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Registered Member #477
Joined: Tue Jun 20 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 546
Hi! Welcome aboard.
It's hard to offer any really good advice without knowing what your goals are and what your experience is. Whether or not an SSTC is a good project to start with has a lot to do with these things. For example, if you're a total electronics noob but want to build a Tesla coil anyway and maybe still learn something, I'd say you should start with a conventional coil. They're generally easier to understand, so you're less likely to be overwhelmed and give up. OTOH, if you're a total electronics noob, but you don't give a rip about how any of it works and just want an SSTC no matter what, you can just reproduce somebody else's SSTC verbatim and probably get lucky. Or maybe you only care about making big sparks and just want to do so in a cheap, relatively uncomplicated way. Conventional coils win hands down in that case; DRSSTC's can womp conventional coils on efficiency, but with that increased efficiency comes complexity. Unless you have lots of $$, that is If you have lots of $$, you can buy DRSSTC kits from people like Dan McCauley, or just buy a whole DRSSTC ready-made from Chris Miles (see his recent ad in the For Sale forum ). Audio modulation is certainly a very advanced topic, and is the last thing I'd expect anybody to conquer in their first coil unless they had a great deal of related experience or unless they just bought one finished or in kit form (in which case "conquer" is used lightly). And again, which direction you go depends on what's important to you, both in the end goal and in how you get there.
Somebody really needs to come up with the "What should my first HV project be?" flowchart There have been an awful lot of new folks joining lately and asking these same kinds of questions.
Registered Member #1025
Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566
J. Aaron Holmes wrote ...
Hi! Welcome aboard.
It's hard to offer any really good advice without knowing what your goals are and what your experience is. Whether or not an SSTC is a good project to start with has a lot to do with these things. For example, if you're a total electronics noob but want to build a Tesla coil anyway and maybe still learn something, I'd say you should start with a conventional coil. They're generally easier to understand, so you're less likely to be overwhelmed and give up. OTOH, if you're a total electronics noob, but you don't give a rip about how any of it works and just want an SSTC no matter what, you can just reproduce somebody else's SSTC verbatim and probably get lucky. Or maybe you only care about making big sparks and just want to do so in a cheap, relatively uncomplicated way. Conventional coils win hands down in that case; DRSSTC's can womp conventional coils on efficiency, but with that increased efficiency comes complexity. Unless you have lots of $$, that is If you have lots of $$, you can buy DRSSTC kits from people like Dan McCauley, or just buy a whole DRSSTC ready-made from Chris Miles (see his recent ad in the For Sale forum ). Audio modulation is certainly a very advanced topic, and is the last thing I'd expect anybody to conquer in their first coil unless they had a great deal of related experience or unless they just bought one finished or in kit form (in which case "conquer" is used lightly). And again, which direction you go depends on what's important to you, both in the end goal and in how you get there.
Somebody really needs to come up with the "What should my first HV project be?" flowchart There have been an awful lot of new folks joining lately and asking these same kinds of questions.
Registered Member #1204
Joined: Wed Jan 02 2008, 12:08AM
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 3
I have pretty decent electronics knowledge, and I know I want to start with an SSTC coil if anything, but really I was trying to ask how complicated an audio-modulated DRSSTC was... guess not that easy?
I understand PLL and control of them, but not so much the modulation system...
Registered Member #538
Joined: Sun Feb 18 2007, 08:33PM
Location: Finland
Posts: 181
FrOgY wrote ...
I have pretty decent electronics knowledge, and I know I want to start with an SSTC coil if anything, but really I was trying to ask how complicated an audio-modulated DRSSTC was... guess not that easy?
I understand PLL and control of them, but not so much the modulation system...
DRSSTCs are merciless regarding mistakes. If your control circuitry isnt working exactly like it should it will most likely result in a loud bang and lots of lost money in the form of IGBTs (a large amount or a steady supply of IGBTs is needed until you get the hang of it). In my opinion a working SSTC is almost a requirement to make a DRSSTC, it will give you the experience in such tesla coils because they are very similar in their operation but SSTCs are alot more forgiving. If you dont understand how a circuit works there is no idea in building it because even if you luck out and it works you will most like not be able to fix it if it blows up (and it isnt teaching you much if you just solder a bag of components to a board and have no idea what it does).
A small SSTC would be a good project if you have experience with electronics, if you dont then I suggest a conventional SGTC first.
Registered Member #33
Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971
The step from a DRSSTC to an audio modulated DRSSTC is not very big at all. Making the DRSSTC however, can be a challenge. I agree with Dago, start out with a conventional SSTC, as these can be a lot more forgiving, and you learn a lot of the basics.
A DRSSTC does not neccessarily have to be very expensive, but mistakes can add quite a bit to the cost, which is why I suggest that you start off with a SSTC.
Registered Member #1204
Joined: Wed Jan 02 2008, 12:08AM
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 3
I do realize that the MOSFETs\IGBTs would be stressed a lot more in a DRSSTC, due to their duty cycle being lowered and more current going through, so I will most likely start with a mini SSTC....
I would like the project to be fairly cheap, efficiency isn't the top in mind for a learning tesla...
I was really wondering what the minimum primary\secondary coil sizes are, and what size capacitors, and values of mosfets I need...
I was hoping for a secondary wound on PVC that is either pretty small in diameter and medium height, or fat in diameter and short... I have PVC\ABS pipe between 1/2" and 4" solid core and foam core...
The secondary can be constructed of copper pipe or larger magnet wire correct?'
With an 2" by 12" secondary (estimates), about how much primary coil would I need to be "current limiting" for the MOSFETs\IGBTs
Would a small simple SSTC or a small OLTC be an easier build for learning purposes?
Registered Member #477
Joined: Tue Jun 20 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 546
FrOgY wrote ...
Would a small simple SSTC or a small OLTC be an easier build for learning purposes?
Look up Steve Ward's "mini SSTC" project. I think he gives dimensions for just about everything. Even if you don't clone his design, you can borrow some of the parameters as guidelines. That's what I'd do, anyway.
An OLTC is not a good beginner's project. Getting even "fair" performance from an OLTC requires dealing with extremely high currents, which in turn require you to worry about a lot of things that are often ignored in other topologies (minimizing stray inductance in the primary tank, for example, as well as wrestling with the geometry of your secondary to keep the frequency down while simultaneously trying to keep the it physically small such that the tiny sparks don't look "dumb" next to it). Consequently, there are not a lot of OLTCs out there (even small ones) to use as examples.
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First Tesla: SSTC?
If you have lots of $$, you can buy DRSSTC kits from people like Dan McCauley, or just buy a whole DRSSTC ready-made from Chris Miles (see his recent ad in the For Sale forum 
). Audio modulation is certainly a very advanced topic, and is the last thing I'd expect anybody to conquer in their first coil unless they had a great deal of related experience or unless they just bought one finished or in kit form (in which case "conquer" is used lightly). And again, which direction you go depends on what's important to you, both in the end goal and in how you get there.
