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Registered Member #1728
Joined: Wed Oct 01 2008, 07:52PM
Location: Italy (MI)
Posts: 13
Hi all! About one year ago i made my first working SSTC, using this schematic (interrupter included):
Everything was great... no heat, no problems, nice sparks! I powered my IRFP460s full bridge untill about 350VDC (using a variac) without any kind of problems.
Some pics of the SSTCs driver and full bridge:
Some pics of the sparks:
Satisfied with the result, some weeks ago i decided to modify it: i changed the original interrupter ( ) with this ---->
Hell began... powering the SSTC, i could see only bad/short sparks with strange noises. After a short time, no sparks were visible and variac protection made me understand that there was a short circuit in the SSTCs bridge !
Yes... the new interrupter was designed for a DRSSTC (mine is a simple SSTC), but i thought that it wasn't a problem... so, why my SSTC failed? It's happened because i used that new DRSSTCs interrupter?
If it can help... my GDT core is a Fair-Rite 77 or 78 material. You can see it in this link ( ), looking the number "5978003801". Maybe the GDT core isn't so good for this applications?
Registered Member #3885
Joined: Sun May 15 2011, 12:47AM
Location: Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Posts: 94
Don't use a DRSSTC interrupter on an SSTC! It *shouldn't* damage your coil, but it won't give you good results either - you don't want to run short burst lengths on something that can handle near-CW operation.
Other than poor performance, a properly assembled DRSSTC interrupter will not cause any problems with an SSTC. When you pulled it out after a year, did your SSTC work with your original interrupter? Did you scope the gates? (You should try scoping your gates with the bridge powered off and a signal generator feeding your antenna/secondary CT input)
Most likely, the problem is that either something fell apart in storage (this is almost certainly the case, as the circuit is on a breadboard) or that something is wrong with your DRSSTC interrupter. I had problems with my (poorly-assembled) 555-based interrupter, so I switched to a micro, but I doubt that this will solve your problem. Try replacing your transistors and switching back to your old interrupter.
As for your GDT core, it seems fine, especially if it worked before. The only way to really tell if it's the problem is to (once again) scope the gates.
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Strange SSTC failure
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