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Registered Member #514
Joined: Sun Feb 11 2007, 12:27AM
Location: Somewhere in Pirkanmaa, Finland
Posts: 295
Long time, no projects.
This is what happens when I get bored. I apoligize for the low image quality (cellphone photos).
So I decided to build an ignition coil driver. I decided to make it a little bit more robust than the usual light-dimmer-dangling-by-a-bunch-of-wires. The case is 19" wide, 3U high and made from 10mm plastic (polyethylene?) covered with stainless steel sheet. Pretty much bomb-proof. The driver is very robust and will happily run any coils into oblivion. At moderate power this thing can generate high voltages all day long if needed.
The electronics themselves were pretty simple: The power is supplied by a rewound MOT with three different outputs (12V, 24V, 36V). Smoothing is done with a 22000µF lytic. The driver itself is just a variable oscillator driving an IRFP460. Three switches on the front panel select the voltage going to the coils and the last unlabeled one selects wether you are driving just one coil or two in antiparallel. And of course it has one of those emergency stop buttons that seem to be all the rage these days. The mot can be fed either from fixed mains voltage or from a variac for more control over the output power and voltage. Maximum power with two coils in antiparallel and full voltage is around 500W
I used the new kind "dry" ignition coils (from Biltema) and I can say they work great. I did a stress test having them pump out 10cm sparks for full 10 minutes and they survived. Only problem I had was that there was a lot of corona around the low voltage terminals. I solved this by putting the coils in PVC pipes and submerging them in oil (10W-30 if I remember correctly). This gives the added benefit of cooling the cores.
Underneath is the system set up in my kitchen. My variac is on the left and the coils are in the background.
And now for the results (the electrodes are around 12cm apart in the pictures):
With shorter electrode spacing the spark turns into a fiery arc, perfect for driving jacobs ladders. (around 3cm in the picture)
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You call that an ignition coil driver? This is an ignition coil driver!
