diode in series before base of drive transistor.

[bigmotherwhale]

in trying to increase the efficiency of my machine and reduce losses, in the switching circuit, i have found that putting a low-drop schottky diode in series with the base resistor instead of a reverse blocking diode (in parallel with the base emitter) I get better charging, lower input current, and the filament bulb is not as bright, the spikes to the output battery are larger on a scope and the drive transistors stay cool. currently it is working in energizer mode, i will let you know if it works with a rotor as well.
It does work with a standard diode 0.7v drop too.

[bigmotherwhale]

No it doesnt work with a rotor, i even tried to bias the trigger coil circuit to 0.2 volts to match the drop in the transistor but i didnt have any luck it should be possible if you can match the voltage drop across the diode at least i think that is why it goes into self resonance.
it does work very well as a solid state charger however.

[knagtegl]

I did it once with a multicoil rotor but I had to first speed it up by bypassing the diode with a switch and switch the diode in at full speed.
You might try that.

Karel

[VortexTurtle]

sounds kind of like the SSG Lasersaber/Minoly Radiant Charger w/ Base Capacitor and diode mod.....

Also, where do you have the filament bulb positioned? is it between the start of the trigger coil and the trigger resistor? Does that help with charging, kind of like a spark-gap? I'm a fast-learnin noob, so I'm only in the noob stages. Even had to teach myself what components do, etc... hahaha so taaaake it easy on me

[Faraday88]

good trick!
Rgds,
Faraday88.