Bedini SG Charge < Drain

[Zerosight]

Hi all!

The Bedini circuits have been around for awhile now but it just a month ago that I finally built my first. I am on the my second version (improving on the first) of the circuit and have stumbled upon a few bumps that I have not found answers to.

My setup:
cart wheel with 4 ceramic 1x1inch magnets
cart wheel is 4.75inches in diameter x 1.5inch thick
coil: 20g and 24g, wound bifilar 554 turns
transistor: 2n3055
resistor: 470ohms (now using 220Ohms in parallel just so I don't need to take out the 470 out of the pcb I made for it)
potentiometer: 5k
battery source: 12v 5ah new
battery charged: 12v 5ah new
core: I-E (for inverter use) thin metal strips as there are no welding rods similar to what is prescribed in the original build
wheel is vertically mounted
Lowest RPM achieved 650 on full resistance of pot
highest RPM achieved 1260 on least resistance of pot
ideal RPM: 400-600 (charges charged battery at fastest time)
repulsion mode
*neon has never lit up
*best achieved drain is 80-90mah at full resistance from pot
*both digital and needle type gauges are used to measure primary batt drain (I tune to lowest amp draw and this is only achieved at lowest pot setting. The in between dips of drain from start and finish pot settings are still higher vs the lowest setting.


What puzzles me:
-I am not able to charge the battery on the charge side to full (source batt runs out first)
-Is my amp drain good enough or should the setup achieve lower drains?
-When I use the source batt, it only lasts about a day until it reaches 10v from 12v
-Shouldn't the batt last for days on this setup without getting drained that much?
-And shouldn't the charged battery get charged before the source batt is drained to 10v?
-Charge time of charged battery is already at 18hours and it is still at 11.24v only.
- How come the NE2 bulb doesn't light or glow at all when run? It only lights up when Source batt is connected and Charged batt is not, but system not spinning.
- Higher RPMs will yield slower charging rates

Is there anyway for me to lessen draw from source batt for it to last longer? Also, shouldn't the charged batt be able to reach full charge much faster than 18hours?

TIA!

[Zerosight]

Update:

I changed out the core to a DIY ferrite core
Resistor used is now just 10ohms (I can run air core with this using noes on top of my existing ceramic 1x1 inch magnets
Double checked wiring
I use the needle may meter to find the dips in the amp usage and keep try to keep the setting there


I have tried the LED test but I could not get the LED to blink properly - connection before the IN4007 diode and other leg of LED to + of charged batt with 330Ohm resistor.

Running on a power supply with constant 12.2v
New optimal may is 420mah
and charge batt gains +.01 Volt every 1 minute from 12v (time gap increases as voltage goes up)
*Still no glow on NE2 (also checked with new NE2 just to make sure neon is still good)

[BobZilla]

Hi Zero,
Hey I think you are not getting much help because your build is unique. Most beginners build a standard machine which makes it easy to help them diagnose issues because we all know how the "standard" build behaves.

With that said I can maybe help a little.

You neon should not be lighting so don't expect it too. Really all it is there for is protection for the transistor if the charge side were to become unhooked or loose. It provides a path for the energy to run too and disperse, if it were not there and the charge came loose your transistor would burn up.

You question about the primary running out before the charge is finished is the name of this game my friend. It takes a lot of patience and tinkering to get the balance correct between consumption and charge. Very few actually achieve it. Don't be discouraged however because it can be done and in the meanwhile as you try to achieve it you can supplement with solar. Also keep in mind that the charge battery has to be conditioned to give the best results so even if your machine was perfect, you still may not get a 1 to 1 charge with new batteries. The back battery must be charged at least 20 times on the machine before it will start to charge faster with less input, we call it conditioning.

Look up your battery and find a spec sheet which will tell you the C20 discharge rate. Try to keep the machine running at C20 or higher. I am not sure what it would be for a small 5AH but I would guess around 100ma or so should be good. Also those 3055's will work but they tend to be problematic and they definatly do not do well when you want to scale up. I would go with the standard mjl21194, you will be much better off.

Good luck


*EDIT*
I found a spec sheet for a 5AH 12v,, looks like about a quarter amp is C20.
http://www.atbatt.com/media/sku_pdf/..._AP-1250F1.pdf