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The "Original" OLTC and what to do with it??

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Terry Fritz

Sat Nov 22 2008, 04:47AM

Registered Member #393 Joined: Tue Apr 18 2006, 12:30AM
Location:
Posts: 297

Hi,

Remember when Solid State Tesla coils could put out sparks 'almost a foot' long!! :D

Before the SISG... Before the DRSSTC... Before Jimmy... Before Steve and Dan... Before IGBTs... You know, way back when Solid State Tesla coils really 'sucked'!! :D

Antonio and Malcolm knew the topology... But this WAS the machine that made it all come true:

August 23, 2002...

Fist demonstrated in Bill's L's garage that Sunday the 25th in Denver CO...:

In that last picture it was cranked up full and nobody was getting near that SOB then!!! :D

But the machine still sits... Gathering dust

I think it's electronics still has the batteries in place... One box still had the switch "on" :D But the LEDs indicate there is no battery power this moment. I might have actually removed the batteries... But I "bet" I could make it run again in ten minutes :D

Of course, the "first" OLTC was overtaken immediately by the DRSSTCs et all... But 'they' don't have the "first machine that 'made' the technology" and "I" do :D

So I was thinking... What the Heck do I do with it??? It can sit for another ten years and all... But maybe it is like really 'all historic' and should be in a museum somewhere or something...

The toroid is from Finn's spinning run. Certainly the most potentially expensive part. But I don't need any money at all for it. I just wonder if it needs a new home beside in a basement corner gathering dust... Where Tesla coilers could come and see it and drop to their knees before it :D :D

So any thoughts, comments, ideas, etc on what ol' Terry should do with that ol' "first OLTC" are welcome???

Terry

Firefox

Sat Nov 22 2008, 04:55AM

Registered Member #1389 Joined: Thu Mar 13 2008, 12:50AM
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 346

Its a shame we can't found a museum for Tesla's life and work, and the work of scientists and enthusiasts who came after him. Then you could put your OLTC in the museum where it belongs, like many of the other achievements in coiling history, right back to the first coil and coiler himself. I would sure as heck visit!

Herr Zapp

Sat Nov 22 2008, 05:53AM

Registered Member #480 Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644

Terry -

Its amazing how quickly technology can evolve!

Regardless of performance compared to current solid-state coils, I think that your OLTC should remain intact, and not broken up for parts, and fired up from time to time at T-thons and other geeky get-togethers.

I'd be happy to give your SISG a home, next to the little "first SISIG" shrine. I'm convinced that ultimately there will be a Tesla museum (or at least a permanent exhibition) somewhere in the US where these items will be able to be put on permanent display.

Regards,
Scott Hanson

Steve Conner

Mon Nov 24 2008, 10:11AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Crank it up on 240V of course!

(If I remember right, it can take 240 but you stuck to 120 for the original tests.)

FWIW, Finn and I have an OLTC installed as a theme park exhibit, and it's been working with no hassles for a good few years now. (Touch wood :O) Maybe Finn will tell more about it.

I believe Greg Leyh's twin coils that he showed at Maker Faire are also OLTCs, just with 3.3kV IGBTs and a very high DC bus voltage, that comes from a couple of Glassman capacitor charging power supplies as opposed to "off the line". He won't admit it of course

DRSSTCs are getting more reliable, but at the time these projects were started, they were still kind of new and untried. The OLTC technology was really simple, and we could simulate it and prove that it wouldn't blow up. So I think it was a great technology that's still relevant. In some respects the SiSG is even better.

Oh and my mini OLTC is still working and makes a great bookend

I actually got asked to bring it to a job interview once, though I never got the job.

HV Enthusiast

Mon Nov 24 2008, 03:06PM

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

Sacrificial burning!!!!

Terry Fritz

Tue Nov 25 2008, 12:27AM

Registered Member #393 Joined: Tue Apr 18 2006, 12:30AM
Location:
Posts: 297

Steve said:

Crank it up on 240V of course!
(If I remember right, it can take 240 but you stuck to 120 for the original tests.)

The coil never had very good "Q". I decided it was best not to just damage it when the technology was proven out. The "Q" flaw would always be a serious limit for this one machine. But it had done it's job

I don't really remember "any" OLTC ever failing!? Has anyone even managed to bust one?

Greg Leyh is super expert in the extreme solid state stuff now. But most of use can't play there without a $10,000 wire bonder and such. I did look into it though. But the entry cost to play with homemade super high power electronics is daunting. Not hard to do at all. But just too much costly equipment even from E-bay. Oddly, there are alternate methods but they require innovation...

I still have the original SISG coil too! Brilliantly, I made it a small cute table top machine instead of a giant test platform monster

I did learn that!

For now I just stabilized the OLTC coil and will just continue to hold onto it and wait. A few nice folks can store it for the long term too. But for now it will just wait . It would be cool for it to end up in the EU though since it got so much interest there.

Best Regards,

Terry

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