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Kain0o0

Mon Jan 28 2008, 10:18PM

Registered Member #1263 Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 03:53PM
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Posts: 4

I'm trying to build a drsstc as a demonstration piece for students intrested in a Tesla club.
After seeing the plasmasonic on Daniels website i was really impressed at the audio quality and would like to build one for the demonstration.
I have a few questions though. I bought the DRSSTC book but was wondering if the plasmasonic was a new tesla coil or a control unit based on the DRSSTC II or the mini-Brute.
My knowledge of tesla coils and high voltage is very limited and i was going to use "Building the modern day tesla coil" as a guide to building the drsstc II but was wondering if the audio controller used on the plasmasonic would work and sound good or if i needed a different design.

Thanks in advance for your input.:)
Cheers

...

Tue Jan 29 2008, 12:52AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

You can use a DRSSTC to make audio, however they are limited to playing no more than a few notes at a time. The SSTCs can play full hifi audio.

up to you to decide what you need...

Kain0o0

Tue Jan 29 2008, 01:09AM

Registered Member #1263 Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 03:53PM
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I was under the impression that it was the other way around. Thank you for pointing that out. Are there any good design guides for building SSTC's ?

bluemotion

Tue Jan 29 2008, 05:10AM

Registered Member #1200 Joined: Mon Dec 31 2007, 01:43PM
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Posts: 27

Kain0o0 wrote ...

Are there any good design guides for building SSTC's ?

Hi, Kain0o0

I think there is already plenty of information for both theory and practice floating around the net. Google is always your best friend.

Austin

Tue Jan 29 2008, 06:39AM

Registered Member #1169 Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251

I would not recommend building the DRSSTC II it is outdated and the new version (The Minibrute) has a lot of new safety features that will increase the reliability of your Tesla. I am currently building McCauley's Minibrute and trust me it is not cheap.

Also I would say the book you have is more or less an introduction to McCauley's DRSSTC where as the Minibrute reference design book has in depth procedures on how to construct a DRSSTC. Daniel feel free to correct me, this is just my understanding from what I read out of your books.

Austin

Tue Jan 29 2008, 06:45AM

Registered Member #1169 Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251

bluemotion wrote ...

Kain0o0 wrote ...

Are there any good design guides for building SSTC's ?

Hi, Kain0o0

I think there is already plenty of information for both theory and practice floating around the net. Google is always your best friend.

Sorry for the double post, but check McCauley's website again I think he offers the schematics and parts list for his old SSTC's. Try under the armature resources link or the old website link.

HV Enthusiast

Tue Jan 29 2008, 12:03PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
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The Plasmasonic is a CW type Tesla coil which runs continuously. Audio modulation is accomplished by Class-D modulation at the low side which reproduces the actual audio signal. Also, CW type Tesla coils produce little or no arc noise which is optimal for music reproduction although you need to operate above 3MHz to eliminate arc noise altogether.

DRSSTCs are pulsed Tesla coils. They can only reproduce audio "tones" which are created by varying the PRF frequency of the "pulses." For example, if you want an "A" note, you would pulse the system at 440 Hz. DRSSTCs rely on the arc noise to create the tones.

wrote ...

I would not recommend building the DRSSTC II it is outdated and the new version (The Minibrute) has a lot of new safety features that will increase the reliability of your Tesla. I am currently building McCauley's Minibrute and trust me it is not cheap.

Yes, I agree. The DRSSTC II is what i call a 1st generation DRSSTC in that it utilizes secondary base feedback and no synchronization on the drive circuit / fault detection circuits.

Second generation DRSSTCs such the miniBrute utilize primary current feedback and employ a variety of drive synchronization / fault detection to increase reliability.

Kain0o0

Tue Jan 29 2008, 03:18PM

Registered Member #1263 Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 03:53PM
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Posts: 4

Thank you guys for the input - i'm sorry for the ignorance but i'm new to this

i found the plasmasonic schematics on the easternvoltage website, couldnt find them before because they were in the old website. i'm going to go over the schematics today and try to construct a pcb layout.

i'm glad there are tesla coil forums, makes things alot easier
thanks daniel and everyone else for clearing up things for me

Tom540

Tue Jan 29 2008, 04:25PM

Banned on 3/17/2009.
Registered Member #487 Joined: Sun Jul 09 2006, 01:22AM
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I honestly don't see secondary feedback as obsolete. I see it as a different method and it seems to be more forgiving when the primary tunning isnt exact.

HV Enthusiast

Tue Jan 29 2008, 05:58PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
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Posts: 3068

Tom540 wrote ...

I honestly don't see secondary feedback as obsolete. I see it as a different method and it seems to be more forgiving when the primary tunning isnt exact.

Its not obsolete, but performance wise, its inferior to primary feedback. Proper soft-switching is very difficult at best with secondary feedback. Also, considering that the difference between secondary and primary feedback is just the location of the current transformer, its basically awash to which method to use.

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