solid state versus nst and mots newbie
jameselectric, Tue Mar 06 2007, 02:34AMI have gotten reasonable results with my nst coil. I have given up on my mot(lol). I am thinking about maybe starting a solid state coil. I don't really know anything about them so i have some questions.
1. price of making a solid state coil
2. average spark length of coil.
3. diffulculty level of making one 1-5.
Thanks everyone
my first junk coil
James
Re: solid state versus nst and mots newbie
Mike, Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:39AM
Well, to my surprise, just building a small SSTC isn't even that hard. Take a look at stevehv.4hv.org and schematic
The cost, well theres the ucc's which can be gotten for a buck a piece, or sampled from ti, only take what you need though....
The hex inverter is not actually needed so don't bother with it, just connect the antenna with the C3 cap and D7 and D8 clamping diodes directly to pin 2 of the ucc's. Then the ferite toroid for the gate drive transformer is fairly cheap, they can be attained for like 1 dollar in a package of 5.
The MOSFETS are also fairly cheap, i use irfp460c's which are a pretty good fet for this coil, most places have em for like 3 bucks a piece. Everything else is pretty cheap and you might have that stuff on hand. Even though i found it fairly easy, if you like to mess around with it, expect to have to replace components alot.... I would say difficulty of the minisstc is a 3, but it can get alot harder with PLL's and such etc. But once you go solid state, you wont go back!!!
Mike, Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:39AM
Well, to my surprise, just building a small SSTC isn't even that hard. Take a look at stevehv.4hv.org and schematic
The cost, well theres the ucc's which can be gotten for a buck a piece, or sampled from ti, only take what you need though....
The hex inverter is not actually needed so don't bother with it, just connect the antenna with the C3 cap and D7 and D8 clamping diodes directly to pin 2 of the ucc's. Then the ferite toroid for the gate drive transformer is fairly cheap, they can be attained for like 1 dollar in a package of 5.
The MOSFETS are also fairly cheap, i use irfp460c's which are a pretty good fet for this coil, most places have em for like 3 bucks a piece. Everything else is pretty cheap and you might have that stuff on hand. Even though i found it fairly easy, if you like to mess around with it, expect to have to replace components alot.... I would say difficulty of the minisstc is a 3, but it can get alot harder with PLL's and such etc. But once you go solid state, you wont go back!!!
Re: solid state versus nst and mots newbie
..., Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:50AM
sstc are just like sgtcs in the enormous amout of variety in them.
You could take a single gate driver (sample a ucc37322 from TI), stick an antenna on the input, wire the output to just about any fet rated for >1a >50v in series with a 5 turn primary arround a smallish secondary and get 2" sparks for like free.
Or, you could try to outspark the DRTTCs pumping 10 foot arks, for well over a thousand bucks...
Again, difficulty will range from about 3 to a 7 on the 1-5 scale.
My suggstion for a fist coil is It is simple enough to get working, cheap enough for anyone, and will give enough sparkage to get you hooked on SSTC's
..., Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:50AM
sstc are just like sgtcs in the enormous amout of variety in them.
You could take a single gate driver (sample a ucc37322 from TI), stick an antenna on the input, wire the output to just about any fet rated for >1a >50v in series with a 5 turn primary arround a smallish secondary and get 2" sparks for like free.
Or, you could try to outspark the DRTTCs pumping 10 foot arks, for well over a thousand bucks...
Again, difficulty will range from about 3 to a 7 on the 1-5 scale.
My suggstion for a fist coil is
It is simple enough to get working, cheap enough for anyone, and will give enough sparkage to get you hooked on SSTC'sRe: solid state versus nst and mots newbie
CT2, Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:52AM
Hey James, let me start by saying I don't know very much. OK that said I have built a decent (at least I think so) SSTC. I don't know your level of knowledge or experience so I can't really tell you how hard it would be for you to construct one, but I managed and I'm only 18 and all my knowledge is from the internet (mostly 4HV
).
The most simple thing you can do to build your first SSTC, in my own opinion, would be to just completely copy someones. There are plently of schematics around especially on this forum, and if you read around you'll find the pros and cons of each. For a first time coil though I would recomend you keep it simple, I suggest Steve Wards mini SSTC but thats because I built it and it worked great. I actually built Steve Conners PLL circuit as my first SSTC and it worked amazing but its a little tricky and I still don't get it.
As for the price range... I think it's like everything in life, it can be done cheap or it can be done really expensive, or somewhere inbetween it all depends on what you want. You can sample alot of parts for free from different companies, so that would help alot with the cost (semi's are expensive!) especially when your most likely gonna kill alot of parts (I did atleast).
And for the average spark length... I'd say a foot? All depends on power level coil dimension, and topology. But they are hot flamming whispering arcs much different than a normal SGTC. Anyways maybe that will help you to get started, I'd say go for it even if it seems a little intimidating at first, you'll learn alot along the way. Good luck!
Pics are my very first SSTC, and a small percentage of the silicone it took to get going
CT2, Tue Mar 06 2007, 04:52AM
Hey James, let me start by saying I don't know very much. OK that said I have built a decent (at least I think so) SSTC. I don't know your level of knowledge or experience so I can't really tell you how hard it would be for you to construct one, but I managed and I'm only 18 and all my knowledge is from the internet (mostly 4HV
). The most simple thing you can do to build your first SSTC, in my own opinion, would be to just completely copy someones. There are plently of schematics around especially on this forum, and if you read around you'll find the pros and cons of each. For a first time coil though I would recomend you keep it simple, I suggest Steve Wards mini SSTC but thats because I built it and it worked great. I actually built Steve Conners PLL circuit as my first SSTC and it worked amazing but its a little tricky and I still don't get it.
As for the price range... I think it's like everything in life, it can be done cheap or it can be done really expensive, or somewhere inbetween it all depends on what you want. You can sample alot of parts for free from different companies, so that would help alot with the cost (semi's are expensive!) especially when your most likely gonna kill alot of parts (I did atleast).
And for the average spark length... I'd say a foot? All depends on power level coil dimension, and topology. But they are hot flamming whispering arcs much different than a normal SGTC. Anyways maybe that will help you to get started, I'd say go for it even if it seems a little intimidating at first, you'll learn alot along the way. Good luck!
Pics are my very first SSTC, and a small percentage of the silicone it took to get going
Re: solid state versus nst and mots newbie
jameselectric, Fri Mar 09 2007, 08:28AM
just ordered DRSSTC building the modern day tesla coil, Sounds like a good book.
jameselectric, Fri Mar 09 2007, 08:28AM
just ordered DRSSTC building the modern day tesla coil, Sounds like a good book.
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