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Solid State Tesla Coil 2.0

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ZakWolf

Fri Oct 22 2010, 02:57AM

Registered Member #3114 Joined: Sat Aug 14 2010, 08:33AM
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Posts: 608

I was going to a sstc but i dont have the resources of time right now so i wanted to order one, i looked all around and have settled on this one is this a good one and worth my money?

Also will i have to tune my coil? It say auto tune but does not include resonator

here is the driver --->

thanks

here is my secondary coil, will this work for the sstc driver ?

Tall coil= 15 inches tall, 2 inches diameter
short coli= 12 inches(approx) 2 inches in diameter

ScotchTapeLord

Fri Oct 22 2010, 04:10AM

Registered Member #1875 Joined: Sun Dec 21 2008, 06:36PM
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I'm not sure how it auto-tunes without a resonator, but I'm sure EVR can tell us!

You should punch your coil's numbers into a program like TCcad to make sure it's under 400kHz or give the wire gauge and I could do it for you.

ZakWolf

Fri Oct 22 2010, 04:33AM

Registered Member #3114 Joined: Sat Aug 14 2010, 08:33AM
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Posts: 608

my wire gage is 26 awg

what if its over 400kHz?
thanks

ScotchTapeLord

Fri Oct 22 2010, 12:18PM

Registered Member #1875 Joined: Sun Dec 21 2008, 06:36PM
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Unfortunately I get unloaded frequencies of about 1MHz for the larger coil and, of course, even higher for the other. The kit states that it is usable up to 400kHz. That means that it just isn't fast enough to be reliable for too much more (1MHz would definitely qualify as "too much more"). Results could range from nothing happening to exploding silicon. Either way it won't work with either of your coils...

Unfortunately, you'll need a class E driver if you want to run those as solid state units. The same place sells class E drivers but his seem to be fixed at 4MHz, so they won't work with these either...

What you could do is buy one of his class E coil drivers and then remove most of the wire on your small one and trim down the coilform. According to my coil calculator, you'd need 2.65" of winding.

HV Enthusiast

Fri Oct 22 2010, 12:50PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
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Your resonators are basically in the high frequency range for Tesla coils which usually require Class-E type drivers. I also got well over 1MHz fres (unloaded) for both your coils.

I would recommend a class-E design, probably something set to around 2-4MHz, although you'll need to trim your existing resonators to tune them appropriately. There are plenty of Class-E designs available on the 4hV forum that you could use for reference if you wanted to build your own. Richie Burnett (search GOOGLE) has an excellent website as well on some of his class-e work.

Other than that, I would just rewind some new secondaries. Doesn't take too long to do. Try using 3-4" DIA PVC and use 30AWG wire (12-15" height would be good with 30AWG at 4" DIA)

Crunchy Frog

Fri Oct 22 2010, 02:26PM

Registered Member #2422 Joined: Tue Oct 06 2009, 02:41AM
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If you're looking for an auto-tuning class-e design you might consider this one

It's a pretty simple circuit. However, you will probably want to raise the inductor to ~100uH and the capacitor to ~300pF. These are just guesses, however, so you will probably need to experiment, especially with the capacitor value.

ZakWolf

Fri Oct 22 2010, 02:28PM

Registered Member #3114 Joined: Sat Aug 14 2010, 08:33AM
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Posts: 608

i used the TCcad to calculate a coil 4" diameter and 15" tall. here are the results. i used 30awg wire for the input

will this work for the sstc driver 2.0 ?

HV Enthusiast

Fri Oct 22 2010, 06:50PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
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Yes. That looks fine. If i read it correctly, looks like about 300kHz for unloaded coil. And with a 12pF toroid topload, about 150kHz. That would work fine with a half-bridge SSTC driver such as the SSTC 2.0.

There are also plenty of half-bridge based SSTC designs on the internet provided you want to design a board yourself. They're all basically the same - just a half-bridge power circuit with some sort of feedback or open-loop frequency control to set the switching frequency.

ZakWolf

Sat Oct 23 2010, 02:08AM

Registered Member #3114 Joined: Sat Aug 14 2010, 08:33AM
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Posts: 608

instead of using a lot more wire.I could wrap an oatmeal container which has a close to the same frequency as the other 4" diameter at 15" tall coil.

The oatmeal container is 5 1/8" in diameter and 9 1/2" tall

SAVES WIRE

oatmeal container and results of input data:-D

HV Enthusiast

Sat Oct 23 2010, 12:58PM

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

Oatmeal containers are good too!
Just be sure to remove the outside print as black ink usually has carbon in it so it would be conductive.

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