This is AMAZING, only I already have a repeater/interrupter circuit that uses a 555 timer, so what I was going to do is take your SSTC circuit on its own, and add that to my repeater circuit. Hopefully it works out!! Thanks for such an amazing circuit.
Just wanted to say thank you! I made a sstc based on your design, with igbts instead and relay for interrupter instead of a bjt. With 140V input, it makes around 20cm sparks... It's really unfortunate, that even with TVS and snubber capacitor, the igbts tend to blow up for unknown reason at that voltage...
Wow! You can achieve that with this shitty design? You are certainly pushing it much farther than I did lol. First of all, IGBTs, despite their great on-paper specs, suffer from a very slow turn-off response called tail-current. They continue to conduct current after turning them off and this causes lots of power dissipation. Monitor the temps of your IGBT with a thermocouple and see what temps they reach. You can do some basic thermal resistance equations (no more complicated then ohms law) and infer the temp of the junction. With such a high voltage you also need a considerable more number of turns on the primary and perhaps a smaller capacitor. When the switching element initially turns on, it it short-circuited to 140V because of the tank capacitor. They don't like instantaneous changes in voltage. This is a fundamental flaw with this design. I am moving towards an H bridge design similar to OneTesla and Steve Ward designs, although with the use of MOSFET driver IC's instead of gate drive transformers so the driver can be used for everything from flyback transformers, ignition coils, etc. It is also frequency-modulated via a PLL for audio. Check out my latest video as a teaser for that.
Awesome video! Props on breaking down the schematics and actually building it on camera ;-) I'm definitely gonna give this one a try when I have the time. I built a spark gap-driven coil (my first!) and was somewhat disappointed with the results; not to mention tuning the damn thing was near impossible with the way I built it, but it was more proof of concept anyway.
+Garrison T My first "tesla coil" was powered by a overdriven bug zapper and a capacitor was made by using 2 aluminum pie trays separated about half an inch (10ish cm). It produced extremely faint sparks about 2mm to 5mm long only with a breakout point. I originally thought that changing the spark gap is how it needed to be tuned, so I was using machine screws (erector set pieces) for the gap.
If you want big sparks, design the coil instead of just winding up a "whatever" coil. Tesla based every coil design around a specific target wavelength for each individual coil. The secondary is an antenna, in no uncertain terms, and the length of the wire was based around either 1/4 wavelength (vertical coil with transmitter at base) or 1/2 wavelength (horizontal coil with transmitter in precise center) so that the maximum voltages would be precisely located at the proper positions in space relative to the coil, IE at the very ends of the wires. This is actually not as easy at it sounds since the capacitance of the coil is modified by the collectors and therefore even electrical engineers end up looking stupid while trying to figure it out, ultimately making their own "Tesla coils" which are anything but a Tesla coil. They were not just a simple high-frequency air-core transformer. In effect, a true Tesla coil is a tuned resonant matched transmitter-receiver pair. People really ought to read Tesla's papers, they really should, especially when trying to make a coil. Your coil should be producing arcs at least the length of the coil, not just a few inches. I have built one with a secondary made of very thin wire (around 38ga) wrapped on a piece of toilet paper cardboard tube that put out arcs that long with only 25w input power. For a hint on how to make the Tesla coil tuned to a frequency, I stress that the length of the wire determines the target frequency. When that wire is wound into a secondary coil, the induction of said coil is fixed, so you match the proper capacitance (ball or toroid) to make the coil resonate at the proper frequency. The capacitance of the primary circuit is then matched with the inductance of the primary coil to achieve the same frequency. The primary coil should be wound to some 1/4 wave fraction. The total voltage is actually a ratio between the input voltage of the primary in conjunction with its fractional wavelength relative to the target wavelength.
"They were not just a simple high-frequency air-core transformer." They are air-core _resonant_ transformers, you are absolutely right, my particular circuit design actually relies on parasitic capacitive coupling between the secondary and ground. This is why the resonant frequency changes depending on the surrounding and how much it's loaded. (which also affects the Q factor of the coil due to resistive elements and losses) This is clearly observed in my last slayer exciter video where I display the waveform seen on the base of the NPN transistor in real time with changes in external loading. My understanding is that the secondary coil must have low parasitic capacitance (for high frequency operation), good dielectric strength (to withstand enormous voltages), and reasonable coupling between the primary and secondary, esp. for SSTC designs, due to the limited magnetic flux strength. This almost exclusively limit's the design to this classic single layer cylindrical coil design. Especially if you are looking for strong RF field emissions. If you follow the moving charges that are observed in the secondary coil, you can use the right hand rule and vector fields to trace out how this thing would radiate electromagnetic waves. I believe the output will be circularly polarized, but I am not an RF expert.
Something I would try is decouple the secondary from the driver circuit and then wind a two or three turn loop close to the ground section of the coil for a feedback loop. You just want enough voltage to set the resonance and keep everything in tune. You ought to figure the total length of wire used to get an idea of the wavelength involved. If you resonate a very long wire with a shorter wavelength (higher frequency) drive unit it will still produce sparks, but you will get high voltage nodes at the spots on the coil where that frequency hits 1st and 3rd quarter resonances. Basically, your coil gets high voltage "hot spots" that will produce corona or arcs from specific spots on the body of the secondary coil itself, instead of at the top where you desire it. If the primary is driving at too low a frequency, then it royally shortens your spark length since the two circuits would essentially be out of phase, even if they are both resonating. You want as close to Q as you can get between the two, while at the proper design frequency. I just realized that I didn't specify something necessary to clear up the confusion someone reading this might need. I have read Tesla's works and one thing became quickly evident. He did not use the standard lingo, but like many we see today he often used the words of electronics, but gave them his own modified definitions. That is why he was so misunderstood by many scientists of the time, and for good reason. If you want to see what he was after, draw out a sine wave and then mark out the quarters. Now, look at where the voltages fall on those quater-wave sections. The wave starts at0V, proceeds to Max +V, drops back down to 0V in the center, to Max -V, and finally back to zero voltage. He used the length of the secondary as either a single wire quarter-wave antenna for his vertical coils or as a half-wave dipole for his horizontal coils. He built coils like he was designing a radio or T.V. antenna, not simply as a resonating circuit. It was brilliant, but confusing if you tried to put everyone else's definitions on the words he used. He used the term "resonance" the way Einstein used the term "equivalence." He did this so as to create standing wave signal amplification within the secondary circuit, meaning he could get much higher amplitudes out of the available signal than would have been available otherwise.
I just spent 3 hours calculating my coil's approximate resonance frequency because I don’t have an oscilloscope and then realized... does this circuit really need to have tuned primary with secondary when it autotunes the frequency? Edit: i made a mistake. Now I understand that you were only talking about the secondary, not primary.
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 A tesla coil is a form of an LLC resonant converter. You can learn about them here. ruclips.net/video/tCEqm-RoP20/видео.html The flyback driver (the typical one w/o the resonant capacitor I added on my video of it) operates VERY differently. The flyback transformer is not a transformer but a coupled inductor, and it works like a boost converter, but the energy stored in the core is discharged into the secondary. Learn about flyback topology here: ruclips.net/video/OXibsOzjipw/видео.html So can you run an air core resonate transformer like a flyback? Well maybe, but it will not work well, if at all. The slayer exciter sortof does. the coupling between primary and secondary isn't good (0.3 to 0.5 typically) which limits energy transfer and the remaining energy will be dissipated via avalanche breakdown in your MOSFET. Also the output is not rectified and can conduct both cycles, and it is resonant which is just wrong, although I don't know what the effects of that would be besides the high Q of the secondary filtering out all but the fundamental.
Hi , made it and it works really well, even added an amplifier on pin 5 of 555 timer which amped up the output even more , was wondering how to interrupt it in a way that it will play digitally modulated music ? Do let me know if you have any tips for that or updated schematics.
This is a nice powerful setup and works out great with the interrupter. I just started playing with these types of drivers particularly Steve Wards early circuits and they are really fun. This one would probably work well audio modulated at the 555 if the frequency and duty is just right. If not that at the power rail with a beefy mosfet.
I am actually experimenting with FM modulation to do audio. Check out my latest video using a PLL! I upgrade from this single-ended driver circuit to something more akin to Steve Ward's design (but instead chose to use a MOSFET driver IC.) The trouble I see with a PWM based interrupter for audio modulation is that the frequency of the coil is just too close to the required interrupting frequency for clear audio. I haven't tried it, but to get clear audio you need to set the interrupter frequency to around 40kHz, and the coil resonates at 100kHz. I don't think you can get clear audio this way. Hence I switched to a PLL to allow an audio signal to modulate the frequency of the coil instead. The secondary demodulates it by slope detection. A PWM or 555 flyback driver works because each cycle you charge up the primary with a current and then when the MOSFET opens the field collapses, and how much depends on how long the MOSFET was conducting so the energy dumped into the secondary is proportional to the duty cycle.
@@power-max It actually works better than I would have thought and how I've usually done it is switching the entire circuit at the power rail. The first plasma speaker setup I made was just an injected audio signal into the gate of the mosfet switching the flyback and by using an lm386 to boost the signal I was able to get some really high fidelity highs and decent lows but I remember thinking there was no way a Slayer would be viable volume-wise. Turns out with the right setup it can get pretty loud. I tried it on a Slayer I knew had decent output from around 40 watts using a TL494 to drive the PWM. I recently tried it on a smaller tower running at 2.5mhz also and it worked about the same. Same thing with a different push-pull tower I have. It seems like so long as I set the PWM frequency to above the audible I can then adjust the duty cycle to somewhere around 40% or so and get clear audio. The higher frequencies sound great. I saw the PLL setup and it pulls some awesome arcs. Those are the kind of beefy yellow arcs I see the most impressive sounding setups using but whenever I try to modulate arcs that beefy the sound just sort of sounds drowned out. The thinner the arcs the louder they seem at times but don't carry enough lower frequencies. I still haven't figured out how some of these other guys are getting what sounds like very clear full-range audio but I can at least seem to get any Slayer to become musical by just powering them with the PWM. I can't say one running at around 100khz would work about the same but a lot of people seem to think that kind of setup only works with midi and basic tones but it can play most music fine.
@@Magneticitist I might give PWM a shot. I like my PLL circuit and may eventually sell it as a kit. It works by converging on the resonant frequency of the tesla coil (the circuit does have to be tuned to be roughly correct but once close enough it locks on) and by injecting a AC coupled signal into the VCO pin via a small blocking capacitor I can "tug" the voltage up and down around the operating point and modulate the frequency. The circuit works best slightly detuned because of how slope detection works on the secondary.
@@power-max Voltage control may be the better way to go about it and it seems like you can actually get audio from the really hot arcs that way which I cannot using the PWM. Only real advantage to the PWM is that you can just make a universal driver with the audio jack and have it play audio through various things that may already emit good arcs.
@@Magneticitist That would be Amplitude Modulation, AM. The problem with AM is that it's very inefficient. I did this to audio-modulate a ZVS flyback driver. The only way I know how to do this easily is to use a transistor as a emitter follower / source follower and biased at the mid-point, VCC/2. You immediately lose half your voltage and 50% of your power is dissipated in this transistor. Once the transistor is biased such you feed in an AC-coupled audio signal that has been amplified to be about 1/3 VCC in peak amplitude (to avoid reaching cutoff and saturation) This is, in essence. a high power class A amplifier. It will work but less than half of the power goes into the Tesla coil. I simply don't have a power supply big enough to get good results, and It requires a separate large CPU heatsink for that sort of power dissipation.
Actually it makes a lot of sense. You are probably familiar with traditional constant voltage supplies, and the less resistance he more current something pulls. You can think of the output here as more like constant current. When a short arc is drawn the voltage is low and power is low. But with more and more resistance (less "load" in the traditional sense) the more power is needed.
@@power-max The power doesn't necessarily go down. The power factor changes as you load the coil. The real power might even increase (depending on arc lenght), and more power is transferred to secondary and less burned off in primary
@@imeprezime1285 I probably should have described the power transfer into the secondary and arc in terms of Q factor, unloaded (in the case of open circuit no breakout and short circuit the Q factor of the primary is very high, limited by the copper and MOSFET losses. With an established arc the Q factor goes way down because energy is being dumped into it. Ideally the Tesla coil always operates at resonance so the capacitive and inductive reactance cancel out, power factor isn't a great metric since we are dealing with a variable frequency system unlike 60Hz mains electricity where frequency is a fixed constant.
PS: You didn't say about the number of turns in the secondary coil😭😭. Please tell me the number of turns in the secondary coil and the size of the wire used in secondary coil.
Instead of using his turns, use JavaTC. It will output a turn amount that will make the primary resonant with the secondary. Also youll want to find out how many turns is in your secondary.
Hey! I'm trying to build this circuit, and I need to know, what's a proper voltage rating for the primary cap? I don't want to assume any values. And what specs should I keep in mind if I need to pick a different mosfet driver? Thanks!
I think mine was rated a few hundred volts, I didn't put alot of effort into choosing one. I would recommend using a capacitor rated for resonant operation, such as a mica capacitor, or a class 1 ceramic capacitor. As for the MOSFET driver, just about anything can work, but I'd recommend any low side gate driver IC that has below 30ns propagation delay and can supply 4A source and sink into the MOSFET gate. Keep the connections between the MOSFET and gate driver as short as possible, minimize the loop area between the gate driver output, gate, source, and return path of the gate driver IC. Also keep the bypass capacitor across the gate driver IC as close to the power pins again minimizing loop area.
@@power-max Amazing, thanks for the help! What wattage should I rate the resistor on the power side? How much does the resistance affect the stability? Oh, and does the 555 timer interrupt freq matter? I'm asking because I want to make my coil quiet, and don't want it bothering my dog either. If there's a limit, I'm fine with running it at lower frequencies. Finally and most importantly, how do I best protect the MOSFET? I'm planning on using a FET with a low on resistance and therefore much less heat. But I don't want it to die, since it's over twice the cost of an IRFP260N. Thanks again, you're a massive help.
Hey just finished experimenting and finetuning this thing and wow, great results. The capacitor between the primary is crucial this will double output. Thanks, this is my first tesla and already making 8 cm sparks flying everywhere. And this circuit is not fiddly at all, it works well and has already withstand 120 volts dc i'm afraid to go further because i'm not sure if the signal diodes to clamp the feedback will be strong enough for more power. What do you think should i change for bigger diodes or will they be fine for 200 volt?. so far the coils i tested and circuit worked well at 120 volts
+Power Max Ebay... 100X ne555s for $3 free shipping! crazy! Anyways, i have yet to figure out why they go nuclear on me. I figure it must be some high voltage transient on the power rails. my circuit varies from your's as i do not have a FET driver so I've been using a BPJ transistor as the driver. that part works great but when i put the 555 in the equation it goes bang.
+Kalanchoe1 Nuclear 555 timers, ummm :) Maybe that would be useful! If you are getting them from ebay that could be some of the problem. Ebay electronic component sellers are notorious for producing crappy knockoff counterfeit of parts. Often they will take low end transistors (like IRFP250N) and scrub the part number off and print a "better" part number (like IRFP460N) and sell it at a slight markup but still much less than a real part.
Question: in the video from my perspective it looks like before you added the interruptor circuit, the sparks seemed very flair like and kind of small until you pulled them. When you added the interruptor circuit the sparks seemed to be longer?
Tesla Explorer a VTTC is a Vacuum Tube Tesla Coil, which this is not. I do have a couple of tubes, but only low current low power radio tibes which are not suitable for high power stuff.
Ummm hi, i have this question, instead of the gate driver, i saw a circuit using a Push and pull circuit as a gate driver, the output of the 555 goes to the bese of the NPN and PNP transistors, and the output is in the emitter of NPN ad collector of PNP, can i use it instead of a gate driver?
@@power-max im planning to make it on the breadboard first, then i will solder it to a perf board, but im thinking to use a tcrew terminal block so if the MOSFET blows up i can screw it out, but i have one last question, why on most circuits they use a capacitor between Source and drain in parallel?
Well now I've seen everything - twisted wires and breadboard and after a few blown up components, some kludging it with the 12V supply and a bit of trouble shooting, you have the most jerry rigged "that can't possibly work" working tesla coil. Very good :)
Hey max, i hope you still read comments on this video. I built your circuit almost exactly like you did in the video (except for a linear voltage regulator for the driver/timer) but when i turn on the coil it works for 10 seconds and then my ceramic caps blow up. Also the sparks are only 0.5-1cm long. I did use other ceramics caps which are a bit smaller and have another capacitance. Is this why my coil doesnt work? Also are the fumes from a blown up ceramic capacitor toxic? They smell very nasty. Thanks for reading, Gustav
gustav games Pay attention to the ratings of your MLCC (MultiLayer Ceramic Capacitors.) I think you may be exceeding the voltage rating. If they are getting hot before hand, then the dissipation factor or ESR is not good enough. Where are you using the capacitors? Power supply filtering / chip decoupling?
Power Max i dont know the voltage rating of the caps, they only have the capacitance written on them, im talking about c1 in your schematic. I ordered 20pcs 1nF 2kv capacitors so i can put 3 of them in series. I also tried a 22pF cap (again at c1) it didnt blow up but the arcs are still tiny (probably because its a way too small capacitance) so i have to retry in a couple of weeks when my new caps arive.
gustav games Yeah that capacitor is critical. Both voltage and the value is critical. I think you are exceeding it's voltage rating by like ten fold. Assume Vsupply×10. Try to determine the frequency your secondary coil and topload oscillates at. Choose a capacitor value that when paired with your primary coil, it oscillates at the same frequency. You can't go wrong with a big film capacitor (like the ones found in power supplies for the mains filtering). Ceramics are a bit more tricky. There are many types of ceramic capacitors, with different dielectrics, voltage ratings, etc. You want the older class 1 capacitors, which are designed for resonant circuits. I think you are using class 2 ones, like X5V which have strange properties that make then not ideal for this. Including lower voltage rating and the capacitance changes temperature and DC offset voltage.
Power Max i dont have a oscilloscope to measure the res. Freq. Also i dont know the inductance of my coil so i cant calculate it either. If i choose a cap with an high frequency, a high voltage rating and the right capacitance then would that be able to work? Im looking at these ones at the moment s.aliexpress.com/BbuMnInQ?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard ( i pasted a link here but i dont know if youtube allows other people to see it) thanks a lot for helping me, i really appriciate all the help you give to people in the comments.
Yes you can. You know the dimensions. You know the number of turns. Your smart enough to google the equations for the inductance formula of a cylinder, or cheat by using one of the many online calculators. I believe in you! ;) *You need a scope to build this.* You will be hard pressed to get good performance without one. You can use it to determine the resonant frequency of the coil, and diagnose problems. Without one you are left guessing what the problems are, will fry FETs left and right, etc. Get a cheap analog scope, you can find second hand ones cheap.
is this a question or a statement? C1 at 0:52 helps reduce voltage spikes and acts as a resonant circuit. When selected carefully I found it improves overall performance and more power goes into the secondary.
Hey, can you answer two probably stupid questions? Why do you use a mosfet gate driver, is it just to amplify the signal? And why dont you use a function generator instead of the 555 timer circuit?
If only I had a function generator 😞 Even if I did have a nice one I'd be afraid of frying it. Yes, a MOSFET gate driver is in essence a current amplifier. It takes a dmall negligable drive current from a logic level signal and delivers a sizable current to the MOSFET gate. If you understand capacitance then you will understand why it is nessesary. Think about capacitive reactance (measured in ohms), with a square wave signal consisting of maybe 10 harmonics. Or the desired rise/fall time and voltage level and the dv/dt if you prefer time domain analysis (which is conceptually simpler for this example) But also I am using feedback from the secondary to drive the gate, I created an oscillator, positive feedback at the resonant frequency of the secondary. You can google how crystal oscillator circuits work, same principle, just with a tesla coil transformer instead of a ceramic resonator or quartz crystal.
@@power-max So you think the 555 timer can generate a bigger frequency than a function generator without frying? Yeah I know probably you fried some 😅 Oh and don't you think you would get better performance with the circuit in a perfboard instead of the breadboard?
@@felipesantana2126 It depends on how nice of a function generator you get. A good on should have a high bandwidth, be capable of arbitrary waveform, etc. It will have a well-characterized output impedance of 50 ohms via a BNC connector just like a scope, which can travel down a 50 ohm characteristic impedance coaxial transmission line to your Device Under Test (DUT). Done right the high speed edges should be preserved by impedance matching of the output of the generator, the coaxial cable, and the input impedance of your DUT. A crappy one will be little more than an analog oscillator (like a 555) with maybe some different waveform outputs, a buffer amplifier, and a 50 ohm series resistor to a BNC, bandwidth depending on components used and design. A 555 is limited to under 1MHz, and most breadboard designs are limited to this as well just due to parasitics (see below) Yes, you will absolutely get better performance from a soldered up perfboard or even better, a custom PCB, like this one. github.com/power-max/universal-half-bridge A breadboard has a lot of parasitic capacitance between adjacent nodes, the steel contacts have relatively high resistance on the order of dozens of milliohms which limits current capability (I've melted many breadboards) and not to mention how flaky the connections in especially the cheap chinese clones. Also wires on a breadboard and lack of a ground plane can increase series inductance which can limit di/dt capability and cause damaging voltage transients.
@@power-max but shouldn't I do the circuit in breadboard anyways, because of the components that might explode? It's easier to replace components in a breadboard
@@felipesantana2126 That is up to you. Sometimes that is simply not an option. However this is not a circuit where such shortcomings matter quite so much. Mostly an issue for very high power designs with many (10+) amps and/or high frequencies. In the world of electronics 1MHz is child's play. Intel CPUs have clock speeds in the many GHz range, and those are (supposed to be) square wave signals with a number of additional harmonics. With the recent advancement of III-V semiconductors, Sub THz millimeter wave communication is even starting to become power efficient and economical, and for that literally millimeters of conductors matter, along with permittivity and permeability of the substrate material. At those frequencies the skin effect means electricity travels along the surface of a conductor rather than through it (due to general relativity) and the EM waves around a conductor is what carries the energy rather than the wire itself. Hence waveguides become more efficient than wire based transmission lines. most day to day capacitors would look like inductors just because of the length of the leads and the pacakage. TL-DR The world of RF and microwave is black magic.
Hi, can I use tc4420 mosfet driver instead of the ds0026 mosfet driver since I cannot find it in my country and international shipping costs 125$. Please reply. I have bought some tc4420.
Circuit Ideas Labs i tried it because it was the only one i had laying around and it kinda worked. Which you probably already found out because it was 5 month ago.
Hey Power Max, You have a great video here as well as many others. I am not a Tesla Master however I can see by the setup and arc profile (the profile is its little signature song in the aether) it seems your over shoot minimization device merely allows the caps to charge enough to maintain a decent penetration each discharge, BUT when it is not there it goes into full "self resonance mode" and then actually penetrates the aether about the same (after arcing (due to conductivity of the elevated state of plasma) ), So either way your coil seems to have some decent INHERENT (by your design (2 months you say)) resonance. SOOOOooo..... have you attempted different topload surface area's etc? then the profile will reveal its true wave characteristic. Enough BS critique, just a few suggestions you have prolly already tried. My giant beast is different tesla deal al together but it does teach one about the wave front importance over the concept of "frequency" all the time. I look at it like this: the sharper the spear or samuri (spike) the more versatility you have with the ability to utilize the tesla coil more effectively later after everyone see';s how these "BELLS" really work. EXCELLENT VIDS MAN. don't stop. PS I am the Coral Castle guy who got sucked in to tesla, ED leedskalnin, steinmetz, maxwell, faraday, schumann, dollard, and more. later Scott R
+Made by one man Not sure exactly what you mean by the "arc profile", "overshoot minimization device" or penetration. the resonant tank capacitor needs to be selected so that the LC resonant frequency matches that of the LC resonant frequency of the secondary, just like a normal tesla coil. I can't wait to take some university courses on closed loop control systems (involving positive and negative feedback) as a solid understanding of that would make it possible to understand how and why the circuit oscillates.
Power Max I agree. As far as that goes "arc profile" simply means that one can tell some of the characteristics of the power supply and the method of delivery. basically the consiseness of the over all system reflects itself in the breakout. like a little harmonic visual aetheral reflector manifesting some info. Enough spacey stuff.HOWEVER these "profiles" occur due to the WORLD's lack of true understanding of thew resonanca according to "Steinmetzian radiant theory" It appears that pressure (voltage, conductivity, surface area) at least constitute a set of parameters for say the primary, and pretty much the same for the secondary. as for all the "capacitive reactance" tesla was experimenting with the straight forward one shot slinging effect also not just "coil" interaction." Many factors involved of course. but after awhile it starts to sink in that its not so much about complicated circuitry but almost more like complicated acoustics due to the ratios occurring during overlapping resonance situations. blah blah again. and the forward circuit was the "overshoot mninimization device" sorry if that sounded silly. yes the resonance matches due to the timing of the 555 vs "fullspeed" (I am guessing) Nice IDEA by the way. again hopefully you are working on something else to upload. You have good videos.
@@power-max This guy is talking about "penetrating the aether" and such. He's one of those people that thinks tesla coils create free energy by tapping into some other universe.
Manuel Procchieschi Thanks. Are you asking if it can be powered by your power supply? Sure. But you will not get the performance I got with a bunch if smaller power supplies in series for an equivelent supply of 55V.
NEVER! muauahaha but really it is just a rehash of the classic steve ward design. Only difference is Im using a IRS2186 driver IC. And a CD4046 PLL for FM modulation I am using a resonant series capacitor and not just DC bias caps. But the coupling still needs to be good, or else the reactive energy builds up until damaging currents are flowing (I measured over 140A at times)
Yes. The DR stands for "Dual Resonant". The primary is a resonant circuit tuned close to the resonant frequency of the secondary, by definition. In fact, this is the most correct type of tesla coil in my opinion, as it is a solid-state version of a bog standard SGTC. It is possible to audio-modulate a continuous-wave tesla coil, however have been having trouble with the PLL circuit. It likes to fry my half bridge transistors frequently. Burned through all 40 of my transistors now so I am out of the race until new ones arrive.
My theory is that the audio modulated PLL driver (which uses antenna feedback to lock on to the resonant frequency of the secondary), has a pretty uncontrolled phase delay at the 280 to 300kHz, as the closed-loop phase depends on a variety of components in the control loop, including the interaction between primary and secondary. This complicates analysis a lot. My H-bridge PCB is optimized for the current slightly lagging the drive voltage waveform (i.e, drive the primary a slightly above resonance such that the primary appears predominately inductive) In this mode, ZVS soft switching is achieved during turn-on, and diodes used to discharge the gate for a snappy turn-off, minimizing switching losses. Because as either the top or bottom MOSFET turns off, there is still current flowing in or out of the primary, and given inductor action the voltage suddenly shoots to the other supply and is clamped by the body diode of the other transistor, which, when turned on, has almost no voltage across it! The MOSFET driver has a 12 ohm series resistor to limit the turn-on time but since the transistors are switched off during maximum current and the voltage also happens to rise to the other supply rail, a diode is placed to turn the transistor off as fast as possible to limit turn-off switching losses. This also prevents issues with di/dt and dv/dt when the MOSFET is turning on due to miller effect and the parasitic BJT found in all MOSFETs, which can cause the wrong FET to suddenly turn ON briefly and cause a shoot-through condition (both FETs are on) When I set the primary to appear predominately capacitive by driving a lower frequency than the resonant frequency then turn-on losses are increased and turn-off losses are decreased and it operates in ZCS region instead of ZVS region. For the moment I am just messing with the standard jellybean DRSSTC type circuit with a LM339 comparator for feedback from a current transformer that drives a 74LS86 quad XOR gate that I use to implement controllable dead-time so both FETs are not accidentally turned on simultaneously. For audio modulation, I have found that modulating the frequency of operation only really works when the coil is purposely de-tuned, due to how slope demodulation works.
Bourhan Dernayka yes. The thickness matters mostly for structural support. PVC comes mostly in quarter inch thickness. The diameter is given by the inside measurement. If you are really serious about making coils (like the ones used professionally for shows) the dielectric properties of PVC are not ideal and acrylic is commonly used instead I think.
Power Max the thing is that i already built a PVC core coil and I’m stuck with it not producing a magnetic field, so I’m searching for a way to make use of that 22 cm length and 4cm diameter coil for my college project.
Bourhan Dernayka oh I see. You ask about the things you were not sure about _after_ making the mistake 😉. The dimensions are ok, although not ideal. Neither are the dimensions on the coil in this video. I should have made it on 3 inch PVC and about 10 inches to a foot tall.
Bourhan Dernayka choose a topload such that the resonant frequency is somewhere between 100KHz and 500KHz. Tutorials online about how to do that. It's easy if you have a scope. *Pro tip: oscilloscope is mandatory if you want to make this thing work in a reasonable timeframe.. Just FYI.*
+kunal singh You're welcome! I did it because I needed to lower the power consumption, and decrease the load on my power supply. Doing that also allowed longer sparks because the voltage rose from about 35V to 50V. (yes, that is how underpowered my power supply was!)
Incorrect hardware. Use proper hardware to avoid the problems I had. The datasheet will specify the dimensions and tolerance of the hole on the tab, and the heatsink should have an appropriate hole, which may or may not be threaded. Use the correct screw that will allow you to tighten the screw down. Other heatsinks use a retention clip. *Also most importantly, be sure to use a dab of thermal paste between the heatsink and MOSFET!*
Thanks. And one more question: Don't I need some thermal spacers or whatever they're called between the MOSFETs and heatsink to go with the thermal paste, or is just the thermal paste to the MOSFETs and heatsink good enough?
Jared Evans As long as you can keep the metal tab in good contact with the heatsink so heat can dissipate effectively, that's all that matters. If you were concerned about electrical isolation, since the drain is connected to the tab, then you would use a sil pad and nylon nut and washer or a retention clip that does not contact the tab but the plastic part of the package
Im nervous because i made a coil with 3000 turns and i used a slayer exciter circuit to check its resonance and its above 1 Mhz, im afraid that the NE555 timer can't oscilae at that frecuency
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 that is a bad design. Either build a much bigger TC or use a chip better suited for the task. My design incorporates positive feedback network so it oscillates at the resonant frequency. Refer to the other DRSSTC schematics as a guide. The design I'm working on uses a CD4046 PLL. I also had some success using TL494 set to 50kHz, but this was driving a flyback transformer core rewound secondary for a resonant LLC converter, 340V open circuit and 115V under 100W resistive load
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 Alternatively you can wind a current transformer like the OneTesla DRSSTC design and feed that into a biased up comparator. But yes an antanna feedback or feedback from the bottom of the secondary works well too.
I know someone was asking a about musical interruption, wouldnt you be able to have a cheap mp3 player on pin 6 of the gate driver chip without the 555 at all and just have the mp3 player playing midi conversion as a crude way of a musical interruption, or just not possible at all?
Pin 6 is I believe one of the outputs Forcing any other signal onto that pin would blow up the DS0026 and bypass it (assuming you used that output for the MOSFET gate drive) And no, because the circuit relies on feedback to oscillate at the natural frequency of the coil, which is in the high KHz to low MHz region. That is why the 555 is used to modulate the power to this chip at a much slower rate, it effectively turns the tesla coil on and off very fast. The 555 *CAN* be replaced with a any binary signal, (not an analog voltage signal as would be the case with any normal audio source) That I think does include a MIDI generator that only outputs a single voice square wave output. You will the the sound quality of early IBM computers without soundcards.
Hi me again i have a some things to ask you 1. at 230v DC how many amps (mA) do i need for the interrupted version? 2. instead of DS0026 does the 2n4401 and 2n4403 with two 1 mohm at the transistors bases? Keep up the good work! 😀
+henning hund At 230Vac full bridge rectified!? that's 320Vdc, which will instantly explode the MOSFETs and let the smoke out on all the electronics, burn the house down, cause a global power outage when every transformer substation explodes and uhhh, lots of other BAD things.... :(
+Power Max well i wanted to use 48v dc but i dont know where to get such a voltage without using 4 12volt transformers in series because that is expensive for me. Any idea where to get a 48 volt transformer? And does those transistors work in totem pole configuration with each a 1 mohm at the base? i was thinking to use a optic fiber cable and use a microcontroller to get monophonic audio out of it? please answer.
I acquired a buttload of different power supplies from some old ham radio guy that was cleaning out shop. I think it was like $15 for 6 large power supplies. One was a lambda 28V 10A linear supply, another was a 6V 10A model, and one was a really lightweight junky feeling switch mode power supply which was switchable between 24V 4A and 48V 2A. This seems to be the best one although it is not the most powerful. You just need to get lucky. Keep an eye out on craigslist and see what pops up. You may also find a nice dual trace osciloscope! Very useful and a necessity to debug and troubleshoot these analog circuits.
Hello,Powermax Today i built the circuit with a bd244 and a bd243(if i know right)as the mosfet driver.I connected a computer psu and a transformer in series to get around 40v dc.When i connected the resonant capacitor i got a very big current drawn.Without this capacitor the circuit is working,but i get a very small current drawn.I tried a couple of high voltage low Rds mosfets but the result was not even better than a simple slayer exciter. Is the problem with the resonant capacitor? I was using a 2kv 0.13uF mkp cap.
Your capacitor is FAR too high in value. I used 4 to 5 1000pF capacitors in series to get 200--250pF. It acts like a short because at the resonant frequency that we want to achieve (1MHz let's suppose), then the "capacitor" you have chosen has a reactance of *just a couple ohms*.
Power Max Thanks for the answer!I will try it,but the resonant capacitor makes more powerful output and higher current drawn?As i said without the cap i get about 1 cm arcs and only around 10mA up to 30-40mA input current.
You just need to spend time to fine tune your circuit. You can try to calculate the resonant frequency of the secondary coil (the inductance of it and parasitic capacitance of the topload and objects surrounding it) and knowing the frequency and inductance of the primary, calculate the theoretically ideal capacitor value for the primary. But due to non-ideal conditions and unpredictable loading conditions, it's not particularly accurate way of determining the best capacitor.
Is a mosfet driver IC better than the two transistor in the driver configuration?Is it worth to buy a driver? By the way i could not build the circuit to test if it's working,because no one mosfet could survive my flyback driver. :D
Yes the driver is a better option, there are many. the ds0026 has 2 amp output, but there are newer and better ones with higher output, that are also cheaper and have an enable function for the interrupter (so no need for transistor between interrupter and driver chip) . It's around 3euros for the 9 amp rated ones, the 2 amp rated ones i found for 1,5 euros. Texas instruments has many options. And this circuit should not be tested with a flyback i suppose.
It isn't so straight forward. The phase of the (any) closed loop system is frequency-dependant. The idea is to have positive feedback at the resonant frequency for oscillation to occur. You can look into the stability criteria for LTI systems (like phase and gain margin) for more info on the topic.
@@power-max I know that the Slayer exciter works due to a negative feedback to the base of a transistor, however since you are using an inverted buffer, are u looking for a positive feedback for the inverted gate driver? If this is true then the circuit should work only when the primary is wound in the same direction of the secondary right?
@@bhu1334 Even the basic slayer excited is more complicated then that. With negative (180°) feedback at all frequencies no oscillation will occur. You need positive (360°) feedback in the frequency of interest all cases. I think I mis-spoke in the slayer exciter tutorial. These circuits are all really basic examples of LC harmonic oscillators. Learn more about them here. www.electronics-tutorials.ws/oscillator/oscillators.html
I have everything (or almost) mounted in the protoboard for testing only, (short pulses) but I'm running the circuit from 5 9v batteries in series, because I don't have a psu at the moment. the sparks only happen when I put the wire of the top close to the middle of the coil, I see some corona in the portion of wire that is touching the center of the coil. is the circuit working right? PS: as my electronic components store didn't have the ds0026, I had to buy the equivalent icl7667
+DanielTseng100 9V batteries cannot supply enough current for the task (too much internal resistance), and also it helps to have the circuit electrically grounded at some point for breakout. I dare you to measure the voltage of the batteries before they are connected to the circuit, and while they are connected to the circuit... What do you notice? I think you will see that the voltage falls drastically!!! Seeing corona is a good thing, as it means the circuit is oscillating! However, you will want to eliminate it before it melts, carbonizes and completly destroys the dielectric materials. (plastic insulation on the wires, PVC pipe, enamel coating on the magnet wire, etc.) Also it would help if I knew which version you built, the one including or excluding the 555 timer. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type.
Power Max I built both of them, but they do the same sparks and have almost the same power, the only small difference I noticed is that with the 555 circuit I don't have to bring the cfls very close to the coil to light them up and also when I start moving them away I see a bit of flickering. One more thing that I noticed is that the cfls light up easier at the center of the coil, but when I bring them close to the top they light up very dim. Is that supposed to happen? (I don't have any topload yet) PS: even that I built both circuits, I use the 555 version more frequently
+DanielTseng100 That sounds fine. Here is a small checklist of things to do: 1) check power supply/add capacitance to the power supply 2) try different number of winding's on the primary coil 3) try moving the coil up and down relative to the secondary 4) try reversing the polarity of the secondary. 5) try different value components (try a different R3 @ 1:41) Having a topload will improve performance marginally, using a proper power supply will also help. I was using a 30V 1.5A transformer in series with another 12V 4A transformer, in series again with yet another 12V 12A hacked Xbox power supply This is *NOT* a recommended configuration as different power types of power supplies should not be put in series like that, and that is why I had to make the 555 version, to cut down on the current so I do not stress the smallest supply in that series. If you select the right resistors and capacitors for the 555, the circuit should pulse on and off. The 555 version should draw much less current than other one. Hope this helps!
well, today I noticed that the power supplies at my school have two outputs that I can connect in series to get 60v at max, so I adjusted it to 40v and guess what... It works! so now I just need to add a topload and a 40v supply with enough amps to make this little thing work in my house. Thanks for the tutorial! PS: when I was using the supply, I accidentally left my finger very close to the switch (metallic lever) and I felt a painful burn, but I didn't saw anything burnt in my finger. do you think that the tesla coil could have transmitted the high voltage to the supply? ================================ this is a warning to anyone who has never touched a plasma arc or wants to draw arcs from this sstc for the first time:I was playing with the sstc today and I noticed that the arc didn't looked very dangerous at first, because "it was small", but now I know that it takes less than one second to get a not so nice and very stinky black dot on the fingertip xD. It only takes a very VERY short direct contact with the skin and a plasma arc to get a 3º degree burn. And the best (worst) part is that it doesn't hurt, so you won't notice until you smell something like burnt popcorn but stronger. at that point it's too late and you can only pray for the burn to be just a small black dot and not a whole line in your hand or worse. I was lucky this time fortunately, so if you want to draw arcs, use a screwdriver or another metallic piece, even better if you connect it to ground, but never touch it with your fingers/hands/whatever part of your body please
+DanielTseng100 Sounds like you got struck a few times by that mean plasma arc lol! Have a look at Mehdi Sadaghdar's (electroBOOM) video on this! ruclips.net/video/L5E4NiP4hpM/видео.html What I have learned is that while the circuit is operating, you standing close to it (only feet away from it) your body will act like an antenna and pick up all that power, and touching conductive things that are at a different potential (voltage) That power supply switch is hopefully grounded. But be careful, it is easy to kill electronics with the strong electromagnetic and electrostatic fields produced from this circuit. I actually killed my old oscilloscope during my last flyback driver video! :O
I love this Thanks man i made it 110 mains to 170 dc full brgr affter fillter cap up to 1/2 hour 1 irfp250n work's for me i did try to put them in perilal but they blowed up dont know why but with one it work's Thank's man for showing a dig wish i a camra to show what your circuit can do THANK YOU!!!!
+gary adams Great! I am considering making this mains powered as well, though before you pop a circuit breaker or melt the wiring in your house, definitely make sure you have a fuse in series with the circuit, and I would recommend using a fast IGBT or at least a better MOSFET, one like the IRFP460. Also, it might not be a bad idea to ballast the circuit with a inductor or capacitor dropper between the hot and full bridge converter to help decrease current draw.
+Power Max Hi bud could you tell me what what ballast and or was wounder what a capicitor dropper is i never herd of one before maybe you could explane it to me or send me a dig ?? Thanks Man!!!
+gary adams You know how you use resistors in series with LEDs to limit DC current, and drop excessive voltage? Capacitors and inductors sort of do the same thing, but with AC. The effect is called reactance, and when there is a combination of capacitive, resistive, and incuctive elements, it is referred to as complex impedance. Go ahead and buy a cheap 5W LED lamp, take it apart, I bet it will use a large K rated film capacitor and perhaps a full bridge rectifier and DC filter capacitor and a fuse. There is a reason it is referred to as complex impedance. Unlike a resistor, the current through a capacitor is related to how fast the voltage across it changes, and similarly, the voltage across an inductor will be related to. how fast the current changes. I am currently working on a "Tutorial Tuesday's" video about the subject. Hopefully it will be ready soon.
+Power Max ThankS now i get it lol!!! i will be looking for your tutorial sound's good. ps i have a 10amp fuse might be a bit large but its all i had! but its a fuse lol
i made the old version with MJE3055T its very reliable. at 36v the transistor got very hot but never burned out. i was running it for 30 min continuously
It can be, but this version can go a lot further than the simpler circuit. BJTs are practically obsolete for high power switching applications and MOSFETs are superior although more sensitive to abuse.
Henry Swan Honestly I was not sure. My guess was that by reducing the average current consumption, the average supply voltage increased as the power supplies had less loading. When you draw a lot of current from unregulated power supplies the supplied voltage tends to droop.
It's important to not confuse the maximum current rating with load regulation. In general, yes. An unregulated power supply with a higher current rating will have better load regulation than a unregulated supply with lower current capability. But it's still entirely possible to have a regulated lab bench supply which can maintain a constant voltage almost regardless of the instantaneous current draw , so long you don't exceed it's rating, of course!
There are 555 calculators you can find to help you with R1, R2, and C. The derived equation can also be found in most 555 datasheets. Or if you want to derive it yourself, it's not hard. The capacitor charges up to 2/3 VCC through one resistor and down to 1/3VCC through both resistors in series (or something like that).
I know how the timer works, I was asking how fast should i run it to work properly with this slayer exiter? I tested it with lower uf caps and it runs faster, as expected.
If i got it right, the reason for the 555 is to drop the power consumpted by the mosfet driver circuit. So how fast should i run it to get nice sparks without too much amps?
@@janikoivula260 It isn't critical. I ran the 555 around 50Hz or 60Hz to give that angry "electricity" sound here. The frequency you choose to run at does have an impact on the appearance of the sparks. At really low frequencies and duty cycles (pulsed), it is sword-like. At high frequencies you end up with more traditional spark-gap spark appearance.
@@janikoivula260 Human ears are most sensitive around 1 to 3 kHz so if you run it at that it will be really loud and ear-piercing, and generally annoying. If you run it much higher then you begin to get some weirdness because the assumption of interrupt frequency being much, much lower than resonant frequency is not as true, and so you need to analyze it more like OOK modulation, or an RF mixer (Double sideband Amplitude Modulation, beat frequencies, aliasing...).
For the 12 volt power for the 555 timer would it be possible to replace the regulator side of it with a secondary power supply feeding 12 volts? Also will i just have to connect the grounds of both power supply's together?
2 inches is fine. I think 3 or even 4 inches is more preferable however. (long thin secondaries are less good because of how the cross sectional area decreases as a square of the radius and decreases inductance per turn significantly. Also because more turns are required to get to the same inductance for the same output voltage, then the windings closer to the top are much further away from the primary and coupling into those is weaker.)
@@power-max yeah, old analogic 2 channels and also digital 4 channel to be unboxed (i fear of frying it up). I'm new to the topic but I understood almost everything on the surface
@@tanner1985 I assume a Rigol DS1054Z or something equivalent lol. The analog scope should be good enough if you know how to use it. Check that your MOSFET driver works, and your MOSFET. You can also do a transient or step response on the primary and secondary to see if the coil rings. Just build up some test circuits on the side and plop your Device Under Test (DUT) into the test circuit and see if it works as you expect given the datasheet(s) and application note.
You can use a regular gate drive IC and flip the primary with the opposite polarity. A NOT gate chip might not have enough grunt to drive a 1nf capacitive load at 300kHz to 1MHz.
+Devin Böttge Yes. I recommend as an electronics hobbyist that you look into learning about schematic symbols and stuff, as that is a necessary skill for any advanced circuit. The red arrows mean the positive voltage rail (positive of some battery for example) and the ground (also called common) symbols mean it goes to a common point, ground, aka, the negative of a battery.
+Devin Böttge 1:51 Right after the schematic, I start building the voltage regulator section for the 555. However, at 3:47 I learn the hard way that LM78xx regulators do not like 50V. So ultimately my solution was 5:07.
+Power Max so when i wire it up like in 1:48 but with the voltage regulater at the 555 chip it would work? by the way: how do i have to connect the pins of the ds chip in the simple and extendet version? that would help me a lot :)
Really trying to understand the schematic here but I am not an electrical engineer, to me it seems like potentially 100 volts could be fed into the MOSFET driver by the secondary. The diodes don't seem to do anything because they only let a small current flow in reverse (microamps) and don't clamp the voltage like a zener diode does. I wish I knew where to go to understand this better, can anyone correct me or point me towards the best resources to understand this?
Yes they most certainly do clamp the voltage to no lower than -0.6v and no higher than 0.6V above VCC. That's the hint. Think about it, and the answer is in the read more section. Imagine you connect 120V AC through a ~10kOhm resistor (or any high impedance) to the diode clamped input with a 12V supply. When the voltage swings far negative then the diode between the input and ground begins to conduct and effectively clamps the voltage to -0.6V. Then when the signal swings the opposite way the upper diode again ends up forward biased and clamps the voltage at 0.6V above VCC. Remember diodes have pretty much constant voltage drop regardless of what current flows through them. (Really it's exponential; google the schlocky diode equation for more info.) Now if your high voltage source also has a high current and low ESR the diodes will act like short circuits and a lot of current will be dumped into them, possibly exploding them. And when the voltage goes positive it does backfeed power into the supply rail, if it is enough average current, it could cause the 12V supply to begin rising above 12V to some unknown value. I have noticed that when the circuit is running, sometimes it continues to work even if you remove the 12V supply if the primary is still powered for this reason!
Peter Zingler Not really. You can use exactly the same materials from this coil to make a proper tabletop SSTC. I have been developing one that uses a CD4046 PLL and a MOSFET driver IC. The design used a half bridge push pull circuit. (2 FDP33N25 transistors, less than $2 each) and a capacitor in series with the primary. Just tune the PLL, the primary LC tank circuit, and the secondary coil + topload combo all to the same frequency, then you can get some really good results. I have acheived arcs about twice the length of this circuit at 70V. But I am having a hard time getting the circuit to do much better and be less fiddly. Eventually I plan to make a PCB design of it.
Power Max very cool , just a little question . To make a slayer circuit musical : would it be enough to interupt the primary with a mosfet/transistor? I tried interupting it with a 555 gate driver circuit and it worked, now im thinking about just feeding an audio signal instead of the 555 signal?
Peter Zingler not actual audio. Single voice square wave polyphony (single MIDI channel) yes. Easily in fact. If you are good with arduino and its hardware interrupts and timer modules, then you could have that replace the 555. Otherwise, you will need a more advanced circuit. I am currwntly Experamenting with FM modulating using the CD4046 PLL. It works well.
+andronclock1 I don't remember, about 800T on the secondary and a few turns on the primary should work. all the values in these types of circuits are highly experimental. What worked best for me will probably not work best for you if you plan to replicate this.
+andronclock1 It took a lot of work to get this one working as good as it does. (a few weeks/months of developing and optimizing) and that is with a solid understanding of electronics in general. I recommend building my older version of this circuit first, it is simpler to build and troubleshoot though still requires a bit of tuning and optimizing. The circuit here is largely just a upgrade to that one.
Hi, I know it has been about 4 years but I have a question! with a 48v 5a power supply can I have the same result as yours, or I need more amps for that? I also have 24v 15a and 36v 10a power supplies.
That is already more current than my chain of random smaller supplies in this video could supply. I bought a meanwell 48V 7.5A supply on amazon for something like $40 to make a stronger version of this circuit (see latest video). I think your supply will work fine. You will need to tune your circuit to not overload your supply anyway.
@@imanb608 Place a beefy reverse diode across the weaker supply, so if the voltage collapses it does not invert (diode will enter forward condition with -0.6V across that supply) and will help prevent damage.
@@power-max thanks again, and lastly about 8:35 , what do you mean by "the phase 2 of this transformer is wrong"? can you please explain what's exactly wrong?
@@imanb608 Phase in the context of transformers generally refers to the relative polarities of the separate coils. On a schematic it is designated by phase dots. "Phase" as a term refers to the "lead" or "lag" of one periodic waveform in relation to another periodic waveform in degrees. For sine waves, an inverted sine wave is basically the same as a 180° phase shift. hence the (confusing) terminology.
+Faruk Gul the whole 555 section of the circuit serves to basicly just turn the first circuit on and off about 10 to 100 times a second. Also, because the 555 is set up to turn on for only 10% of the time compared to the 90% of the time when it is off, it lowers power consumption. (imagine flipping a light switch on and off really fast.) Because it is less load on my power supply, that means the power supply can "rest" and recover it's voltage before the circuit turns on for a few tenths of a second. So the sparks will look different because they are being turned on and off pretty fast, and find a different path through the air each time they are cut off and reestablished. Vs the first circuit, where the arc is continuously turned on, and will keep flowing through the same plasma that was generated when the arc was first stuck. (when a spark occurs, it causes air to become a plasma, and plasma is conductive, and because electrons are lazy, they just keep going through the same plasma path and generating more plasma.)
+Power Max .Are you familiar with royal ramond rife's work. He cured many diseases including cancer using this method at specific frequencies. If you tune your L1 tank circuit to 3.3 MHz and have the the 555 timer modulate it at a low harmonic, eg - 15625Hz for a carrier of 1MHz(L1 tank). That would be the 6th lower harmonic of 1MHz. This produces harmonic sideband frequencies above and below the carrier wave. You can find out the specific frequencies that destroy pathenogenes by googling "Rife frequencies". If your going to play with this stuff, you might as well get healthy while doing it.
+Robert Tomkinson This sounds a lot like snake oil. I have about as hard a time believing in this as I do in those free energy scams and perpetual permanent magnet motor machines that plague youtube.
+Power Max Thats too bad you feel that way. If it sounds that way then maybe you have not looked at the evidence. Do the research so that you know its snake oil rather than dismiss it because it sounds like snake oil. Watch the TEDx video found in this article. www.ascensionwithearth.com/2016/01/researchers-demonstrate-how-cancer.html
@@siddhantsinha9276 It should work very well. This circuit is hard to get working without electrical knowledge and a scope. I wish you the best of luck. If you have a specific question feel free to ask.
No not really. The 555 is generating a square wave at tens of Hz here. I assume you are referring to pin 5. Adding a signal here will only modulate the duty cycle and frequency of a low frequency square wave. This only works if the frequency is well above audio hearing range such that we can only hear the effects of the DC component (average voltage) from the generated square wave. I don't remember getting this to work very well
One approach is to use a Phase Locked Loop and inject an analog signal into the VCO portion of it with a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 20 or so Hz, and feed the output of the phase comparator to a low pass filter / integrator / charge pump to allow the VCO to slowly converge to the resonant frequency of the secondary based on the RF feedback. This will implement audio by means of Frequency Modulation (FM) of which the actual secondary side can "demodulate" by slope detection (due to its high Q). It works best if the coil is purposely slightly detuned. This method works really well but I have yet to make a video on it.
+Lugar. M There is no feedback antenna. The bottom of the secondary connects to the input of the DS0026 chip with those protection diodes in place to prevent destruction to the DS0026.
At voltage regulator, the resistors getting hot. My transformer has 12v tap and 50 Volts tap. Shall I use 12v tap to ic and 50v tap to mosfet with two different rectifiers? Pls reply
NARENDRA teegala off course they get hot! I hinted as to why in the video. Calculate the voltage drop across that resistor 38V! You can see that the power losses are going to be very high. DO NOT USE A SHUNT REGULATOR if you have any better option for a 12v rail.
NARENDRA teegala as long as you make sure that the 2 power supplies can commoned together (make sure you can connect the negitive of one to the negitive of the other. That should be fine so long as at the supplies are electrically isolated fron each other.
Power Max thanks for your response. Please, let me know, I have one 12v SMPS and 50v transformer with rectifier. Shall I common the both of their negitives? Is it ok sir?
Yes. Keep the loop area between the source of the MOSFET and the MOSFET driver IC as short / tight as possible also. I recommend a series resistor and a stronger gate driver IC.
Could you audio modulate a SSTC like this one? I made a SGTC driven by a fly back from a cfl light circuit, and I am interested in making a SSTC, audio modulated.
+Scotlahn Mccallister Anything is possible, you could modify my design and do audio modulation, but I would suggest trying ElectroBOOM's circuit, Unlike mine, his is not a closed loop controlled design and relies on a discrete oscillator which he modulates in order to do pretty good audio modulation.
@@power-max Could you not just use the old method (as in from ancient radio days) of putting an audio signal on a transformer primary, and wiring the secondary in series with VCC of your circuit? Tested To Destruction did that with a ZVS and it worked very well.
@@starchief93 you want to do amplitude modulation, that is achieved by multiplying your carrier wave to your audio signal by means of a mixer, usually. In practice, you could achieve this by modulating the supply voltage to the tesla coil resonator as a function of the audio signal. Powering it with a class A amplifier to introduce this voltage modulation on the DC rail is probably the easiest ways to do it. I have more recently been messing around with the idea of using frequency modulation or phase modulation instead, and demodulation occurs by means of the high Q factor of the tesla coil resonator as it gets pushed and pulled into and out of resonance. The problem with this approach is that the circuit can flip between running above and below Fres of either the upper or lower pole (whichever you tuned it to) and consequentially flipping between ZVS and ZCS, which can result in destruction of the switches, as I found out in my "it keeps blowing up" video. Also using a PLL, there is a risk it might lock onto some really strange undesired harmonics which result in excessive gate drive losses and blown up.
Do you think i could put 200volts dc into my input? or do you think my igbt would just explode from the kick back on the primary? haha, i have powered it with 90vdc so far and there is no sign of excessive heat being produced on anything
Short answer is no, probably not. At 50V the back EMF on the MOSFET as well as the power dissipation are already too high for reliable operation. Any additional stress may cause lots of magic blue smoke. I would look into using a better designed circuit for more performance at rectified mains.
IGBTs, while having high breakdown voltage ratings and power ratings, are generally pretty limited in terms of frequency as there is a long tail current after switching off that is not present in MOSFETs as the charges in the PN junction has to deplete. Also they have a positive temperature coefficient, which could result in thermal runaway. So for this reason they are generally not the optimal choice for smaller tesla coil designs.
Resepected sir, It's really superb. I can't find DS0026 ic. I google DS0026 equalants and I found some ic's. I have AN7512 ic and it is equivalent to DS0026. Shall I use it. Can it drive mosfet?
NARENDRA teegala IDK. The chip you need is a MOSFET driver. MOSFETs have a good deal of capscitance between the gate and ground, so at high frequencies (over 1MHz) that can be a problem. You do not need a MOSFET driver specificall, I managed to get this circuit working with a BJT emitter follower push pull stage. Works like a charm!
Thanks for your response, I made slayer exciter with BJT by your last vedio. I want to make this type slayer exciter. How to make that Mosfet driver without DS0026 Ic... Suggest me some, I will search for them.
Ofcouse.. But equalants ic's have more pins than DS0026. I can't understand how to make connections like you. I have AN7512 IC, Pls let me know to which pins I should connect.... Pls help me sir
NARENDRA teegala why are you using an audio amp? You need a buffer. One that can work at frequencies much much higher than just 20KHz. (you need one that works at several MHz)
Breadboard. They are fundamental to all hobby electronics, great for prototyping circuits, but they can be problematic for RF or high power (3A maximum) circuits. Low quality ones especially can be intermittent but often they are good enough. For more permanent projects you want to consider using either a perforation board (simalar to a breadboard but you solder stuff in) or even better, a custom manufactured PCB. Breadboards are not compatible with modern SMT SMD (surface mount) parts, although many modules for sensors and stuff can be purchased which allow easy hobbyist interaction. (to use PCB modules on a breadboard like any other component)
+Surprise Taco I don't see why not. some small modifications may be necessary though. (sorry for not responding sooner, youtube once again proves unreliable for notifications.)
Don't kill yourself with that MASSIVE capacitor. :O Seriously, that thing fully charged has nearly 300 Joules of stored energy. It will make a hell of a bang if you short it! You will want to use a pre-charge circuit to charge it slowly, to avoid shorting your power supply.
I started electronics by twisting wires together and using office supplies (paperclips, scotch tape, and LOTs of AA batteries) to make really basic things like lamps and used legos to make cases for stuff. I then got a 200-in-1 electronics kit with a breadboard in the center and many components (interfaced via spring terminals to stick wires into). These kits start around $80 but you get bags of electronics, a project book or 2. That's what I used to learn everything I know in these videos. Just pay attention to the pinout of the breadboard, understand how they work. Be careful to not shove wires too big or small in diameter into the slots, as it will either damage the slot or not make good contact respectively.
Hamza Lord My construction of the secondary is far from ideal. It should be wider. About 1kTurns is generally good. It's all about the inductance and minimal capacitance/resistance. Overlapping the turns is a big no-no.
As you explore other successful tesla coil designs, I'm sure you will begin to see a correlation between the dimensions of the secondary coil and performance. I'll leave you to the burden of figuring it out, experience is a great teacher.
@@f.a3202 You need a completely different driving circuitry. I have an improved design that uses a resonant half bridge for the primary, with 2 N-channel MOSFETs and a Phase Locked Loop that slowly converges on the resonant frequency of the coil. This is important because I can inject an AC coupled audio signal in the Voltage Controlled Oscillator to frequency modulate the drive frequency. The high Q of the primary and secondary acts as crude slope detection and demodulation. The problem with this approach is that it is not very loud and requires the coil to be slightly detuned for the loudest and least distorted audio.
ElectroBOOMs coil uses a fixed frequency oscillator and a very poor secondary drive circuit. But by modulating the frequency, is also is able to audio modulate the coil.
The reasons are: A) the 555 timer cannot produce a square wave of high enough frequency. (Especially true for the original NE555.) The chip was not intended to operate above 100kHz. Some versions of the 555 timer (the newer CMOS chips) can go higher, but generally 1MHz is hard to achieve, even with nothing connected to the output besides a scope probe. B) The chip is not designed to drive the high gate capacitance of the MOSFET. It will overheat. This is why even flyback drivers typically use a intermediate buffer. In my experience, a heavy load on the output of the 555 will result in strange undefined behavior. (Frequency and duty cycle deviate from what calculations predict due to the loading effects.) C) A standard astable circuit provides no means for feedback, and hence you would need to very carefully tune the output manually. ElectroBOOM has constructed a simalar performance tesla coil using comparators for creating the oscillations necessary. His is manually tuned. The problem with manual tuning is that any change in the topload or the surrounding the secondary is exposed to causes the resonant frequency to shift, detuning the coil and reducing performance.
+Power Max Can DS1307 works Datasheet : www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=Ds1307%20datasheet&gclid=Cj0KEQjw2_23BRDb_qbvzK3X8M8BEiQAg87AF9yiJ6u0MWkzfp6Kgn2RGn8Xe69jWFtmLyyoSKUa00caAg_38P8HAQ
+Harold Victor Short answer, *no*. This is an *entirely different chip!!!* I used a simple *inverted buffer MOSFET driver*, but this is a discrete *real time clock generator* which is programed with I2C digital bus and designed to be interfaced with a microcontroller or microprocessor for accurate timekeeping purposes.
Hi power max i made this sstc and it works great!! but keep blowing mosfet's iv used ifrp250n/irf540n/irfp460's but the best one that i have found is one irfz48n but it will some time's blow as soon as i turn the coil on i have no scope or anything like that was thinking of a way to save the mofets with a diode some how do you know anyway a diode whould help??? please R/B thank you..
+gary adams Well first you will need to pinpoint what the problem is. Having a oscilloscope really becomes worth it's weight in gold with analog circuits like these, as you can literally "see" what is going on around the MOSFET and pinpoint the problem quickly! and if you shop around for second-hand ones, you can get ahold of one for close to nothing, and someone might even be nice enough to _give_ you one! It is not necessary though. There are a few ways to kill MOSFETs: One way would be the most obvious, letting them overheat and thermally fail. (That might be due to the way they are driven or not a large enough heatsink, or too much current through the MOSFET when it is on, or driving it in the linear region, so it acts like a huge resistor) Another way they could fail is with high voltage spikes on the drain, exceeding the MOSFETs rating. (this might be due to not using a resonant tank capacitor to absorb the EMF kickback from the coil, although when the coil is resonant, adding more energy into it causes the voltage oscillations to get larger and larger, and if that power entering it is not escaping via a spark on the output, it can also kill the transistor for the same HV reason.) And the last way I can think of that they can fail is by exceeding the maximum voltage allowable on the gate of the MOSFET. This one is the most sneaky type of failure and is actually relatable to the last type of failure. For the IRFP250N, You need to keep the voltage on the gate (Vgs) clamped to less than ±20V. If you are powering your circuit with less than 20V, than you should not be getting 20V on that gate, and adding some diodes the same way as 1:17 would help to clamp the voltage to within the power supply limits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Judging by the fact that you discovered that the IRFZ48 seems to be the most reliable might hint at an overcurrent situation, and the fact that it occasionally burns out instantly with power also hints that there might be some sort of inrush current problem. The IRFZ48N is rated to handle 50A continuously, while the IRFP250N is only rated for 20A. But the IRFZ48N can only handle voltages up to 50V across the drain and source, while the IRFP250N can handle up to 200V! I would first try to run this at a lower voltage, like 9-12V before using like 50V, to see if that solves your problem.
+Power Max Hey thank's man!!! i will see what happend's when i get more mosfet's!! also could i use dif interupter maybe with audio ???. by the way im getting 4.5" spark's prty cool bud!!!
+gary adams ElectroBOOM has built a similar SSTC thing, but it uses a separate oscillator for driving the coil rather than relying on feedback from the secondary. The disadvantage with that method is that it has to be tuned, and the tuning to get the best performance will depend on how the secondary coil is made, and what surrounds it. However, it is much easier to modulate with audio, check him out!
+saattvik thourwal Why not try to create your own custom circuit, that's what I did, I developed this schematic on my own. The DS0026 is just a inverted buffer with a low output impedance and a medium input impedance. Because MOSFETs have gate capacitance, large current surges are needed to quickly change the voltage on the gate. (as it takes current to charge/discharge the gate. It resists changes in voltage.) The diodes protect the input to the DS0026 and prevent it from exceeding the supply rails. I have not tested it, but you can try to use a pair of NPN and PNP transistors in a emitter follower totem pole configuration to drive the gate. Emitter followers are not inverting, so the polarity of the primary coil will need to be flipped I think. You can do it, I believe in you! :) www.google.com/search?q=emitter+follower+totem+pole&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=766&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicv_qMsaLLAhVC6x4KHaOMCXMQ_AUIBigB
Hey, i have a problem with it, it works to some extend it it sparks and sparks are around 1cm but it seems like interupter doesnt work but it uses 7ma, and ds0026 heats a lot. I dont have that same transistor but i have 2n2222a Is that a problem mabye pleas help.
I need WAY more details than what you provided to help. The DS0026 is far from an ideal choice. I only used it because I had a handful of them. You should use a better part.
Your circuit works which is good. But you want to optimize it right? That takes a _long_ time and an oscilloscope is very valuable for this. What power supply are you using? What MOSFET are you using? Is your MOSFET genuine? How long did you spend varying the number of turns on the primary? Did you try adding a different size top-loads? Any general purpose transistor should fine for powering the DS0026. If your interrupter is not working then you should troubleshoot it. Make sure your wiring is as short as possible. Every mm counts.
@@power-max i am using irfp250n,it is genuine,for power supply im using 40v 150va toroidal transformer with 8a rectifier, for primary i am using 5 turns of wire.I have tried some top-loads but didnt work, and i dont have the osciloscope. Thanks for answering. P.S. what do you think about tc428 instead of ds0026
@@ventilator2227 Yes seems like that chip is fine. Make sure to use diodes to clamp the input voltage to within the rails and do not exceed any of the absolute maximum ratings.
Take a look at the datasheet, it has everything in it you need to know to know if it will work. Compare the specs with the IRFP250, I'll let you decide ;) Important ratings include: Vce or Vds (higher = better) continuous current (higher = better) on/off switching time (lower = better) gate charge (lower = better) As for the transformer, yes, probably. What supply do you have that can supply 60W at 5A?
I think this to be one of the most powerful slayer exciter circuits on youtube.
This is AMAZING, only I already have a repeater/interrupter circuit that uses a 555 timer, so what I was going to do is take your SSTC circuit on its own, and add that to my repeater circuit. Hopefully it works out!! Thanks for such an amazing circuit.
@ 9:27 Where did that third hand come from? I need one of those while building circuits and soldering!!!
Just wanted to say thank you! I made a sstc based on your design, with igbts instead and relay for interrupter instead of a bjt. With 140V input, it makes around 20cm sparks... It's really unfortunate, that even with TVS and snubber capacitor, the igbts tend to blow up for unknown reason at that voltage...
Wow! You can achieve that with this shitty design? You are certainly pushing it much farther than I did lol. First of all, IGBTs, despite their great on-paper specs, suffer from a very slow turn-off response called tail-current. They continue to conduct current after turning them off and this causes lots of power dissipation. Monitor the temps of your IGBT with a thermocouple and see what temps they reach. You can do some basic thermal resistance equations (no more complicated then ohms law) and infer the temp of the junction. With such a high voltage you also need a considerable more number of turns on the primary and perhaps a smaller capacitor.
When the switching element initially turns on, it it short-circuited to 140V because of the tank capacitor. They don't like instantaneous changes in voltage. This is a fundamental flaw with this design. I am moving towards an H bridge design similar to OneTesla and Steve Ward designs, although with the use of MOSFET driver IC's instead of gate drive transformers so the driver can be used for everything from flyback transformers, ignition coils, etc. It is also frequency-modulated via a PLL for audio. Check out my latest video as a teaser for that.
Amazing job, although I'd use high power MOSFETs, since their low on resistance means they aren't as hot.
What is the name of the song you are using? Also you should make more videos there great :D
Keystone Science Thanks! I don't remember the name of the song but it's from incometech
MacLeod latin industries
Kelvin Macleod - latin industries
@@power-max can u make musical Tesla coil
I made this circuit and it worked. I couldnt find the ds0026 so i used tc4426 and it works perfectly. Tho the mosfet driver does heat up a bit.
I’ve been thinking about using the tcc4420 for the driver on the sstc. Another option I’ve been thinking about is using a BJT as a mosfet driver.
Awesome video! Props on breaking down the schematics and actually building it on camera ;-)
I'm definitely gonna give this one a try when I have the time. I built a spark gap-driven coil (my first!) and was somewhat disappointed with the results; not to mention tuning the damn thing was near impossible with the way I built it, but it was more proof of concept anyway.
+Garrison T My first "tesla coil" was powered by a overdriven bug zapper and a capacitor was made by using 2 aluminum pie trays separated about half an inch (10ish cm). It produced extremely faint sparks about 2mm to 5mm long only with a breakout point. I originally thought that changing the spark gap is how it needed to be tuned, so I was using machine screws (erector set pieces) for the gap.
Sir I can use Irfp460p ? This circuit? Sir please reply
That is a very cool build, very nice arcs!
Excellent video.. Thanks mate!
If you want big sparks, design the coil instead of just winding up a "whatever" coil. Tesla based every coil design around a specific target wavelength for each individual coil. The secondary is an antenna, in no uncertain terms, and the length of the wire was based around either 1/4 wavelength (vertical coil with transmitter at base) or 1/2 wavelength (horizontal coil with transmitter in precise center) so that the maximum voltages would be precisely located at the proper positions in space relative to the coil, IE at the very ends of the wires. This is actually not as easy at it sounds since the capacitance of the coil is modified by the collectors and therefore even electrical engineers end up looking stupid while trying to figure it out, ultimately making their own "Tesla coils" which are anything but a Tesla coil. They were not just a simple high-frequency air-core transformer. In effect, a true Tesla coil is a tuned resonant matched transmitter-receiver pair.
People really ought to read Tesla's papers, they really should, especially when trying to make a coil. Your coil should be producing arcs at least the length of the coil, not just a few inches. I have built one with a secondary made of very thin wire (around 38ga) wrapped on a piece of toilet paper cardboard tube that put out arcs that long with only 25w input power.
For a hint on how to make the Tesla coil tuned to a frequency, I stress that the length of the wire determines the target frequency. When that wire is wound into a secondary coil, the induction of said coil is fixed, so you match the proper capacitance (ball or toroid) to make the coil resonate at the proper frequency. The capacitance of the primary circuit is then matched with the inductance of the primary coil to achieve the same frequency. The primary coil should be wound to some 1/4 wave fraction. The total voltage is actually a ratio between the input voltage of the primary in conjunction with its fractional wavelength relative to the target wavelength.
"They were not just a simple high-frequency air-core transformer." They are air-core _resonant_ transformers, you are absolutely right, my particular circuit design actually relies on parasitic capacitive coupling between the secondary and ground. This is why the resonant frequency changes depending on the surrounding and how much it's loaded. (which also affects the Q factor of the coil due to resistive elements and losses) This is clearly observed in my last slayer exciter video where I display the waveform seen on the base of the NPN transistor in real time with changes in external loading.
My understanding is that the secondary coil must have low parasitic capacitance (for high frequency operation), good dielectric strength (to withstand enormous voltages), and reasonable coupling between the primary and secondary, esp. for SSTC designs, due to the limited magnetic flux strength. This almost exclusively limit's the design to this classic single layer cylindrical coil design. Especially if you are looking for strong RF field emissions.
If you follow the moving charges that are observed in the secondary coil, you can use the right hand rule and vector fields to trace out how this thing would radiate electromagnetic waves. I believe the output will be circularly polarized, but I am not an RF expert.
Something I would try is decouple the secondary from the driver circuit and then wind a two or three turn loop close to the ground section of the coil for a feedback loop. You just want enough voltage to set the resonance and keep everything in tune. You ought to figure the total length of wire used to get an idea of the wavelength involved. If you resonate a very long wire with a shorter wavelength (higher frequency) drive unit it will still produce sparks, but you will get high voltage nodes at the spots on the coil where that frequency hits 1st and 3rd quarter resonances. Basically, your coil gets high voltage "hot spots" that will produce corona or arcs from specific spots on the body of the secondary coil itself, instead of at the top where you desire it. If the primary is driving at too low a frequency, then it royally shortens your spark length since the two circuits would essentially be out of phase, even if they are both resonating. You want as close to Q as you can get between the two, while at the proper design frequency.
I just realized that I didn't specify something necessary to clear up the confusion someone reading this might need. I have read Tesla's works and one thing became quickly evident. He did not use the standard lingo, but like many we see today he often used the words of electronics, but gave them his own modified definitions. That is why he was so misunderstood by many scientists of the time, and for good reason. If you want to see what he was after, draw out a sine wave and then mark out the quarters. Now, look at where the voltages fall on those quater-wave sections. The wave starts at0V, proceeds to Max +V, drops back down to 0V in the center, to Max -V, and finally back to zero voltage. He used the length of the secondary as either a single wire quarter-wave antenna for his vertical coils or as a half-wave dipole for his horizontal coils. He built coils like he was designing a radio or T.V. antenna, not simply as a resonating circuit. It was brilliant, but confusing if you tried to put everyone else's definitions on the words he used. He used the term "resonance" the way Einstein used the term "equivalence." He did this so as to create standing wave signal amplification within the secondary circuit, meaning he could get much higher amplitudes out of the available signal than would have been available otherwise.
I just spent 3 hours calculating my coil's approximate resonance frequency because I don’t have an oscilloscope and then realized... does this circuit really need to have tuned primary with secondary when it autotunes the frequency?
Edit: i made a mistake. Now I understand that you were only talking about the secondary, not primary.
Hello again, can i use the musical flyback driver to drive this tesla coil with audio?
Not this one. My PLL tesla coil (latest video) is capable of it but it is still unreliable, and it is more complex.
@@power-max ok, so with that driver i ca only use flyback transformers?
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 A tesla coil is a form of an LLC resonant converter. You can learn about them here.
ruclips.net/video/tCEqm-RoP20/видео.html
The flyback driver (the typical one w/o the resonant capacitor I added on my video of it) operates VERY differently. The flyback transformer is not a transformer but a coupled inductor, and it works like a boost converter, but the energy stored in the core is discharged into the secondary. Learn about flyback topology here:
ruclips.net/video/OXibsOzjipw/видео.html
So can you run an air core resonate transformer like a flyback? Well maybe, but it will not work well, if at all. The slayer exciter sortof does. the coupling between primary and secondary isn't good (0.3 to 0.5 typically) which limits energy transfer and the remaining energy will be dissipated via avalanche breakdown in your MOSFET. Also the output is not rectified and can conduct both cycles, and it is resonant which is just wrong, although I don't know what the effects of that would be besides the high Q of the secondary filtering out all but the fundamental.
@@power-max Thanks man
One question, isnt the max voltage input for the lm7812 35v?
+deven bo yes. (4:40)
Hi , made it and it works really well, even added an amplifier on pin 5 of 555 timer which amped up the output even more , was wondering how to interrupt it in a way that it will play digitally modulated music ? Do let me know if you have any tips for that or updated schematics.
u need more subs
you really do
This is a nice powerful setup and works out great with the interrupter. I just started playing with these types of drivers particularly Steve Wards early circuits and they are really fun. This one would probably work well audio modulated at the 555 if the frequency and duty is just right. If not that at the power rail with a beefy mosfet.
I am actually experimenting with FM modulation to do audio. Check out my latest video using a PLL! I upgrade from this single-ended driver circuit to something more akin to Steve Ward's design (but instead chose to use a MOSFET driver IC.)
The trouble I see with a PWM based interrupter for audio modulation is that the frequency of the coil is just too close to the required interrupting frequency for clear audio. I haven't tried it, but to get clear audio you need to set the interrupter frequency to around 40kHz, and the coil resonates at 100kHz. I don't think you can get clear audio this way. Hence I switched to a PLL to allow an audio signal to modulate the frequency of the coil instead. The secondary demodulates it by slope detection.
A PWM or 555 flyback driver works because each cycle you charge up the primary with a current and then when the MOSFET opens the field collapses, and how much depends on how long the MOSFET was conducting so the energy dumped into the secondary is proportional to the duty cycle.
@@power-max It actually works better than I would have thought and how I've usually done it is switching the entire circuit at the power rail. The first plasma speaker setup
I made was just an injected audio signal into the gate of the mosfet switching the flyback and by using an lm386 to boost the signal I was able to get some really high fidelity highs and decent lows but I remember thinking there was no way a Slayer would be viable volume-wise. Turns out with the right setup it can get pretty loud. I tried it on a Slayer I knew had decent output from around 40 watts using a TL494 to drive the PWM. I recently tried it on a smaller tower running at 2.5mhz also and it worked about the same. Same thing with a different push-pull tower I have. It seems like so long as I set the PWM frequency to above the audible I can then adjust the duty cycle to somewhere around 40% or so and get clear audio. The higher frequencies sound great.
I saw the PLL setup and it pulls some awesome arcs. Those are the kind of beefy yellow arcs I see the most impressive sounding setups using but whenever I try to modulate arcs that beefy the sound just sort of sounds drowned out. The thinner the arcs the louder they seem at times but don't carry enough lower frequencies. I still haven't figured out how some of these other guys are getting what sounds like very clear full-range audio but I can at least seem to get any Slayer to become musical by just powering them with the PWM. I can't say one running at around 100khz would work about the same but a lot of people seem to think that kind of setup only works with midi and basic tones but it can play most music fine.
@@Magneticitist I might give PWM a shot. I like my PLL circuit and may eventually sell it as a kit. It works by converging on the resonant frequency of the tesla coil (the circuit does have to be tuned to be roughly correct but once close enough it locks on) and by injecting a AC coupled signal into the VCO pin via a small blocking capacitor I can "tug" the voltage up and down around the operating point and modulate the frequency. The circuit works best slightly detuned because of how slope detection works on the secondary.
@@power-max Voltage control may be the better way to go about it and it seems like you can actually get audio from the really hot arcs that way which I cannot using the PWM. Only real advantage to the PWM is that you can just make a universal driver with the audio jack and have it play audio through various things that may already emit good arcs.
@@Magneticitist That would be Amplitude Modulation, AM. The problem with AM is that it's very inefficient. I did this to audio-modulate a ZVS flyback driver. The only way I know how to do this easily is to use a transistor as a emitter follower / source follower and biased at the mid-point, VCC/2. You immediately lose half your voltage and 50% of your power is dissipated in this transistor. Once the transistor is biased such you feed in an AC-coupled audio signal that has been amplified to be about 1/3 VCC in peak amplitude (to avoid reaching cutoff and saturation) This is, in essence. a high power class A amplifier. It will work but less than half of the power goes into the Tesla coil. I simply don't have a power supply big enough to get good results, and It requires a separate large CPU heatsink for that sort of power dissipation.
Interesting that the primary current goes DOWN when you load the secondary.
Actually it makes a lot of sense. You are probably familiar with traditional constant voltage supplies, and the less resistance he more current something pulls. You can think of the output here as more like constant current. When a short arc is drawn the voltage is low and power is low. But with more and more resistance (less "load" in the traditional sense) the more power is needed.
@@power-max The power doesn't necessarily go down. The power factor changes as you load the coil. The real power might even increase (depending on arc lenght), and more power is transferred to secondary and less burned off in primary
@@imeprezime1285 I probably should have described the power transfer into the secondary and arc in terms of Q factor, unloaded (in the case of open circuit no breakout and short circuit the Q factor of the primary is very high, limited by the copper and MOSFET losses. With an established arc the Q factor goes way down because energy is being dumped into it. Ideally the Tesla coil always operates at resonance so the capacitive and inductive reactance cancel out, power factor isn't a great metric since we are dealing with a variable frequency system unlike 60Hz mains electricity where frequency is a fixed constant.
PS: You didn't say about the number of turns in the secondary coil😭😭. Please tell me the number of turns in the secondary coil and the size of the wire used in secondary coil.
Just added a FAQ in description.
Instead of using his turns, use JavaTC. It will output a turn amount that will make the primary resonant with the secondary.
Also youll want to find out how many turns is in your secondary.
I subbed too, thats just too awesome
I've just watched yours...
Hey! I'm trying to build this circuit, and I need to know, what's a proper voltage rating for the primary cap? I don't want to assume any values.
And what specs should I keep in mind if I need to pick a different mosfet driver?
Thanks!
I think mine was rated a few hundred volts, I didn't put alot of effort into choosing one. I would recommend using a capacitor rated for resonant operation, such as a mica capacitor, or a class 1 ceramic capacitor.
As for the MOSFET driver, just about anything can work, but I'd recommend any low side gate driver IC that has below 30ns propagation delay and can supply 4A source and sink into the MOSFET gate. Keep the connections between the MOSFET and gate driver as short as possible, minimize the loop area between the gate driver output, gate, source, and return path of the gate driver IC. Also keep the bypass capacitor across the gate driver IC as close to the power pins again minimizing loop area.
@@power-max Amazing, thanks for the help! What wattage should I rate the resistor on the power side? How much does the resistance affect the stability?
Oh, and does the 555 timer interrupt freq matter? I'm asking because I want to make my coil quiet, and don't want it bothering my dog either. If there's a limit, I'm fine with running it at lower frequencies.
Finally and most importantly, how do I best protect the MOSFET? I'm planning on using a FET with a low on resistance and therefore much less heat. But I don't want it to die, since it's over twice the cost of an IRFP260N.
Thanks again, you're a massive help.
@@power-max Could I use a 1/4 watt resistor, or will I need something more powerful?
We use The same Top load 😶
Hey just finished experimenting and finetuning this thing and wow, great results. The capacitor between the primary is crucial this will double output. Thanks, this is my first tesla and already making 8 cm sparks flying everywhere. And this circuit is not fiddly at all, it works well and has already withstand 120 volts dc i'm afraid to go further because i'm not sure if the signal diodes to clamp the feedback will be strong enough for more power. What do you think should i change for bigger diodes or will they be fine for 200 volt?. so far the coils i tested and circuit worked well at 120 volts
i just embedded a ne555 into my ceiling...
+Kalanchoe1 Good job!
+Power Max I wrote that comment an hour before i blew up the second one. no joke!
Lol! :D excellent! A+ Yup I blew quite a few 555s too, that's why I order them in buckets.
+Power Max Ebay... 100X ne555s for $3 free shipping! crazy! Anyways, i have yet to figure out why they go nuclear on me. I figure it must be some high voltage transient on the power rails. my circuit varies from your's as i do not have a FET driver so I've been using a BPJ transistor as the driver. that part works great but when i put the 555 in the equation it goes bang.
+Kalanchoe1 Nuclear 555 timers, ummm :) Maybe that would be useful! If you are getting them from ebay that could be some of the problem. Ebay electronic component sellers are notorious for producing crappy knockoff counterfeit of parts. Often they will take low end transistors (like IRFP250N) and scrub the part number off and print a "better" part number (like IRFP460N) and sell it at a slight markup but still much less than a real part.
Question: in the video from my perspective it looks like before you added the interruptor circuit, the sparks seemed very flair like and kind of small until you pulled them. When you added the interruptor circuit the sparks seemed to be longer?
this has to be the tiniest vttc that I have ever seen! bravo =)
+Tesla Explorer Thanks!
It isn't a vttc
it is to
Tesla Explorer a VTTC is a Vacuum Tube Tesla Coil, which this is not. I do have a couple of tubes, but only low current low power radio tibes which are not suitable for high power stuff.
HI. I always learn something new in your tutorials. I don't understand what R1 is for between the input and output of the mosfet drive. Thank you
1:08 Can C1 be used to increase the Tesla Coil output voltage in simpler SSTC circuits?
C1 needs to be tuned to be close to the resonant frequency of the secondary side.
Ummm hi, i have this question, instead of the gate driver, i saw a circuit using a Push and pull circuit as a gate driver, the output of the 555 goes to the bese of the NPN and PNP transistors, and the output is in the emitter of NPN ad collector of PNP, can i use it instead of a gate driver?
I did when I burned up all my DS0026 ICs! Good find. (I assume you mean BJTs set up as pull pull emitter follower.)
@@power-max yes those gate drivers, NPN AND PNP, like the one diodegonewild has on its circuit,
@@power-max Im planning to make it with TIP41C and TIP42C, but how can i use a feedback to the push and pull circuit?
@@power-max well thats what my circuit design has, it has the output of the 555 driving the BJT push and pull gate driver, then the MOSFET'S gate
@@power-max im planning to make it on the breadboard first, then i will solder it to a perf board, but im thinking to use a tcrew terminal block so if the MOSFET blows up i can screw it out, but i have one last question, why on most circuits they use a capacitor between Source and drain in parallel?
i can't get this circuit to work... got any general tips when attempting this circuit?
My power supply is 19V @ 200mA. Is that enough?
that is no where NEAR enough. you need 5A absolute minimum
50V 6A+ to get my results.
im worried my IRF640 will blow up. Oh and i'm powering the DS0026 with 10 volts from a zener, with 200 ohm 10 watt resistor
+chems IRF640 is not good enough :(
you mean for power or its just not a good transistor?
Well now I've seen everything - twisted wires and breadboard and after a few blown up components, some kludging it with the 12V supply and a bit of trouble shooting, you have the most jerry rigged "that can't possibly work" working tesla coil. Very good :)
You should see my "it keeps blowing up" Tesla coil! it is even more cursed
9:26, I always knew he had a third hand hiding under his pants
haha that could.... come in handy 😏
Hey max, i hope you still read comments on this video. I built your circuit almost exactly like you did in the video (except for a linear voltage regulator for the driver/timer) but when i turn on the coil it works for 10 seconds and then my ceramic caps blow up. Also the sparks are only 0.5-1cm long. I did use other ceramics caps which are a bit smaller and have another capacitance. Is this why my coil doesnt work? Also are the fumes from a blown up ceramic capacitor toxic? They smell very nasty. Thanks for reading,
Gustav
gustav games Pay attention to the ratings of your MLCC (MultiLayer Ceramic Capacitors.) I think you may be exceeding the voltage rating. If they are getting hot before hand, then the dissipation factor or ESR is not good enough. Where are you using the capacitors? Power supply filtering / chip decoupling?
Power Max i dont know the voltage rating of the caps, they only have the capacitance written on them, im talking about c1 in your schematic. I ordered 20pcs 1nF 2kv capacitors so i can put 3 of them in series. I also tried a 22pF cap (again at c1) it didnt blow up but the arcs are still tiny (probably because its a way too small capacitance) so i have to retry in a couple of weeks when my new caps arive.
gustav games Yeah that capacitor is critical. Both voltage and the value is critical. I think you are exceeding it's voltage rating by like ten fold. Assume Vsupply×10. Try to determine the frequency your secondary coil and topload oscillates at. Choose a capacitor value that when paired with your primary coil, it oscillates at the same frequency.
You can't go wrong with a big film capacitor (like the ones found in power supplies for the mains filtering).
Ceramics are a bit more tricky. There are many types of ceramic capacitors, with different dielectrics, voltage ratings, etc. You want the older class 1 capacitors, which are designed for resonant circuits. I think you are using class 2 ones, like X5V which have strange properties that make then not ideal for this. Including lower voltage rating and the capacitance changes temperature and DC offset voltage.
Power Max i dont have a oscilloscope to measure the res. Freq. Also i dont know the inductance of my coil so i cant calculate it either. If i choose a cap with an high frequency, a high voltage rating and the right capacitance then would that be able to work? Im looking at these ones at the moment s.aliexpress.com/BbuMnInQ?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard ( i pasted a link here but i dont know if youtube allows other people to see it)
thanks a lot for helping me, i really appriciate all the help you give to people in the comments.
Yes you can. You know the dimensions. You know the number of turns. Your smart enough to google the equations for the inductance formula of a cylinder, or cheat by using one of the many online calculators. I believe in you! ;)
*You need a scope to build this.* You will be hard pressed to get good performance without one. You can use it to determine the resonant frequency of the coil, and diagnose problems. Without one you are left guessing what the problems are, will fry FETs left and right, etc. Get a cheap analog scope, you can find second hand ones cheap.
Hi Power Max i read in the instructables of your Tesla Coil that C1 is not important
is this a question or a statement?
C1 at 0:52 helps reduce voltage spikes and acts as a resonant circuit. When selected carefully I found it improves overall performance and more power goes into the secondary.
@@power-max yeah i know that part but on a foto that someone made the tesla coil on instructables said that c1 is not important
Hey, can you answer two probably stupid questions?
Why do you use a mosfet gate driver, is it just to amplify the signal?
And why dont you use a function generator instead of the 555 timer circuit?
If only I had a function generator 😞 Even if I did have a nice one I'd be afraid of frying it.
Yes, a MOSFET gate driver is in essence a current amplifier. It takes a dmall negligable drive current from a logic level signal and delivers a sizable current to the MOSFET gate. If you understand capacitance then you will understand why it is nessesary. Think about capacitive reactance (measured in ohms), with a square wave signal consisting of maybe 10 harmonics. Or the desired rise/fall time and voltage level and the dv/dt if you prefer time domain analysis (which is conceptually simpler for this example)
But also I am using feedback from the secondary to drive the gate, I created an oscillator, positive feedback at the resonant frequency of the secondary. You can google how crystal oscillator circuits work, same principle, just with a tesla coil transformer instead of a ceramic resonator or quartz crystal.
@@power-max So you think the 555 timer can generate a bigger frequency than a function generator without frying? Yeah I know probably you fried some 😅 Oh and don't you think you would get better performance with the circuit in a perfboard instead of the breadboard?
@@felipesantana2126 It depends on how nice of a function generator you get. A good on should have a high bandwidth, be capable of arbitrary waveform, etc. It will have a well-characterized output impedance of 50 ohms via a BNC connector just like a scope, which can travel down a 50 ohm characteristic impedance coaxial transmission line to your Device Under Test (DUT). Done right the high speed edges should be preserved by impedance matching of the output of the generator, the coaxial cable, and the input impedance of your DUT. A crappy one will be little more than an analog oscillator (like a 555) with maybe some different waveform outputs, a buffer amplifier, and a 50 ohm series resistor to a BNC, bandwidth depending on components used and design. A 555 is limited to under 1MHz, and most breadboard designs are limited to this as well just due to parasitics (see below)
Yes, you will absolutely get better performance from a soldered up perfboard or even better, a custom PCB, like this one. github.com/power-max/universal-half-bridge
A breadboard has a lot of parasitic capacitance between adjacent nodes, the steel contacts have relatively high resistance on the order of dozens of milliohms which limits current capability (I've melted many breadboards) and not to mention how flaky the connections in especially the cheap chinese clones. Also wires on a breadboard and lack of a ground plane can increase series inductance which can limit di/dt capability and cause damaging voltage transients.
@@power-max but shouldn't I do the circuit in breadboard anyways, because of the components that might explode? It's easier to replace components in a breadboard
@@felipesantana2126 That is up to you. Sometimes that is simply not an option. However this is not a circuit where such shortcomings matter quite so much. Mostly an issue for very high power designs with many (10+) amps and/or high frequencies.
In the world of electronics 1MHz is child's play. Intel CPUs have clock speeds in the many GHz range, and those are (supposed to be) square wave signals with a number of additional harmonics. With the recent advancement of III-V semiconductors, Sub THz millimeter wave communication is even starting to become power efficient and economical, and for that literally millimeters of conductors matter, along with permittivity and permeability of the substrate material. At those frequencies the skin effect means electricity travels along the surface of a conductor rather than through it (due to general relativity) and the EM waves around a conductor is what carries the energy rather than the wire itself. Hence waveguides become more efficient than wire based transmission lines. most day to day capacitors would look like inductors just because of the length of the leads and the pacakage.
TL-DR The world of RF and microwave is black magic.
Hi, can I use tc4420 mosfet driver instead of the ds0026 mosfet driver since I cannot find it in my country and international shipping costs 125$.
Please reply.
I have bought some tc4420.
Circuit Ideas Labs i tried it because it was the only one i had laying around and it kinda worked. Which you probably already found out because it was 5 month ago.
@@mareksvrcina5279 i tried it too and it worked alright. It heated up and melted my breadboard with no interupter and primary resonant capacitor.
@@juntendo6104 could you give me the schematic.
The way the circuit is working right at the end of the video; Is that the final circuit diagram showing in your video for it?
Yes
Ok, cool. Thanks for the quick reply.
Hey Power Max, You have a great video here as well as many others. I am not a Tesla Master however I can see by the setup and arc profile (the profile is its little signature song in the aether) it seems your over shoot minimization device merely allows the caps to charge enough to maintain a decent penetration each discharge, BUT when it is not there it goes into full "self resonance mode" and then actually penetrates the aether about the same (after arcing (due to conductivity of the elevated state of plasma) ), So either way your coil seems to have some decent INHERENT (by your design (2 months you say)) resonance. SOOOOooo..... have you attempted different topload surface area's etc? then the profile will reveal its true wave characteristic. Enough BS critique, just a few suggestions you have prolly already tried. My giant beast is different tesla deal al together but it does teach one about the wave front importance over the concept of "frequency" all the time. I look at it like this: the sharper the spear or samuri (spike) the more versatility you have with the ability to utilize the tesla coil more effectively later after everyone see';s how these "BELLS" really work. EXCELLENT VIDS MAN. don't stop.
PS I am the Coral Castle guy who got sucked in to tesla, ED leedskalnin, steinmetz, maxwell, faraday, schumann, dollard, and more. later
Scott R
+Made by one man Not sure exactly what you mean by the "arc profile", "overshoot minimization device" or penetration. the resonant tank capacitor needs to be selected so that the LC resonant frequency matches that of the LC resonant frequency of the secondary, just like a normal tesla coil. I can't wait to take some university courses on closed loop control systems (involving positive and negative feedback) as a solid understanding of that would make it possible to understand how and why the circuit oscillates.
Power Max I agree. As far as that goes "arc profile" simply means that one can tell some of the characteristics of the power supply and the method of delivery. basically the consiseness of the over all system reflects itself in the breakout. like a little harmonic visual aetheral reflector manifesting some info. Enough spacey stuff.HOWEVER these "profiles" occur due to the WORLD's lack of true understanding of thew resonanca according to "Steinmetzian radiant theory" It appears that pressure (voltage, conductivity, surface area) at least constitute a set of parameters for say the primary, and pretty much the same for the secondary. as for all the "capacitive reactance" tesla was experimenting with the straight forward one shot slinging effect also not just "coil" interaction." Many factors involved of course. but after awhile it starts to sink in that its not so much about complicated circuitry but almost more like complicated acoustics due to the ratios occurring during overlapping resonance situations. blah blah again. and the forward circuit was the "overshoot mninimization device" sorry if that sounded silly. yes the resonance matches due to the timing of the 555 vs "fullspeed" (I am guessing) Nice IDEA by the way. again hopefully you are working on something else to upload. You have good videos.
@@power-max This guy is talking about "penetrating the aether" and such. He's one of those people that thinks tesla coils create free energy by tapping into some other universe.
Congratulations for the project! Would you recommend it to those who have a stabilized 30v 10a model k3010d power supply?
Manuel Procchieschi Thanks. Are you asking if it can be powered by your power supply? Sure. But you will not get the performance I got with a bunch if smaller power supplies in series for an equivelent supply of 55V.
Awesome project! Do you suppose that the MC33151 MOSFET driver would work in place of the DS0026?
Idk about the MC33151 but i used tc4426 and it worked fine. Tc426 should also work.
I like how simple it is. I might really be able to make this quick
Will the half bridge/full bridge version of this Tesla coil video ever come out?
NEVER! muauahaha but really it is just a rehash of the classic steve ward design. Only difference is Im using a IRS2186 driver IC. And a CD4046 PLL for FM modulation
I am using a resonant series capacitor and not just DC bias caps. But the coupling still needs to be good, or else the reactive energy builds up until damaging currents are flowing (I measured over 140A at times)
@@power-max Also is it possible to replace the 555timer with a square wave musical signal?
@@jasonsaj.3 The 555 in my circuit serves as an interrupter just like in the DRSSTC designs you see floating around on the web, so yes.
So this is a DRSSTC by the capacitors on the primary coil?, can i use the plasma speaker circuit you made for the coil to play music?
Yes. The DR stands for "Dual Resonant". The primary is a resonant circuit tuned close to the resonant frequency of the secondary, by definition. In fact, this is the most correct type of tesla coil in my opinion, as it is a solid-state version of a bog standard SGTC. It is possible to audio-modulate a continuous-wave tesla coil, however have been having trouble with the PLL circuit. It likes to fry my half bridge transistors frequently. Burned through all 40 of my transistors now so I am out of the race until new ones arrive.
My theory is that the audio modulated PLL driver (which uses antenna feedback to lock on to the resonant frequency of the secondary), has a pretty uncontrolled phase delay at the 280 to 300kHz, as the closed-loop phase depends on a variety of components in the control loop, including the interaction between primary and secondary. This complicates analysis a lot.
My H-bridge PCB is optimized for the current slightly lagging the drive voltage waveform (i.e, drive the primary a slightly above resonance such that the primary appears predominately inductive) In this mode, ZVS soft switching is achieved during turn-on, and diodes used to discharge the gate for a snappy turn-off, minimizing switching losses. Because as either the top or bottom MOSFET turns off, there is still current flowing in or out of the primary, and given inductor action the voltage suddenly shoots to the other supply and is clamped by the body diode of the other transistor, which, when turned on, has almost no voltage across it!
The MOSFET driver has a 12 ohm series resistor to limit the turn-on time but since the transistors are switched off during maximum current and the voltage also happens to rise to the other supply rail, a diode is placed to turn the transistor off as fast as possible to limit turn-off switching losses. This also prevents issues with di/dt and dv/dt when the MOSFET is turning on due to miller effect and the parasitic BJT found in all MOSFETs, which can cause the wrong FET to suddenly turn ON briefly and cause a shoot-through condition (both FETs are on)
When I set the primary to appear predominately capacitive by driving a lower frequency than the resonant frequency then turn-on losses are increased and turn-off losses are decreased and it operates in ZCS region instead of ZVS region.
For the moment I am just messing with the standard jellybean DRSSTC type circuit with a LM339 comparator for feedback from a current transformer that drives a 74LS86 quad XOR gate that I use to implement controllable dead-time so both FETs are not accidentally turned on simultaneously. For audio modulation, I have found that modulating the frequency of operation only really works when the coil is purposely de-tuned, due to how slope demodulation works.
What did you turn the secondary coil around? a pvc tube? does it matter what thikness?
Bourhan Dernayka yes. The thickness matters mostly for structural support. PVC comes mostly in quarter inch thickness. The diameter is given by the inside measurement. If you are really serious about making coils (like the ones used professionally for shows) the dielectric properties of PVC are not ideal and acrylic is commonly used instead I think.
Power Max the thing is that i already built a PVC core coil and I’m stuck with it not producing a magnetic field, so I’m searching for a way to make use of that 22 cm length and 4cm diameter coil for my college project.
Bourhan Dernayka oh I see. You ask about the things you were not sure about _after_ making the mistake 😉. The dimensions are ok, although not ideal. Neither are the dimensions on the coil in this video. I should have made it on 3 inch PVC and about 10 inches to a foot tall.
Bourhan Dernayka choose a topload such that the resonant frequency is somewhere between 100KHz and 500KHz. Tutorials online about how to do that. It's easy if you have a scope. *Pro tip: oscilloscope is mandatory if you want to make this thing work in a reasonable timeframe.. Just FYI.*
Hello, will one single irfp460 and the feedback system of this SSTC be able to withstand a half bridge rectifier directly from 220V ac mains?
No idea.
Can you signal the mosfet directly from the 555 timer?
You should be able to. They have pretty beefy output
Hi, thanks for awesome tutorial.. Why u used astable multivibrator circuit..??
+kunal singh You're welcome! I did it because I needed to lower the power consumption, and decrease the load on my power supply. Doing that also allowed longer sparks because the voltage rose from about 35V to 50V. (yes, that is how underpowered my power supply was!)
+Power Max Ok..:) thats a neat trick!
What mounting hardware did you use for your mosfets to put them on the heat sink?
Incorrect hardware. Use proper hardware to avoid the problems I had. The datasheet will specify the dimensions and tolerance of the hole on the tab, and the heatsink should have an appropriate hole, which may or may not be threaded. Use the correct screw that will allow you to tighten the screw down. Other heatsinks use a retention clip. *Also most importantly, be sure to use a dab of thermal paste between the heatsink and MOSFET!*
Thanks. And one more question: Don't I need some thermal spacers or whatever they're called between the MOSFETs and heatsink to go with the thermal paste, or is just the thermal paste to the MOSFETs and heatsink good enough?
Jared Evans As long as you can keep the metal tab in good contact with the heatsink so heat can dissipate effectively, that's all that matters. If you were concerned about electrical isolation, since the drain is connected to the tab, then you would use a sil pad and nylon nut and washer or a retention clip that does not contact the tab but the plastic part of the package
Hey, what is the slayer used for? I mean once you make it what kinds of benefits does it have?
It's a fun novelty.
Im nervous because i made a coil with 3000 turns and i used a slayer exciter circuit to check its resonance and its above 1 Mhz, im afraid that the NE555 timer can't oscilae at that frecuency
The 555 is a poor choice for a TC primary oscillator
@@power-max i mean that the NE555 is the oscilator and it drives a Gate Driver and then that drives the MOSFETS at resonance frecuency
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 that is a bad design. Either build a much bigger TC or use a chip better suited for the task. My design incorporates positive feedback network so it oscillates at the resonant frequency. Refer to the other DRSSTC schematics as a guide.
The design I'm working on uses a CD4046 PLL. I also had some success using TL494 set to 50kHz, but this was driving a flyback transformer core rewound secondary for a resonant LLC converter, 340V open circuit and 115V under 100W resistive load
@@power-max oh ok im going to make a feedback loop from the secondary
@@Headbutter-Lettuce90 Alternatively you can wind a current transformer like the OneTesla DRSSTC design and feed that into a biased up comparator. But yes an antanna feedback or feedback from the bottom of the secondary works well too.
I know someone was asking a about musical interruption, wouldnt you be able to have a cheap mp3 player on pin 6 of the gate driver chip without the 555 at all and just have the mp3 player playing midi conversion as a crude way of a musical interruption, or just not possible at all?
Pin 6 is I believe one of the outputs Forcing any other signal onto that pin would blow up the DS0026 and bypass it (assuming you used that output for the MOSFET gate drive) And no, because the circuit relies on feedback to oscillate at the natural frequency of the coil, which is in the high KHz to low MHz region. That is why the 555 is used to modulate the power to this chip at a much slower rate, it effectively turns the tesla coil on and off very fast. The 555 *CAN* be replaced with a any binary signal, (not an analog voltage signal as would be the case with any normal audio source) That I think does include a MIDI generator that only outputs a single voice square wave output. You will the the sound quality of early IBM computers without soundcards.
Hi me again i have a some things to ask you
1. at 230v DC how many amps (mA) do i need for the interrupted version?
2. instead of DS0026 does the 2n4401 and 2n4403 with two 1 mohm at the transistors bases?
Keep up the good work! 😀
2. totem pole configuration of course.
+henning hund At 230Vac full bridge rectified!? that's 320Vdc, which will instantly explode the MOSFETs and let the smoke out on all the electronics, burn the house down, cause a global power outage when every transformer substation explodes and uhhh, lots of other BAD things.... :(
+Power Max well i wanted to use 48v dc but i dont know where to get such a voltage without using 4 12volt transformers in series
because that is expensive for me. Any idea where to get a 48 volt transformer?
And does those transistors work in totem pole configuration with each a 1 mohm at the base?
i was thinking to use a optic fiber cable and use a microcontroller to get monophonic audio out of it?
please answer.
I acquired a buttload of different power supplies from some old ham radio guy that was cleaning out shop. I think it was like $15 for 6 large power supplies. One was a lambda 28V 10A linear supply, another was a 6V 10A model, and one was a really lightweight junky feeling switch mode power supply which was switchable between 24V 4A and 48V 2A. This seems to be the best one although it is not the most powerful. You just need to get lucky. Keep an eye out on craigslist and see what pops up. You may also find a nice dual trace osciloscope! Very useful and a necessity to debug and troubleshoot these analog circuits.
+Power Max ok thanks but does the 2n4401 and 2n4403 work instead of ds0026
Hello,Powermax
Today i built the circuit with a bd244 and a bd243(if i know right)as the mosfet driver.I connected a computer psu and a transformer in series to get around 40v dc.When i connected the resonant capacitor i got a very big current drawn.Without this capacitor the circuit is working,but i get a very small current drawn.I tried a couple of high voltage low Rds mosfets but the result was not even better than a simple slayer exciter.
Is the problem with the resonant capacitor?
I was using a 2kv 0.13uF mkp cap.
Your capacitor is FAR too high in value. I used 4 to 5 1000pF capacitors in series to get 200--250pF. It acts like a short because at the resonant frequency that we want to achieve (1MHz let's suppose), then the "capacitor" you have chosen has a reactance of *just a couple ohms*.
Power Max Thanks for the answer!I will try it,but the resonant capacitor makes more powerful output and higher current drawn?As i said without the cap i get about 1 cm arcs and only around 10mA up to 30-40mA input current.
You just need to spend time to fine tune your circuit. You can try to calculate the resonant frequency of the secondary coil (the inductance of it and parasitic capacitance of the topload and objects surrounding it) and knowing the frequency and inductance of the primary, calculate the theoretically ideal capacitor value for the primary. But due to non-ideal conditions and unpredictable loading conditions, it's not particularly accurate way of determining the best capacitor.
Is a mosfet driver IC better than the two transistor in the driver configuration?Is it worth to buy a driver?
By the way i could not build the circuit to test if it's working,because no one mosfet could survive my flyback driver. :D
Yes the driver is a better option, there are many. the ds0026 has 2 amp output, but there are newer and better ones with higher output, that are also cheaper and have an enable function for the interrupter (so no need for transistor between interrupter and driver chip) . It's around 3euros for the 9 amp rated ones, the 2 amp rated ones i found for 1,5 euros. Texas instruments has many options. And this circuit should not be tested with a flyback i suppose.
since you are using a inverted buffer does the secondary provide positive feedback votage?
It isn't so straight forward. The phase of the (any) closed loop system is frequency-dependant. The idea is to have positive feedback at the resonant frequency for oscillation to occur. You can look into the stability criteria for LTI systems (like phase and gain margin) for more info on the topic.
@@power-max I know that the Slayer exciter works due to a negative feedback to the base of a transistor, however since you are using an inverted buffer, are u looking for a positive feedback for the inverted gate driver?
If this is true then the circuit should work only when the primary is wound in the same direction of the secondary right?
@@bhu1334 Even the basic slayer excited is more complicated then that. With negative (180°) feedback at all frequencies no oscillation will occur. You need positive (360°) feedback in the frequency of interest all cases. I think I mis-spoke in the slayer exciter tutorial. These circuits are all really basic examples of LC harmonic oscillators. Learn more about them here.
www.electronics-tutorials.ws/oscillator/oscillators.html
I have everything (or almost) mounted in the protoboard for testing only, (short pulses) but I'm running the circuit from 5 9v batteries in series, because I don't have a psu at the moment. the sparks only happen when I put the wire of the top close to the middle of the coil, I see some corona in the portion of wire that is touching the center of the coil. is the circuit working right?
PS: as my electronic components store didn't have the ds0026, I had to buy the equivalent icl7667
+DanielTseng100 9V batteries cannot supply enough current for the task (too much internal resistance), and also it helps to have the circuit electrically grounded at some point for breakout.
I dare you to measure the voltage of the batteries before they are connected to the circuit, and while they are connected to the circuit... What do you notice? I think you will see that the voltage falls drastically!!!
Seeing corona is a good thing, as it means the circuit is oscillating! However, you will want to eliminate it before it melts, carbonizes and completly destroys the dielectric materials. (plastic insulation on the wires, PVC pipe, enamel coating on the magnet wire, etc.)
Also it would help if I knew which version you built, the one including or excluding the 555 timer. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type.
Power Max I built both of them, but they do the same sparks and have almost the same power, the only small difference I noticed is that with the 555 circuit I don't have to bring the cfls very close to the coil to light them up and also when I start moving them away I see a bit of flickering. One more thing that I noticed is that the cfls light up easier at the center of the coil, but when I bring them close to the top they light up very dim. Is that supposed to happen? (I don't have any topload yet)
PS: even that I built both circuits, I use the 555 version more frequently
+DanielTseng100 That sounds fine. Here is a small checklist of things to do:
1) check power supply/add capacitance to the power supply
2) try different number of winding's on the primary coil
3) try moving the coil up and down relative to the secondary
4) try reversing the polarity of the secondary.
5) try different value components (try a different R3 @ 1:41)
Having a topload will improve performance marginally, using a proper power supply will also help. I was using a 30V 1.5A transformer in series with another 12V 4A transformer, in series again with yet another 12V 12A hacked Xbox power supply This is *NOT* a recommended configuration as different power types of power supplies should not be put in series like that, and that is why I had to make the 555 version, to cut down on the current so I do not stress the smallest supply in that series.
If you select the right resistors and capacitors for the 555, the circuit should pulse on and off. The 555 version should draw much less current than other one. Hope this helps!
well, today I noticed that the power supplies at my school have two outputs that I can connect in series to get 60v at max, so I adjusted it to 40v and guess what... It works! so now I just need to add a topload and a 40v supply with enough amps to make this little thing work in my house. Thanks for the tutorial!
PS: when I was using the supply, I accidentally left my finger very close to the switch (metallic lever) and I felt a painful burn, but I didn't saw anything burnt in my finger. do you think that the tesla coil could have transmitted the high voltage to the supply?
================================
this is a warning to anyone who has never touched a plasma arc or wants to draw arcs from this sstc for the first time:I was playing with the sstc today and I noticed that the arc didn't looked very dangerous at first, because "it was small", but now I know that it takes less than one second to get a not so nice and very stinky black dot on the fingertip xD. It only takes a very VERY short direct contact with the skin and a plasma arc to get a 3º degree burn. And the best (worst) part is that it doesn't hurt, so you won't notice until you smell something like burnt popcorn but stronger. at that point it's too late and you can only pray for the burn to be just a small black dot and not a whole line in your hand or worse. I was lucky this time fortunately, so if you want to draw arcs, use a screwdriver or another metallic piece, even better if you connect it to ground, but never touch it with your fingers/hands/whatever part of your body please
+DanielTseng100 Sounds like you got struck a few times by that mean plasma arc lol! Have a look at Mehdi Sadaghdar's (electroBOOM) video on this! ruclips.net/video/L5E4NiP4hpM/видео.html
What I have learned is that while the circuit is operating, you standing close to it (only feet away from it) your body will act like an antenna and pick up all that power, and touching conductive things that are at a different potential (voltage) That power supply switch is hopefully grounded. But be careful, it is easy to kill electronics with the strong electromagnetic and electrostatic fields produced from this circuit. I actually killed my old oscilloscope during my last flyback driver video! :O
I love this Thanks man i made it 110 mains to 170 dc full brgr affter fillter cap up to 1/2 hour 1 irfp250n work's for me i did try to put them in perilal but they blowed up dont know why but with one it work's Thank's man for showing a dig wish i a camra to show what your circuit can do THANK YOU!!!!
+gary adams Great! I am considering making this mains powered as well, though before you pop a circuit breaker or melt the wiring in your house, definitely make sure you have a fuse in series with the circuit, and I would recommend using a fast IGBT or at least a better MOSFET, one like the IRFP460. Also, it might not be a bad idea to ballast the circuit with a inductor or capacitor dropper between the hot and full bridge converter to help decrease current draw.
+Power Max Hi bud could you tell me what what ballast and or was wounder what a capicitor dropper is i never herd of one before maybe you could explane it to me or send me a dig ?? Thanks Man!!!
+gary adams You know how you use resistors in series with LEDs to limit DC current, and drop excessive voltage? Capacitors and inductors sort of do the same thing, but with AC. The effect is called reactance, and when there is a combination of capacitive, resistive, and incuctive elements, it is referred to as complex impedance.
Go ahead and buy a cheap 5W LED lamp, take it apart, I bet it will use a large K rated film capacitor and perhaps a full bridge rectifier and DC filter capacitor and a fuse.
There is a reason it is referred to as complex impedance. Unlike a resistor, the current through a capacitor is related to how fast the voltage across it changes, and similarly, the voltage across an inductor will be related to. how fast the current changes. I am currently working on a "Tutorial Tuesday's" video about the subject. Hopefully it will be ready soon.
+Power Max ThankS now i get it lol!!! i will be looking for your tutorial sound's good. ps i have a 10amp fuse might be a bit large but its all i had! but its a fuse lol
Hii if we wanted to supplying it with 220vdc should we use a ballast ?
i made the old version with MJE3055T its very reliable. at 36v the transistor got very hot but never burned out. i was running it for 30 min continuously
It can be, but this version can go a lot further than the simpler circuit. BJTs are practically obsolete for high power switching applications and MOSFETs are superior although more sensitive to abuse.
@@power-max i know but i cant find any MOSFET drivers where i live
@@tejasbhandare251 Neither could I. That is why I order electronics online. Mouser, Digikey, etc.
Did you turn off the circuit at the end of the video or did it burn out
i'm confused, why does switching power to the MOSFET driver on and off increase the spark length?
Henry Swan Honestly I was not sure. My guess was that by reducing the average current consumption, the average supply voltage increased as the power supplies had less loading. When you draw a lot of current from unregulated power supplies the supplied voltage tends to droop.
thanks, does that mean if you had a really high current power supply it would waver less and thus the output power would be closer to the maximum
It's important to not confuse the maximum current rating with load regulation. In general, yes. An unregulated power supply with a higher current rating will have better load regulation than a unregulated supply with lower current capability. But it's still entirely possible to have a regulated lab bench supply which can maintain a constant voltage almost regardless of the instantaneous current draw , so long you don't exceed it's rating, of course!
ok, thanks!
Testing the 555 driver circuit with a LED, how fast should it blink? I'm getting around 20 times per sec with a 22uf cap on pins 1&2
There are 555 calculators you can find to help you with R1, R2, and C. The derived equation can also be found in most 555 datasheets. Or if you want to derive it yourself, it's not hard. The capacitor charges up to 2/3 VCC through one resistor and down to 1/3VCC through both resistors in series (or something like that).
I know how the timer works, I was asking how fast should i run it to work properly with this slayer exiter? I tested it with lower uf caps and it runs faster, as expected.
If i got it right, the reason for the 555 is to drop the power consumpted by the mosfet driver circuit. So how fast should i run it to get nice sparks without too much amps?
@@janikoivula260 It isn't critical. I ran the 555 around 50Hz or 60Hz to give that angry "electricity" sound here. The frequency you choose to run at does have an impact on the appearance of the sparks. At really low frequencies and duty cycles (pulsed), it is sword-like. At high frequencies you end up with more traditional spark-gap spark appearance.
@@janikoivula260 Human ears are most sensitive around 1 to 3 kHz so if you run it at that it will be really loud and ear-piercing, and generally annoying. If you run it much higher then you begin to get some weirdness because the assumption of interrupt frequency being much, much lower than resonant frequency is not as true, and so you need to analyze it more like OOK modulation, or an RF mixer (Double sideband Amplitude Modulation, beat frequencies, aliasing...).
Great video, good work!
+Proto G Thanks!
It really nice. Can you show me 1 video is more easy?
For the 12 volt power for the 555 timer would it be possible to replace the regulator side of it with a secondary power supply feeding 12 volts? Also will i just have to connect the grounds of both power supply's together?
that's perfectly fine, and recommended.
Power Max Ok awesome, Thanks for the quick reply :)
Another question. What is the diameter and length of the pvc pipe for your secondary ?
2 inches is fine. I think 3 or even 4 inches is more preferable however. (long thin secondaries are less good because of how the cross sectional area decreases as a square of the radius and decreases inductance per turn significantly. Also because more turns are required to get to the same inductance for the same output voltage, then the windings closer to the top are much further away from the primary and coupling into those is weaker.)
What capacitors did you use for the tanks caps? like what voltage and picofarad values per cap?
A question: is it possible to make the whole circuit use only one unified Power Supply?
Yes.
@@power-max I cant make the damn thing to oscillate, while with the usual simpler slayer exciter circuits it works but with so little efficiency... :/
@@tanner1985 Do you have an oscilloscope?
@@power-max yeah, old analogic 2 channels and also digital 4 channel to be unboxed (i fear of frying it up). I'm new to the topic but I understood almost everything on the surface
@@tanner1985 I assume a Rigol DS1054Z or something equivalent lol. The analog scope should be good enough if you know how to use it. Check that your MOSFET driver works, and your MOSFET. You can also do a transient or step response on the primary and secondary to see if the coil rings. Just build up some test circuits on the side and plop your Device Under Test (DUT) into the test circuit and see if it works as you expect given the datasheet(s) and application note.
Hey can I use a normal not gate instead of the ds0026? Sorry if this is dumb, but I think I should ask.
You can use a regular gate drive IC and flip the primary with the opposite polarity.
A NOT gate chip might not have enough grunt to drive a 1nf capacitive load at 300kHz to 1MHz.
@@power-max Thanks I didn't think you would answer me :)
+Power Max do the blue arrows in the schematics mean that the cables are going to minus and the other cables (red arrows) to plus?
+Devin Böttge Yes. I recommend as an electronics hobbyist that you look into learning about schematic symbols and stuff, as that is a necessary skill for any advanced circuit. The red arrows mean the positive voltage rail (positive of some battery for example) and the ground (also called common) symbols mean it goes to a common point, ground, aka, the negative of a battery.
+Power Max thanks that helped a lot because i learned it in a different way ;)
+Power Max i noticed that the mosfet driving circuid in the simple and in the second version need another voltage source. how did you do that?
+Devin Böttge 1:51 Right after the schematic, I start building the voltage regulator section for the 555. However, at 3:47 I learn the hard way that LM78xx regulators do not like 50V. So ultimately my solution was 5:07.
+Power Max so when i wire it up like in 1:48 but with the voltage regulater at the 555 chip it would work? by the way: how do i have to connect the pins of the ds chip in the simple and extendet version? that would help me a lot :)
Can u suggest some similar ic's like DS0026 ic?
Just about any low side gate driver IC should do. Digikey lists over 6000 suitable parts to choose from.
@@power-max Ok sir
Really trying to understand the schematic here but I am not an electrical engineer, to me it seems like potentially 100 volts could be fed into the MOSFET driver by the secondary. The diodes don't seem to do anything because they only let a small current flow in reverse (microamps) and don't clamp the voltage like a zener diode does. I wish I knew where to go to understand this better, can anyone correct me or point me towards the best resources to understand this?
Yes they most certainly do clamp the voltage to no lower than -0.6v and no higher than 0.6V above VCC. That's the hint. Think about it, and the answer is in the read more section.
Imagine you connect 120V AC through a ~10kOhm resistor (or any high impedance) to the diode clamped input with a 12V supply. When the voltage swings far negative then the diode between the input and ground begins to conduct and effectively clamps the voltage to -0.6V. Then when the signal swings the opposite way the upper diode again ends up forward biased and clamps the voltage at 0.6V above VCC. Remember diodes have pretty much constant voltage drop regardless of what current flows through them. (Really it's exponential; google the schlocky diode equation for more info.)
Now if your high voltage source also has a high current and low ESR the diodes will act like short circuits and a lot of current will be dumped into them, possibly exploding them. And when the voltage goes positive it does backfeed power into the supply rail, if it is enough average current, it could cause the 12V supply to begin rising above 12V to some unknown value. I have noticed that when the circuit is running, sometimes it continues to work even if you remove the 12V supply if the primary is still powered for this reason!
@@power-max Thanks for the reply!
Question: I have some 1500v Transistors laying around...would 300v dc fom the wall would work?😁
Peter Zingler I would be much more concerned about power dissipation. Consider building a real SSTC if you want to use 300V.
Power Max yeah ..but a real sstc can become very pricey -_- my mosfet slayer works fine so far but i want a bit more ...amlot more😃
Peter Zingler Not really. You can use exactly the same materials from this coil to make a proper tabletop SSTC. I have been developing one that uses a CD4046 PLL and a MOSFET driver IC. The design used a half bridge push pull circuit. (2 FDP33N25 transistors, less than $2 each) and a capacitor in series with the primary. Just tune the PLL, the primary LC tank circuit, and the secondary coil + topload combo all to the same frequency, then you can get some really good results.
I have acheived arcs about twice the length of this circuit at 70V. But I am having a hard time getting the circuit to do much better and be less fiddly. Eventually I plan to make a PCB design of it.
Power Max very cool , just a little question . To make a slayer circuit musical : would it be enough to interupt the primary with a mosfet/transistor? I tried interupting it with a 555 gate driver circuit and it worked, now im thinking about just feeding an audio signal instead of the 555 signal?
Peter Zingler not actual audio. Single voice square wave polyphony (single MIDI channel) yes. Easily in fact. If you are good with arduino and its hardware interrupts and timer modules, then you could have that replace the 555.
Otherwise, you will need a more advanced circuit. I am currwntly Experamenting with FM modulating using the CD4046 PLL. It works well.
nice video, how many turns is the primary and the secondary?
+andronclock1 I don't remember, about 800T on the secondary and a few turns on the primary should work. all the values in these types of circuits are highly experimental. What worked best for me will probably not work best for you if you plan to replicate this.
+Power Max thanks for the reply, so without much knowledge about sstc's I wouldn't be able to get the same results?
+andronclock1 It took a lot of work to get this one working as good as it does. (a few weeks/months of developing and optimizing) and that is with a solid understanding of electronics in general. I recommend building my older version of this circuit first, it is simpler to build and troubleshoot though still requires a bit of tuning and optimizing. The circuit here is largely just a upgrade to that one.
+Power Max ok I'm going to make that first , thanks.
Hi, I know it has been about 4 years but I have a question! with a 48v 5a power supply can I have the same result as yours, or I need more amps for that? I also have 24v 15a and 36v 10a power supplies.
That is already more current than my chain of random smaller supplies in this video could supply. I bought a meanwell 48V 7.5A supply on amazon for something like $40 to make a stronger version of this circuit (see latest video). I think your supply will work fine. You will need to tune your circuit to not overload your supply anyway.
@@power-max thank you, so I think my 24v 10a + 19v 4a should work fine.
@@imanb608 Place a beefy reverse diode across the weaker supply, so if the voltage collapses it does not invert (diode will enter forward condition with -0.6V across that supply) and will help prevent damage.
@@power-max thanks again, and lastly about 8:35 , what do you mean by "the phase 2 of this transformer is wrong"? can you please explain what's exactly wrong?
@@imanb608 Phase in the context of transformers generally refers to the relative polarities of the separate coils. On a schematic it is designated by phase dots. "Phase" as a term refers to the "lead" or "lag" of one periodic waveform in relation to another periodic waveform in degrees. For sine waves, an inverted sine wave is basically the same as a 180° phase shift. hence the (confusing) terminology.
why are the arcs at the 1st circuit different than the 2nd circuit? is that because of the frequency? thanks in advance :)
+Faruk Gul the whole 555 section of the circuit serves to basicly just turn the first circuit on and off about 10 to 100 times a second. Also, because the 555 is set up to turn on for only 10% of the time compared to the 90% of the time when it is off, it lowers power consumption. (imagine flipping a light switch on and off really fast.) Because it is less load on my power supply, that means the power supply can "rest" and recover it's voltage before the circuit turns on for a few tenths of a second. So the sparks will look different because they are being turned on and off pretty fast, and find a different path through the air each time they are cut off and reestablished. Vs the first circuit, where the arc is continuously turned on, and will keep flowing through the same plasma that was generated when the arc was first stuck. (when a spark occurs, it causes air to become a plasma, and plasma is conductive, and because electrons are lazy, they just keep going through the same plasma path and generating more plasma.)
+Power Max
wow thanks! And you can explain great :)
+Power Max .Are you familiar with royal ramond rife's work. He cured many diseases including cancer using this method at specific frequencies. If you tune your L1 tank circuit to 3.3 MHz and have the the 555 timer modulate it at a low harmonic, eg - 15625Hz for a carrier of 1MHz(L1 tank). That would be the 6th lower harmonic of 1MHz. This produces harmonic sideband frequencies above and below the carrier wave. You can find out the specific frequencies that destroy pathenogenes by googling "Rife frequencies". If your going to play with this stuff, you might as well get healthy while doing it.
+Robert Tomkinson This sounds a lot like snake oil. I have about as hard a time believing in this as I do in those free energy scams and perpetual permanent magnet motor machines that plague youtube.
+Power Max Thats too bad you feel that way. If it sounds that way then maybe you have not looked at the evidence. Do the research so that you know its snake oil rather than dismiss it because it sounds like snake oil. Watch the TEDx video found in this article. www.ascensionwithearth.com/2016/01/researchers-demonstrate-how-cancer.html
Hey can I use TC4420 mosfet driver ic? I can't find ds0026 in my country. Thanks
Did that alternative work out for you?
@@power-max @powermax no :(
@@siddhantsinha9276 It should work very well. This circuit is hard to get working without electrical knowledge and a scope. I wish you the best of luck. If you have a specific question feel free to ask.
Idk about the tc4420 but tc4426 and tc426 worked great for me
@@siddhantsinha9276 i think it didnt work bc tc4420 is non-inverting driver. Try tc4426 or tc426, they should work.
You can make it audio modulated by utilizing that function of the 555.
No not really. The 555 is generating a square wave at tens of Hz here. I assume you are referring to pin 5. Adding a signal here will only modulate the duty cycle and frequency of a low frequency square wave. This only works if the frequency is well above audio hearing range such that we can only hear the effects of the DC component (average voltage) from the generated square wave. I don't remember getting this to work very well
One approach is to use a Phase Locked Loop and inject an analog signal into the VCO portion of it with a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 20 or so Hz, and feed the output of the phase comparator to a low pass filter / integrator / charge pump to allow the VCO to slowly converge to the resonant frequency of the secondary based on the RF feedback. This will implement audio by means of Frequency Modulation (FM) of which the actual secondary side can "demodulate" by slope detection (due to its high Q). It works best if the coil is purposely slightly detuned.
This method works really well but I have yet to make a video on it.
at the last schematic, the feedback antenna is between 1n4148 diodes? (D2 and D3)
(i'm french)
+Lugar. M There is no feedback antenna. The bottom of the secondary connects to the input of the DS0026 chip with those protection diodes in place to prevent destruction to the DS0026.
ok thanks :)
Is possible to add music playing circuit to this SSTC ?
Is it possible to make this into a half bridge or full bridge using a not gate?
yes
At voltage regulator, the resistors getting hot. My transformer has 12v tap and 50 Volts tap. Shall I use 12v tap to ic and 50v tap to mosfet with two different rectifiers? Pls reply
NARENDRA teegala off course they get hot! I hinted as to why in the video. Calculate the voltage drop across that resistor 38V! You can see that the power losses are going to be very high. DO NOT USE A SHUNT REGULATOR if you have any better option for a 12v rail.
Shall I use two different power supplies. I mean 12v SMPS for ic and 50v transformer for mosfet.
NARENDRA teegala as long as you make sure that the 2 power supplies can commoned together (make sure you can connect the negitive of one to the negitive of the other. That should be fine so long as at the supplies are electrically isolated fron each other.
Power Max thanks for your response. Please, let me know, I have one 12v SMPS and 50v transformer with rectifier. Shall I common the both of their negitives? Is it ok sir?
Resepected sir.... Pls reply
Did you connect the two commons together?
Yes. Keep the loop area between the source of the MOSFET and the MOSFET driver IC as short / tight as possible also. I recommend a series resistor and a stronger gate driver IC.
Could you audio modulate a SSTC like this one? I made a SGTC driven by a fly back from a cfl light circuit, and I am interested in making a SSTC, audio modulated.
+Scotlahn Mccallister Anything is possible, you could modify my design and do audio modulation, but I would suggest trying ElectroBOOM's circuit, Unlike mine, his is not a closed loop controlled design and relies on a discrete oscillator which he modulates in order to do pretty good audio modulation.
@@power-max Could you not just use the old method (as in from ancient radio days) of putting an audio signal on a transformer primary, and wiring the secondary in series with VCC of your circuit? Tested To Destruction did that with a ZVS and it worked very well.
@@starchief93 you want to do amplitude modulation, that is achieved by multiplying your carrier wave to your audio signal by means of a mixer, usually. In practice, you could achieve this by modulating the supply voltage to the tesla coil resonator as a function of the audio signal.
Powering it with a class A amplifier to introduce this voltage modulation on the DC rail is probably the easiest ways to do it.
I have more recently been messing around with the idea of using frequency modulation or phase modulation instead, and demodulation occurs by means of the high Q factor of the tesla coil resonator as it gets pushed and pulled into and out of resonance.
The problem with this approach is that the circuit can flip between running above and below Fres of either the upper or lower pole (whichever you tuned it to) and consequentially flipping between ZVS and ZCS, which can result in destruction of the switches, as I found out in my "it keeps blowing up" video. Also using a PLL, there is a risk it might lock onto some really strange undesired harmonics which result in excessive gate drive losses and blown up.
@@power-max Right, that makes more sense. I was wondering about demodulation. It didn't seem to be happening with the ZVS though.
@@starchief93 Join the HV discussion over on the styropyro discord server, I and a lot of other HV enthusiasts are pretty active there.
Do you think i could put 200volts dc into my input? or do you think my igbt would just explode from the kick back on the primary? haha, i have powered it with 90vdc so far and there is no sign of excessive heat being produced on anything
Short answer is no, probably not. At 50V the back EMF on the MOSFET as well as the power dissipation are already too high for reliable operation. Any additional stress may cause lots of magic blue smoke. I would look into using a better designed circuit for more performance at rectified mains.
IGBTs, while having high breakdown voltage ratings and power ratings, are generally pretty limited in terms of frequency as there is a long tail current after switching off that is not present in MOSFETs as the charges in the PN junction has to deplete. Also they have a positive temperature coefficient, which could result in thermal runaway. So for this reason they are generally not the optimal choice for smaller tesla coil designs.
Resepected sir, It's really superb. I can't find DS0026 ic. I google DS0026 equalants and I found some ic's. I have AN7512 ic and it is equivalent to DS0026. Shall I use it. Can it drive mosfet?
NARENDRA teegala IDK. The chip you need is a MOSFET driver. MOSFETs have a good deal of capscitance between the gate and ground, so at high frequencies (over 1MHz) that can be a problem. You do not need a MOSFET driver specificall, I managed to get this circuit working with a BJT emitter follower push pull stage. Works like a charm!
Thanks for your response, I made slayer exciter with BJT by your last vedio. I want to make this type slayer exciter. How to make that Mosfet driver without DS0026 Ic... Suggest me some, I will search for them.
NARENDRA teegala I will leave you up to designing it. Google is your friend.
Ofcouse.. But equalants ic's have more pins than DS0026. I can't understand how to make connections like you. I have AN7512 IC, Pls let me know to which pins I should connect.... Pls help me sir
NARENDRA teegala why are you using an audio amp? You need a buffer. One that can work at frequencies much much higher than just 20KHz. (you need one that works at several MHz)
Help it's not resonating, I flipped primary still not working.
Edit: primary was disconnected, my neon lights up but no sparks
what is the square shaped thing you plugged everything into called
Breadboard. They are fundamental to all hobby electronics, great for prototyping circuits, but they can be problematic for RF or high power (3A maximum) circuits. Low quality ones especially can be intermittent but often they are good enough. For more permanent projects you want to consider using either a perforation board (simalar to a breadboard but you solder stuff in) or even better, a custom manufactured PCB. Breadboards are not compatible with modern SMT SMD (surface mount) parts, although many modules for sensors and stuff can be purchased which allow easy hobbyist interaction. (to use PCB modules on a breadboard like any other component)
Would it be possible to use a different Mosfet driver like the MIC 4427?
+Surprise Taco I don't see why not. some small modifications may be necessary though. (sorry for not responding sooner, youtube once again proves unreliable for notifications.)
+Power Max No worries. I ended up building Steve Ward's micro SSTC.
+Surprise Taco Cool! I have yet to work on that design, though I do prefer the simplicity of this one!
For me the tc4426 worked great
in C2 on the schematic I have a 120,000uF 60V capacitor, would that be good?
Don't kill yourself with that MASSIVE capacitor. :O Seriously, that thing fully charged has nearly 300 Joules of stored energy. It will make a hell of a bang if you short it! You will want to use a pre-charge circuit to charge it slowly, to avoid shorting your power supply.
@@power-max yeah, I know. Just a joke. I charged it up to 12 volts and its sparks when short circuited were already quite impressive.
so what type of breadboard are u using or are they all the same
I started electronics by twisting wires together and using office supplies (paperclips, scotch tape, and LOTs of AA batteries) to make really basic things like lamps and used legos to make cases for stuff. I then got a 200-in-1 electronics kit with a breadboard in the center and many components (interfaced via spring terminals to stick wires into). These kits start around $80 but you get bags of electronics, a project book or 2. That's what I used to learn everything I know in these videos.
Just pay attention to the pinout of the breadboard, understand how they work. Be careful to not shove wires too big or small in diameter into the slots, as it will either damage the slot or not make good contact respectively.
Power Max : Were did u go man?
how did u build the thing that goes around the coil
How many inches of windings did you use for the secondary?
lots.
How many turns and wire diemeter of the secondry coil and what is the length and raduis of the pipe
Hamza Lord My construction of the secondary is far from ideal. It should be wider. About 1kTurns is generally good. It's all about the inductance and minimal capacitance/resistance. Overlapping the turns is a big no-no.
I have secandry coil but it dosenot work the pipe is 50 cm and the raduis is 2.75 cm and the wire diameter is 24 awg I donot know what is the problam
I like your tesla coil and I want to build just like it
If you can just tell me what is the wire diameter and pipe tall and diameter
Hamza Lord I choose 30awg.
As you explore other successful tesla coil designs, I'm sure you will begin to see a correlation between the dimensions of the secondary coil and performance. I'll leave you to the burden of figuring it out, experience is a great teacher.
can you please tell me about the wire gauge size used in secondary winding
30awg
Can i send a AC signal to the base of the transistor to play music? I hope you reply because i want to make it!!😊
No, it will not work very well. It requires a binary signal (on and off)
@@power-max oh ok:)
But do you know how can i made it to play music?☺
@@f.a3202 You need a completely different driving circuitry. I have an improved design that uses a resonant half bridge for the primary, with 2 N-channel MOSFETs and a Phase Locked Loop that slowly converges on the resonant frequency of the coil. This is important because I can inject an AC coupled audio signal in the Voltage Controlled Oscillator to frequency modulate the drive frequency. The high Q of the primary and secondary acts as crude slope detection and demodulation. The problem with this approach is that it is not very loud and requires the coil to be slightly detuned for the loudest and least distorted audio.
ElectroBOOMs coil uses a fixed frequency oscillator and a very poor secondary drive circuit. But by modulating the frequency, is also is able to audio modulate the coil.
I understand now!! Again thank you so much for the help☺
Can this coil be made by using only one of 555 timer chip rather than fet driver please reply
Guitar Guy no.
The reasons are:
A) the 555 timer cannot produce a square wave of high enough frequency. (Especially true for the original NE555.) The chip was not intended to operate above 100kHz. Some versions of the 555 timer (the newer CMOS chips) can go higher, but generally 1MHz is hard to achieve, even with nothing connected to the output besides a scope probe.
B) The chip is not designed to drive the high gate capacitance of the MOSFET. It will overheat. This is why even flyback drivers typically use a intermediate buffer. In my experience, a heavy load on the output of the 555 will result in strange undefined behavior. (Frequency and duty cycle deviate from what calculations predict due to the loading effects.)
C) A standard astable circuit provides no means for feedback, and hence you would need to very carefully tune the output manually. ElectroBOOM has constructed a simalar performance tesla coil using comparators for creating the oscillations necessary. His is manually tuned. The problem with manual tuning is that any change in the topload or the surrounding the secondary is exposed to causes the resonant frequency to shift, detuning the coil and reducing performance.
is the transistor 2N5401 is suitable instead of you used in this
please reply sir I want to know it
or tell me which transistor I can use instead of 2N4401
Your FET driver is ic read time or ic mosfet driver
mosfet driver. Most any inverted mosfet driver buffer should work.
+Power Max Thank for your help !
+Power Max Can DS1307 works
Datasheet : www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=Ds1307%20datasheet&gclid=Cj0KEQjw2_23BRDb_qbvzK3X8M8BEiQAg87AF9yiJ6u0MWkzfp6Kgn2RGn8Xe69jWFtmLyyoSKUa00caAg_38P8HAQ
+Harold Victor Short answer, *no*. This is an *entirely different chip!!!* I used a simple *inverted buffer MOSFET driver*, but this is a discrete *real time clock generator* which is programed with I2C digital bus and designed to be interfaced with a microcontroller or microprocessor for accurate timekeeping purposes.
Thank for your help
Wow that looks like a really nice secondary! what are the specs?
Will tip41 and tip 42 as mosfet driver will be good enought?
Hi power max i made this sstc and it works great!! but keep blowing mosfet's iv used ifrp250n/irf540n/irfp460's but the best one that i have found is one irfz48n but it will some time's blow as soon as i turn the coil on i have no scope or anything like that was thinking of a way to save the mofets with a diode some how do you know anyway a diode whould help??? please R/B thank you..
+gary adams Well first you will need to pinpoint what the problem is. Having a oscilloscope really becomes worth it's weight in gold with analog circuits like these, as you can literally "see" what is going on around the MOSFET and pinpoint the problem quickly! and if you shop around for second-hand ones, you can get ahold of one for close to nothing, and someone might even be nice enough to _give_ you one! It is not necessary though.
There are a few ways to kill MOSFETs: One way would be the most obvious, letting them overheat and thermally fail. (That might be due to the way they are driven or not a large enough heatsink, or too much current through the MOSFET when it is on, or driving it in the linear region, so it acts like a huge resistor)
Another way they could fail is with high voltage spikes on the drain, exceeding the MOSFETs rating. (this might be due to not using a resonant tank capacitor to absorb the EMF kickback from the coil, although when the coil is resonant, adding more energy into it causes the voltage oscillations to get larger and larger, and if that power entering it is not escaping via a spark on the output, it can also kill the transistor for the same HV reason.)
And the last way I can think of that they can fail is by exceeding the maximum voltage allowable on the gate of the MOSFET. This one is the most sneaky type of failure and is actually relatable to the last type of failure. For the IRFP250N, You need to keep the voltage on the gate (Vgs) clamped to less than ±20V. If you are powering your circuit with less than 20V, than you should not be getting 20V on that gate, and adding some diodes the same way as
1:17 would help to clamp the voltage to within the power supply limits.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judging by the fact that you discovered that the IRFZ48 seems to be the most reliable might hint at an overcurrent situation, and the fact that it occasionally burns out instantly with power also hints that there might be some sort of inrush current problem. The IRFZ48N is rated to handle 50A continuously, while the IRFP250N is only rated for 20A. But the IRFZ48N can only handle voltages up to 50V across the drain and source, while the IRFP250N can handle up to 200V!
I would first try to run this at a lower voltage, like 9-12V before using like 50V, to see if that solves your problem.
+Power Max Hey thank's man!!! i will see what happend's when i get more mosfet's!! also could i use dif interupter maybe with audio ???. by the way im getting 4.5" spark's prty cool bud!!!
+gary adams ElectroBOOM has built a similar SSTC thing, but it uses a separate oscillator for driving the coil rather than relying on feedback from the secondary. The disadvantage with that method is that it has to be tuned, and the tuning to get the best performance will depend on how the secondary coil is made, and what surrounds it. However, it is much easier to modulate with audio, check him out!
+Power Max Thank's do you know what video on youtube?
+gary adams ruclips.net/user/msadaghd
Can you please a circuit which doesn't use mosfet driver ic because I can't find any !!!
+saattvik thourwal
Why not try to create your own custom circuit, that's what I did, I developed this schematic on my own. The DS0026 is just a inverted buffer with a low output impedance and a medium input impedance. Because MOSFETs have gate capacitance, large current surges are needed to quickly change the voltage on the gate. (as it takes current to charge/discharge the gate. It resists changes in voltage.) The diodes protect the input to the DS0026 and prevent it from exceeding the supply rails.
I have not tested it, but you can try to use a pair of NPN and PNP transistors in a emitter follower totem pole configuration to drive the gate. Emitter followers are not inverting, so the polarity of the primary coil will need to be flipped I think. You can do it, I believe in you! :) www.google.com/search?q=emitter+follower+totem+pole&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=766&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicv_qMsaLLAhVC6x4KHaOMCXMQ_AUIBigB
+Power Max Thanks !!
I will surely try it !!
I will surely try it !!
www.dropbox.com/s/h4fgk7a5wi9vq0e/sstc3.JPG?dl=0
Would this circuit work ??
Hey, i have a problem with it, it works to some extend it it sparks and sparks are around 1cm but it seems like interupter doesnt work but it uses 7ma, and ds0026 heats a lot.
I dont have that same transistor but i have 2n2222a
Is that a problem mabye pleas help.
I need WAY more details than what you provided to help. The DS0026 is far from an ideal choice. I only used it because I had a handful of them. You should use a better part.
Your circuit works which is good. But you want to optimize it right? That takes a _long_ time and an oscilloscope is very valuable for this.
What power supply are you using? What MOSFET are you using? Is your MOSFET genuine? How long did you spend varying the number of turns on the primary? Did you try adding a different size top-loads? Any general purpose transistor should fine for powering the DS0026. If your interrupter is not working then you should troubleshoot it. Make sure your wiring is as short as possible. Every mm counts.
@@power-max i am using irfp250n,it is genuine,for power supply im using 40v 150va toroidal transformer with 8a rectifier, for primary i am using 5 turns of wire.I have tried some top-loads but didnt work, and i dont have the osciloscope.
Thanks for answering.
P.S. what do you think about tc428 instead of ds0026
@@ventilator2227 You can eliminate my "interrupter" by simply half wave rectifying the output and not using a massive filter cap.
@@ventilator2227 Yes seems like that chip is fine. Make sure to use diodes to clamp the input voltage to within the rails and do not exceed any of the absolute maximum ratings.
hi can i use igbt instead and will a 60v 300w bench power supply do?
this one: www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/fairchild-semiconductor/HGTG20N60A4/HGTG20N60A4-ND/820808
Take a look at the datasheet, it has everything in it you need to know to know if it will work. Compare the specs with the IRFP250, I'll let you decide ;)
Important ratings include:
Vce or Vds (higher = better)
continuous current (higher = better)
on/off switching time (lower = better)
gate charge (lower = better)
As for the transformer, yes, probably. What supply do you have that can supply 60W at 5A?
Power Max a car battery charger :)