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.
Registered Member #1169
Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251
As suggested by Daniel this Discussion is aimed at trouble shooting and discussing Daniel's new modulator.
Like I said in a previous post, I get no output of U53 or U4. Both of which I have changed twice. However i get a signal out of U3. I got the VU meter working great and it seems to be blinking to the music, however when I hook up J2 to the Tesla i get nothing.
pin 5 shows +5 volts and r10 is open, jmp1 is also at the "B end" of the jumper if that helps any.
Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Austin wrote ...
As suggested by Daniel this Discussion is aimed at trouble shooting and discussing Daniel's new modulator.
Like I said in a previous post, I get no output of U53 or U4. Both of which I have changed twice. However i get a signal out of U3. I got the VU meter working great and it seems to be blinking to the music, however when I hook up J2 to the Tesla i get nothing.
pin 5 shows +5 volts and r10 is open, jmp1 is also at the "B end" of the jumper if that helps any.
Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated
Please re-read the instructions. In particular, you need to set your envelope gain as shown in Step 3 of the instruction manual. Pin 5 of U4 should be at least 6V or you won't get any output.
If you want to temporarily test the set-up using fixed pulsewidth output, you can simply remove R9. However, start operation with max pulsewidth adjust set to zero and slowly increase.
Also, you should make sure you aren't duty limiting and make sure that is set as well according to the instructions.
An oscilloscope would be quite helpful in your troubleshooting and setting your pulsewidth limits etc...
Registered Member #1169
Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251
Dr. Shock wrote ...
Austin wrote ...
As suggested by Daniel this Discussion is aimed at trouble shooting and discussing Daniel's new modulator.
Like I said in a previous post, I get no output of U53 or U4. Both of which I have changed twice. However i get a signal out of U3. I got the VU meter working great and it seems to be blinking to the music, however when I hook up J2 to the Tesla i get nothing.
pin 5 shows +5 volts and r10 is open, jmp1 is also at the "B end" of the jumper if that helps any.
Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated
Please re-read the instructions. In particular, you need to set your envelope gain as shown in Step 3 of the instruction manual. Pin 5 of U4 should be at least 6V or you won't get any output.
If you want to temporarily test the set-up using fixed pulsewidth output, you can simply remove R9. However, start operation with max pulsewidth adjust set to zero and slowly increase.
Also, you should make sure you aren't duty limiting and make sure that is set as well according to the instructions.
An oscilloscope would be quite helpful in your troubleshooting and setting your pulsewidth limits etc...
What are you using for an audio source?
I am only getting about 6 volts out of the 9v battery, I think this could be why I am not getting +6volts out of pin5 of U4? the duty cycle is set to 15% and my audio source is headphone jack to my laptop computer.
Registered Member #1169
Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251
Dr. Shock wrote ...
+6V is the input to Pin5. It isn't generated by pin 5, its generated by the envlope detector op-amp.
You likely need to increase gain. Plus, if you disconnect R9, then it doesn't matter what you have a pin5 since thats basically disabled.
Forgive my ignorance but I want to make sure I understand you. In order to increase the voltage coming into pin5 of u4 I need to set my gain as described in step 3 or increase the gain by disabling volume envelope pulsewidth control I.e. remove R9.
If that doesn’t work do you have any other suggestions? Besides replacing the 9volt.
Again thank you for taking the time to help walk me through this.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Yes. Step 3 shows how to set the gain. With nominal input, you should have about 7V at pin 5. If you can't get 7V, then increase your input signal, or change some of the gain resistors for that first op-amp.
Or disable the entire envelope control by removing R9. The circuit altogether is extremely basic - you should try to gain a full understanding of it - its really easy - just a few op-amps, and a 555 timer IC.
Registered Member #1169
Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251
Dr. Shock wrote ...
The circuit altogether is extremely basic - you should try to gain a full understanding of it - its really easy - just a few op-amps, and a 555 timer IC.
I think people forget that this Tesla project is my first introduction into electronics. While I have learned a tremendous amount along the way there is still a lot that I don't know. There is no shame in asking for help when you need it, especially from the person who designed it. I would not be spending time on the forums unless I have tried every possible thing I could think of.
Again, isn't that why we are all here? Learning begins at every skill level.
Registered Member #154
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 04:28PM
Location: Westmidlands, UK
Posts: 260
Austin For someone making the MiniBrute project an introduction into electronics and successfully getting it to work must be commended!! I haven't read Dan's write up on his XenoSonic , but i would think all your questions would be great feedback for him as to testement that his book works, and areas where it possibly can be written to help the average hobbiest to understand more clearly. so....although there may be frustrations along the way, i'm sure you'll get it working Austin.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Austin wrote ...
Dr. Shock wrote ...
The circuit altogether is extremely basic - you should try to gain a full understanding of it - its really easy - just a few op-amps, and a 555 timer IC.
I think people forget that this Tesla project is my first introduction into electronics. While I have learned a tremendous amount along the way there is still a lot that I don't know. There is no shame in asking for help when you need it, especially from the person who designed it. I would not be spending time on the forums unless I have tried every possible thing I could think of.
Again, isn't that why we are all here? Learning begins at every skill level.
There is no shame at all and i am happy to help you or anyone else. I am merely trying to engage you to look beyond the schematic on the page into getting an understanding of how the circuit works stage by stage. Its pretty simple and just spending a few minutes will help tremendously in your troubleshooting procedure. And again, i can help you with any questions you may have about the troubleshooting or how the circuit works. That being said, i will probably update the instructional manual to describe how everything is working together in the schematic.
Registered Member #1169
Joined: Wed Dec 12 2007, 09:16AM
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 251
K im still stuck. I removed R9 all together and still no output (pin3) of U4. Pin5 at U4 is well above +7 volts. I checked pin 1 of LM393 and i get aprox 2.5 volts. Pin 1 of U2 reads aprox +5 volts although im not sure that it matters now that R9 is gone. U4 is also getting power at pin 8.
also if this helps, while i had some audio input going into the modulator i could not get the over duty cycle LED D51 to trip even while I was messing with R55
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.