate this exact setup but I'd like to do a full wave, and possibly make it a DRSSTC. Is it as simple as adding a cap in parallel of primary? But he talks about not doing a full wave to reduce part count and realestate. Altho I'm I off here but doesn't he just need another two diodes on the "L" mains line in parallel to the other two on "N"? But ya I'd F-ing love a little desktop one like this that has streamers this good!

 

I'm also working on a coil based on his video. Just waiting for the rheostat to come back in stock. I don't have any mosfets, just some 2N3055s. Since they are current driven, the potentiometer has to handle quite a bit more than a potentiometer can handle, hence the rheostat. The only thing he did that made me nervous was the microwave gun. I'll have to do some refreshing on SSTCs and get back to you.

 

I didn't see that video. But I saw three others where he shocked himself hahaha. Ya at first I was ganna make my own circuit. I have the multivibrators that only need a pot and cap to output a high and low pulse( Q and Qnot). Was thinking of sending those two outputs to two mosfet drivers. And use a hex converter for feedback to multivibrator. But this guys setup I really like. The over volt cutout is nice, and how he uses the Arduino ATtiny85.

But I need to do some reading on how these circuits work to get a full grasp on it.

 

I have to do some more reading as well. I get the principle of operation, but things like multivibrators and hex converters always throw me off a little bit. The worst for me is the ATtiny85. To be honest, despite being into computers and building my own, arduino and other microcontrollers are intimidating to me. When I started into electronics, I had a fascination with older tech, and still do. Hence I ended up being surrounded by old school (and often just old) guys who weren't fans of such things. Even my current job rarely involves anything of the sort. What I am familiar with are vacuum tube circuits, a little bit of relay logic, and basic transistor circuits. Turning up the voltage and or tapping with a hammer can fix many of those things, but almost always releases the blue smoke from microcontroller circuitry. Despite this, I am not ignorant and fully aware of the world I grew up in, and how little of what's used in industry doesn't involve microcontrollers. I am warming up to them, and beginning to learn their ways. Luckily growing up when I did, the concepts are not too hard to grasp for me. Unlike some of these old hands I work with.

I have shipped those ignitors, they should arrive tomorrow.

 

Awesome Man!!! Well that's works out for us man! That's most the stuff I work with is Arduino's and coding. Makes life so much easier! So were perfect for trading knowledge.

So one thing Im trying to grasp is on that guys circuit he's using the MicroC to interrupt or modulate the signal. Why do people modulate the Tesla? I see it makes the sparks change but how? if its always at the same freq with the feedback how does just changing how long/often its pulsing at resonance change anything?

Also I really wanna make this guys circuit but instead of buying the driver and IGBT's I know I have pleanty of stuff in my 4000 electronic part collection to make this my own way. But I just cant do it, I have tried like 4 times I cant drive a Mosfet correctly. it works but the signal isnt strong enough out of my multivibrator/MircoC/555/opamps... to get the current flow im looking for do you know a simple config that i can do with transistors to take a clean but low current sig from a MicroC to drive a Mosfet properly? If I can get past his damn gate drivers, that's like the only IC i don't have anymore of.

 

Yay!!!! Dude I did it I made driver setup with a working GDT!!!! From scratch!!! I'm so proud of my self hahaha. I'll draw up a schematic on what I came up with when I get home. Let me know if you see anything that could be added for stability.

They are totally right on how some of these towards just don't work because of the material. I had to others that just did not work at all. The one I got to work was a out of and old subwoofer amplifier I had laying around. Thank God because the price of good fair right ones on Digikey or Mouser are like 30 or 40 bucks.

 

Congratulations! I knew you'd figure it out. I've been doing some research on gate drivers, and I'm beginning to understand how they work. Definitely would love to see a schematic.

Did your phone autocorrect toroids to towards or? If it is toroids, you found one in a subwoofer amp?

As for your earlier question, the reason people modulate the pulse of tesla coils comes down to one thing. Music.

Also did you receive those ignitors yet?

 

Hey man!!! Ya sry I meant Toroid, and Ya every sub amp I have seen have nicely sized ones. usually one for voltage bump transformer and two other a little smaller for impedance matching. For modulation, This other guys paper i was reading, he used it to change how the streamers look. like 200hz at 1us was hairy and thin, 10hz at 10ms was strong thick sparks.

I did get the igniters!!!!THANKS!!! Ones i figure this problem out Ill go through them with you on whats what.

Okay so here is may schematic. I posted scope pics of all my sigs. Im in love! other than my half bridge. Something is wrong, its not transferring any energy with a squiggly waveform like that. Do you see anything wrong? Its obviously just in the last Hbridge. the Mosfet's signals out of the GDT are freaking sweet. I must be missing something. All pics are named 1-5 and i have points on schematic labeled "PIC1 +/PIC1 -"

 

That's one impressive schematic. I'll keep an eye out for some decent size toroids, in fact we may have a junk plasma cutter I can grab one off of. If I recall it's about 3" diameter. Is that big enough? While I don't immediately see anything wrong, I'll look it over in more detail on lunch or something tomorrow. I actually managed to acquire all the parts I needed to build the coil from keystone science, and tinkered with it the last two days since I've been sick off work. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to oscillate, either it did nothing or locked on. I don't think that circuit can directly run a 2N3055 since it's designed for a mosfet with virtually no gate current draw, so I tried using a mosfet to drive the 2N3055s to no avail. I'll post a schematic of my variations tomorrow or Thursday.

 

Sweet thanks man!!!! Ya I drew that in a program called Target3001.Its a free program for designing PCB's. I make alot of photo etched boards. There ya go maybe that's how I can pay ya back. Once you get ur circuit finalized, I can make you a super nice PCB. Ill post up a pic on one I made tomorrow.

Yea man, ur issue is for sure ur transistors. I read a good paper on why Fets and IGBT's are used and its the low current gate drive. So ur right on the money of knowing whats wrong for sure. Is this off mains? could you test with smaller step down transformer and smaller driving Fet's just for testing, Kinda like what im doing before I jump to mains.(Wanna make sure circuit works first) I couldn't find a keystone build on a big TC. Is this his music one? I heard him talk about it but couldn't find it. He had a 2ft one that threw 24inch streamers of 220 mains.



So I did get it to work!!!!! Bad Mosfet on Half-bridge output. I did get it to light up a CFL although no luck on sparks....Hmmmm....... Im using the 20v .5a supply that I got .5in streamers on my single Mosfet(Keystone Science version). I figure this is much more efficient so I would get better sparks... but no...... Also my feedback isnt working. I have about 8in of leftover wire on bottom of secondary, spun that one time around a small toroid that had 50 turns. I checked at 50 turn and after inverter's but nothing. So for this to work I have to find a sweet spot with a 20turn 5k pot(by sweet spot I mean 1/20th of a turn to get it going, ugh. But I noticed I can get the bulb to light at a lot of different frequency's. No pattern but around 20 -30khz from 120khz up to 640khz lights it up. Without this feedback working I know I'm not actually pulsing a resonance. Maybe that's why no sparks? I also am testing this without a topload, maybe I should try one to lower my Rfreq down a bit, I'm sure its in the Mhz. I donno what do you think.

 

A pcb would be awesome! The one I'm building is the mini desktop coil single mosfet version. I just don't have an IRFP 260 (I think that's what I remember him using). I'm not running it off mains directly, rather I have a toy train variac (7-13V @4A) hooked to a bridge rectifier and smoothing cap. I don't think the new circuit is more efficient in terms of power used so much as efficient at delivering more power to the coil. I'd try using a higher current supply, and definitely try adding a top load with breakout point to lower your resonant frequency. If you aren't achieving resonance it would be the reason you aren't getting sparks. Essentially you've got a big flyback without it, and they don't work too well with air cores.

 

Ahhhh okay I see yea I need to lower my resonance. I figured more power efficient cuz that supply is still only for the TC all other driver componants/GDT are on a seperate 12vdc computer PSU supply. His mini desktop version works surprisingly well, that version I had working with the drive transistor from TV flyback. But it'll also work with any mosfet. I tried like 6 different ones. TO-220 work but get hot quick. but itll tell you if u got it. also make sure ur pot is a nice smooth one. I had alot of issues when doing that one with a sketchy pot that was jumping is resistance. Do you have any N/P channel Fets? Make sure ur smoothing cap is at least 2000uf, it helped me out alot, as well as primary turns was good at 2 on some secondary's others 4 was better and height if primary. but a CFL is the best thing to tune those with.

 

Well that would make it slightly more efficient in terms of your coil power supply. Just not in overall power draw. The only mosfets I have are a pair of IRF 730s. I have a few 15 turn 1kOhm pots, and they'll be much finer than the big wirewound rheostat. I can dissipate about 75W in the rheostat and 50 ohm resistor if I want. Since I'm only driving a fet, that's a little (incredibly) overkill. I think I've got a 10000uf 35v cap laying around so I'll try that as my smoothing cap. Thanks! Once I get a couple things working, I'm going to take a 3.5kVA variac, slap a step up transformer, big bridge rectifier, and huge smoothing cap on it and make a proper 0-240v @ 15A AC or DC supply so I don't have to worry about testing supplies for a while.

 

I forgot to respond about ur 3"toroid.. hahaha if that thing is straight feritte I couldn't imagine what that thing must have cost. Probly a couple hundred bucks depending the thickness and grade. But for a GDT that's quite overkill lol. The one I'm using is for sure overkill I think is around 1.5x.5x.5 . Most people us about 17mm ones so about .75 of an inch.

Ya man that irf will get it going at least. Also its not a instant on with his circuit. U get alot of power control with the pot. One way pulls no current at all the other pulls all of it. You just have to find the sweet spot. Usually more towards "off" (no current draw). Do for that desktop version u could slap ur power supply right to it. Just find what way to turn for no current first lol.

That's a cool idea for a power supply. Id love a variac, pricy pricy... ( I take that back I found a 20amp for 85$ new)What's the step up transformer for? Is that for 110-220? Why not plug into 220?

 

Ahh, yeah the plasma cutter it came off of cost like $5000, so it's probably not a cheap part. It is straight ferrite. 3x1x1. That machine also has a couple of huge IGBTs on a heatsink. One of them is probably bad though, hence why it's not worth fixing.

Yeah I'll have to try the smaller pot and IRF 730 either when I get home or tomorrow. I also have a switch mode 5VDC 30A power supply I got on Amazon for cheap that I'm not very pleased with. I may just do a teardown and see what's in it.

I got the 30A variac for $10 from my boss. It's panel mount, which is perfect for a power supply. The step up transformer is so that I can have 240v single phase, as in 240v hot and a neutral like the UK. I also have another step up transformer that would let me do 0-600V.

 

Why dont you just wire a 220 plug from ur circuit breaker. That's single. You just run two 120 breakers in series. Had to do that for my welder but all dryers are that way too. you could just use that outlet.

Why would it not be worth fixing due to one IGBT being out? those are cheap!

I tried that single mosfet circuit on my PSU 12V 25A supply and I couldnt get it going.

Success!!!!!!! I got the dual fet drivers in, that one chip took out 15 or more components hahahaha! I also got my feedback working!YAY I just went with a antenna for now. I read those Secondary Feedback Transformers can be finicky when testing since parts are so close and not isolated. But that other guys circuit works awesome. Litterly just a arduino board for modulation, the fet driver, a GDT, and ur half or full bridge. Freaking sweet man. so cool having these self tune! I got it working with a half bridge, today ill try a full. If all goes well Itll be ready for mains testing.

So I have a thought, I don't have a variac. but Id like to slowly up my mains voltage for testing. Could I do what your doing with a dimmer / 600W reostat? This is only suppose to pull 3-4 amps and I have a 16 amp 400V rectifier and some gnarly electrolytic's. Could I make a half assed varying power supply? Im sure itll be very inconstant but if it'll at least let me slowly ramp up voltage and or current ill do it. Would the lutron CFL,INC,LED one be better?

 

It's not true single phase 240 from a US panel, it's "split phase" where each leg is 120v and 180 degrees out of phase with the other. So line to line is 240v, but line to neutral is 120v. Hooking split phase to a european appliance with the neutral bonded to the chassis would cause the chassis to be live at 120v.

It may be both of the IGBTs, and they're the size of my fist. I don't think those are cheap.

Congrats man! That's crazy that it took out that many components. I may have to build that circuit, but I have little idea of what half of those components are lol.

You could use a 600W rheostat, as that doesn't affect the sine wave. You could always try the dimmer, and I imagine the CFL and LED one would work better. I can't really say how that approach will work though.

Picked myself up an old CRT , and I'm salvaging the flyback and other components.

 

On the 220 thing, Why not cap neutral "120" and ground the chassis? just like in your walls, there in series at the breaker, so all you see at the wall end is 220 hot a 0 neutral and a ground. I thought there in series hot/neutral-hot/neutral. Not only that them being 180* out of phase would mean less filtering right?

Really the size of your fist! WOW!

Thanks man!!!! Ya so stoked. So today i got the full bridge bersion working. woohooo!!! I did try a 600W fan controller/dimmer and it does not lower the voltage when rectified, current may be limited but I cant tell that yet since I was just testing voltage potential. But ya maybe ill the cfl led dimmer tomorrow. I fried my 20v supply today ugh Me being a retard plugged a rectifying diode in on the wrong rail and left it for about 5 mins. coundnt get bridge working, scratching my head and POP!!! awwwwwwww....hahahaha.....so I was using my 14-0-14 220 transformer on 120 but I only get 13.7v @ 1.46a, not enough. So tomorrow ill try that guy on 220. only issue is i have to move everything to the damn dryer room or out in garage by my tig welder.

Nice on the CRT any plans???

Oh and that dudes schematic and website I posted, How is his circuit being current limited? I dont see a choke anywhere. How does his TC not just pull more and more till the breaker pops or something in his circuit frys? I was very iffy about that do you know why?

 

They aren't in "series" per se at the wall. Because I'd be placing 120v on the neutral of the appliance, if at any point that appliance had a neutral that touched the chassis internally, and I ground the chassis, it would be a dead short. 180 degrees out of phase does not mean less filtering either, all it means is that while one pole is at +120v, the other is at -120v. Essentially a push-pull configuration, that any load sees as single phase. The stipulation being that what would be the neutral in a true single phase unit, must be equally well isolated as hot, because it is hot. Hence why both line screws of a US 240v plug are gold (indicating hot). Unless it's four wire then it would also have a silver screw for neutral to allow for 120v control voltages.

Yeah they're powerful little units, about 20kw max power (which is what they always set them at).

Your should see a reduction in dc voltage with a dimmer, but only under load. It's essentially just modulating pulse width. Try placing an incandescent light bulb as a control load, my favorite is using a 75W incandescent "black light" bulb, since they don't let out much light and blind you, and they're cheap. Your 14-0-14 220 transformer doesn't have a center tapped primary? How much do you need at 14v? That's unfortunate on the power supply.

My plans for the crt are to get a couple more so when I pop a flyback I'm not sad, and get an electronic fluorescent ballast. After that idk. Theoretically if they're all running on the same driver I could put them in parallel for more current.

I'll have to take another look at that schematic to see what's limiting the current.

 

If I'm correct in that "Sim 2 V FM" all the way to the right of your schematic is your 120v ac input, the method of current limiting would be capacitors c2, c3, c4, and c5 as far as I can tell.