Jelloir's SG Build

[jelloir]

This Easter long weekend I began my SG build and thought I would document my build progress.

To start with here is the frame (not yet complete). The wheel is just balancing for a picture and I haven't fixed the wooden struts for the wheel to the base yet. The plan is to have the struts for the wheels adjusteable so I can swap for a larger wheel easily if I want. I may also make the coil platform height adjusteable for fine tuning the space between the magnets and the coil. The base it a bit longer so I can fix my transistor board and comparator on the side for easy access.

By the way, anyone looking to build one, the teslagenx.com 8 transistor kit is a piece of cake to put together. Very glad I ordered that and my other components through them.





James

[BobZilla]

The frame looks very nice!

Question about your wheel. It looks like you have attached a fixed axle to it , is that correct. Are those bearing housings in the picture? I'm curious about your axle and how you are mounting it. Could you elaborate on that a little, maybe get some closer pictures of the wheel?

Over all it looks like a great start for your project.

[jelloir]

BobZilla, What your looking at are "pegs" for a BMX, they will be mounted with pipe holders. I am going to place a thin piece of rubber between the pegs and the pipe holders so they grip well and reduce a little bit of vibration.

[jelloir]

Mounted Magnets

For the 24 magnets I created a 15° template using some card paper and marked the rim of the wheel. Magnets now mounted!

[BobZilla]

Ahh ok now I got you. I did not realize they made pegs with such a large diameter. When I was a kid I did some free-styling but the pegs were narrow, almost like a bunch of nuts just welded together.

Your magnets look just a bit close together but hopefully it will not be a problem. It is a very nice looking build. Can't wait to see you do your first runs with it.

[jelloir]

Thanks for the feedback BobZilla. I'm a little concerned about the magnet spacing now, SG beginner book says 24 magnets on a 20" bike wheel, but also states 3" spacing. I guess I will run it and alter the spacing if required.

[jelloir]

Coil Platform and Wheel Mounted

Just a quick couple of updates. I remembered I had some nylon nuts and thread so used them to create a spring loaded platform so I can adjust my coil height easily. Plan is to insert a wood shim and then screw the base down again against the shim. I can see myself being tempted to adjust while it's running but must resist that urge Also mounted my wheel after finding a scrap bit of rubber at the hardware store.

[Tom C]

24 seems a bit hi, On a 26 inch wheel 21 magnets will give you 3.9 inch spacing, its a matter of a decent south between the norths.

[jelloir]

Its Alive

It's 2am and I couldn't wait any longer and decided to connect some dodgy batteries and cables and spin up! Need to get some good batteries and re-cable everything with the 6mm cable I have lying on the floor. Think the wheel might need more balancing, but it's humming along ok, hell yeah!

Soon I'll have my comparator on there once it's tidied up. I have a tachometer and clampmeter ordered, sweet!!

I'll get a vid done soon also, but need some shut eye.

[Tom C]

nice build, great work, I really like how you mounted the axle, elegant and effective.
Tom C

[Allen R.]

Sweet setup!

al

[jelloir]

Thanks for the comments! I created a short vid of it running. Seems to be working ok.

Thanks JB for releasing this to the public, legend!

Edit: The charge battery in the vid must have a shorted cell, but the machine still works ok.

James

[guyzzemf]

James
very nice [THE POSTER CHILD OF SSG]

[BobZilla]

That is a great job, very nice!

One thing I want to mention too you, may or may not be a problem but you should be aware of it. I notice you have that thing right up there next too your computer which means two things to me, the computer and yourself are going to be bombarded with pulsing magnetic fields. You may like it but the PC may not ;-)

*EDIT*
I mention it because I have messed up a laptop doing the same thing, but I also have another one which has never had a problem. I think some hard drives may have shielding and others don't.

As far as human exposure, it does bother some people and others do not notice anything. The frequency you are running at has a lot to do with it too.

[jelloir]

Thanks again BobZilla, I have moved it to the floor now. I sprinted in to my room last night after hearing "tap, tap, tap, tap" thinking a magnet was about to punt itself to Tasmania through my wall but thankfully it was just the end of the tape a little loose, so I sorted that.

Some initial results to share and some questions, feel free to offer some insight as I don't have much yet I'm only playing around and won't seriously start testing until I my tachometer, clampmeter, etc arrives. I also feel I need to get comfortable with how it runs as well.

• It draws almost 2 amps. Seems like a lot?
• Changed the magnets to an odd number 17 around the rim, this leaves about 2.5 magnet widths between magnets and properly balanced my wheel again. It seemed to like this.
• Purchased 2 brand new 65AH deep cycle batteries, I am using this for testing my S10A12 Solar Tracker and the SSG, I understand they need to be formed. Are these a bit big for the SSG? It does charge them, albeit slowly.
• Pulses from the comparator reach approx. 26.5V, 4 amps ever 1 second. This is just the current [pun intended ] setting and I have be non-experimentally altering the pulse rate.
• It seems to change gear as it spins up? It sounds kind of clunky, the amp meter needle waves back and forward but once it reaches the gear change point it kicks up a notch and starts purring to it's maximum rpm. I noticed that I need to leave the pulse period on the comparator longer or it takes longer to reach this point (or not at all).

I finished watching EFV 33, 34 and I am considering swapping the wheel for a 26" rim I have from an old bike. I will test the smaller wheel but given it''s easy to change wheels I figured I may as well.

So far I am pleased with how its running but imagine there is rabbit hole of tweaks ahead for me.

James