If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Okay, so I built my zvs capacitor charger based off Uzzors2k's design and it worked amazingly. That is until i added the regulator circuitry. Before adding it, it would charge my 450v 350uF cap to 490 volts in less than a second, and now with it attached it only charges to around 300, 400, or 440 volts. It's kinda random, sometimes it will charge to 440 other times it will only charge to 300 volts and once it reaches that point it wont do anything further. Once the cap is charged it will start to discharge slowly and it will just keep going. Before adding the regulator circuit i could run it for a long time and my mosfets wouldn't get hot at all, now they get really hot after about a minute. Also there is a very high pitched squeal once the capacitor is charged as far as it charge.
Can anyone tell me whats wrong from this description? Thanks in advance for any help!
Registered Member #3888
Joined: Sun May 15 2011, 09:50PM
Location: Erie, PA
Posts: 649
I ran into the same problem on tuesday trying to get mine to work. I think what might be going on is that the test capacitor is too small. the charger is putting out ~50W from uzzor's description, so the capacitor is charging almost instantly. the voltage on the cap jumps up by large amounts instead of charging gradually, which trips the regulator at seemingly random voltages. the noise and the overheating are probably due to the fets turning on and off as the capacitor bleeds off quickly. I'm going to try using a larger test bank and remove the bleeder resistor, and i suggest you try the same. I'll let you know how it goes.
Registered Member #3888
Joined: Sun May 15 2011, 09:50PM
Location: Erie, PA
Posts: 649
If you figure out a more general regulator, I'd love to know the schematic. Also, from what i've read about the description of how the zvs driver works, the fets charge up to their breakdown voltage which is then applied to the primary in an avalanche. Are your fets avalanche rated? are we using fets with too high of a breakdown voltage? I get most of my fets through sampling, as i don't quite yet understand all of their operating parameters, i get the highest voltage, highest current, lowest rds on resistance ones available (currently trying out FCA47N60F from fairchild rated 600v, 47A, 62 milliohms rds.) Are you using the exact fets from uzzor's design or something else? I'd like to get this charging regulator thing figured out soon as i am in the process of building a (hopefully impressive) multiple stage coilgun utilizing adjustable optical triggering, external 'iron', and laminated silicon steel projectiles (a step up from my previous nickel cobalt plated steel handmade rounds)
Yeah i'm using the IRFP250's from the schematic. For right now i'm just gonna continue using the regulator in the schematic, but i'm gonna take the "charge" and "ready" LED configuration thing out for now. I also managed to hit 120 watts of charging power today too :D I think i'm gonna go from a 14.8 volt battery to an 18.5 volt for the final design. :) I'll post my results of the regulator after its finished, should be done by Tuesday if i get my parts on time...
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Regulator problem
