Conner's Build

[BobZilla]

Hi Conner,
Keep up the good work.

As I explained previously it is difficult to properly calculate your watts because it is a moving target. Your primary is falling all the time so say 12.8 at 500 ma is not the same watts as 12.75 at 500ma and 12.5 etc ,, the point being it changes over time.

You may consider a watt meter if you have the money. These are not a perfect solution either because I do not believe they account for current pushing back the other way which does happen under certain conditions. With that said I used them for along time and they can be very helpful in getting data to work with. A word of caution though, as you go bigger and play with different setups you may burn them up, I have burnt quite a few up myself.

Rather than point you to a site I will just say do a search for "GT Power Watt Meter" on google. The prices vary quite a bit so if you want to buy one make sure and shop around for the best deal.

These meters will tell you in real time your draw rate and take voltage readings. They also tell you your watts consumed over the duration of a run. Like I said not perfect but they are useful.

[conner85]

Hi BobZ
It's great to hear from you again! Thanks for the heads up on the meter.
About " current pushing back which happens under certain conditions" is that what happens when your machine runs in "resonance"? Could you give me an idea as to what you would do next as far as building? I have tried diff mag configurations, new bearings, completely rebuilding the circuit with matching transistors with a volt meter (not accurate enough) diff gap on coil, diff battery sizes. I am not giving up but am sure with all the experience that is collectively on this form, a clear path to running at 1-1 or better is clearly known.
My components for the circuit and the magnets, coil size, wire are all according to the beginners/intermediate hand book. I know I have to build it myself which I can do but as a family man spending night after night building and testing is hard on the family
So as I was asking from where my build is, can I ask what would you do next on the build? I have a lot more components and am willing to buy wire, coils ect.

[Yaro1776]

Hey Conner,

Nice data run with the magnet mods - you did spend some quality time on this. Calculating the watt-hrs can be a chore as noted by BobZ and requires either additional electronics for the measurements or you can do it in a different fashion that will give reasonable results.

The following method can be useful:
1. Measure the voltage on both batteries a couple or three minutes after they are loaded - there will be an immediate voltage drop when you start the charge or discharge test. These are the values you need for the calcs.
2. Take your reads for voltage and amperage every 10 or 15 minutes during the test cycle for the charge. Same applies to the discharge cycle, but for the discharge amp load you can assume it to be constant for this calc.
3. Create a weighted average of your reads and use them in a spreadsheet to make the calc process less tedious. This will produce your desired result in watt-hrs or you can covert the results into joules by multiplying by 3600.

As an example for the discharge, if one takes the load amperage as an average of 0.58 A at an average discharge voltage of 12.4v for 40 minutes this will yield the following: 0.58A x 12.4V x .66 hrs which will equal 4.75 watt-hrs of power. This is the residual amount of useful energy put into the charge battery by the SG. The conversion into Joules would equal about 17,088 joules.

The charge into the battery would be calculated in the same manner.

This methodology may not give the precision that you require, but it will be very close and provide a data starting point into your experimental journey.

Later,
Yaro

[BobZilla]

Hi BobZ
It's great to hear from you again! Thanks for the heads up on the meter.
About " current pushing back which happens under certain conditions" is that what happens when your machine runs in "resonance"? Could you give me an idea as to what you would do next as far as building? I have tried diff mag configurations, new bearings, completely rebuilding the circuit with matching transistors with a volt meter (not accurate enough) diff gap on coil, diff battery sizes. I am not giving up but am sure with all the experience that is collectively on this form, a clear path to running at 1-1 or better is clearly known.
My components for the circuit and the magnets, coil size, wire are all according to the beginners/intermediate hand book. I know I have to build it myself which I can do but as a family man spending night after night building and testing is hard on the family
So as I was asking from where my build is, can I ask what would you do next on the build? I have a lot more components and am willing to buy wire, coils ect.

Hi Conner,
You don't want to hear it but I already told you my best advice, take your time and understand what is happening. You have just told me that you tried and changed five different things and now want me to tell you something else to change, well for what purpose? I am not trying to be a jerk here but what you need to understand is that it takes time. I could talk about a lot of things but they would not register with you at this point because you are not familiar enough with the technology, there is no shortcut to experience.

I don't want to leave you completely empty handed so let's talk about just one thing. You said you changed your gap on your coil right? Well what did you learn from that experience? I will tell you that you had it set way to close before.

I want you to try moving your coil out, and out, and out until you are just able to get enough induction to the trigger to fire. As you do that you need to reduce your resistance on your pot.

[D Rhodes]

Yeah it takes a lot of time...especially if you want to push the charge battery up to 15volts which is what the books recommend Conner.
edited
I don't know if you have tried it this way, but I would use your big battery as the primary and do tests on the smaller ones , that way the charging time to get it up to peak charge, at least over 14.5 volts, wont be so long and also your bigger battery as the primary may last long enough for that purpose before needing a recharge.

[michelm]

Hi everyone. I ve been stalking these forums for awhile and decided it's time to start a thread. Thanks for all the info everyone has shared here.
I have built the SSG according to the beginners handbook, then rebuilt the circuit to try to match the intermediate handbook. Everything seems to be running well. I had zero knowledge of electronics so the learning curve has been steep.
I have many questions. What is the exact procedure to measure the current draw from the primary batt?
I will also include a pic and video and if you see anything that needs to be changed please let me know. Thanks!

Hi Conner,
Thanks for sharing. Could you please also tell me about your diodes. I noticed on the attached photo that there seem to be 2 different kind of diodes on your circuit. The small diodes soldered from the emitter to the base of the MJL21194G transistors are 1N4007 right? But what about the much bigger size diodes going from the middle prong, the collector to the copper rail. What are they? Similar model but with bigger current dissipation? You see my circuit is not working so since you got your circuit/ ssg to work hence my question. I thought that all 14 diodes are 1N4007, but the diodes that I've received from eBay look alike the small diodes between the emitter to the base on your circuit, the 1N4007. I know one thing is that my diodes are not Fairchild Semiconductor 1N4007, they are unbranded 1N4007.
So I'd appreciate your feedback or anyone who can advise what are those bigger diodes on your circuit/photo?
Thanks very much!
M.

[John_Koorn]

Hi michelm, they are 1N5408. You don't need to go that big, 1N4007 will work just fine.

John K.

[Gary Hammond]

Hi Michelm,

Hi michelm, they are 1N5408. You don't need to go that big, 1N4007 will work just fine.

John K.

John is quite correct!

I used 1N5408's on mine at first thinking they would be better as they have a slightly lower forward voltage drop and will handle three times the current. Problem is, it isn't current we're after, it's fastest switching and highest voltage spikes! The 1N4007's switch a little faster than the 1N5408's, so they actually give better results when used in the SSG. I swapped mine back to 1N4007's and got faster charging!

The next one I build, I'm going to use the ultra fast UF4007's to see if I can get even better charging. Fast switching with matched, balanced, components should give the best results (i.e. - the most radiant).

[michelm]

Thank you John and Gary for the valuable information
M.