Branch's SSG Build

[Branch Gordon]

Patrick - I shot a video for ya doing what you showed in your vid. Thank you for shooting that!

John K - I had Tom C put this wheel together under the stipulation that he get the magnet spacing as exact as possible. The problem is that it has a bit of a wobble now which I need to work out. In RE: to the batteries AH rating...these are 150AH batteries new. The ones you see in my videos are all old that I got from a golf cart dealer.

See vid below:

[Branch Gordon]

Additional note...as I was fiddling with the scope right now I realized that the lead connected to the master coil wasn't set to the same resolution as lead #2. I corrected this and now they look very much the same size.

[min2oly]

Patrick - I shot a video for ya doing what you showed in your vid. Thank you for shooting that!

John K - I had Tom C put this wheel together under the stipulation that he get the magnet spacing as exact as possible. The problem is that it has a bit of a wobble now which I need to work out. In RE: to the batteries AH rating...these are 150AH batteries new. The ones you see in my videos are all old that I got from a golf cart dealer.

See vid below:

Glad you solved the potential difference. The waves don't seem to "dance" around as I put it, as much in this vid. What I mean by that is the waves don't move left and right individually. You can watch the scope some more over time and see if there is some other anomaly that is making that happen or maybe I'm just seeing things . The best time to determine most of this is w/o the ckt being turned on...

Something you can do is add the 3rd coil w/o connecting it, put your scope across it and once you have a steady speed (driving the wheel w/ the other two coils), you can learn a lot about that 3rd coil, your magnets, and your wheel. Do a "capture"/freeze frame on the scope and measure the distance between peaks etc...
Have fun - Patrick A.

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks Patrick! Yeah the waves moving back and forth a bit could be from my wheel needing some straightening out. It's got a bit of a wobble.

Video update time!

[John_Koorn]

Hey Branch, thanks for sharing.

I see the occasional double pulse on the scope. Looks like you need to reduce the master base resistor a little.

Looking at your charge curve, I don't think your machine is powerful enough to push that battery up to 15.8v.

Do you have any smaller batteries you could use, just so you can see one fully charge?

John K.

[Branch Gordon]

Hey John-

So I reduced the master resistance (I have a POT on there at the moment) until I was pulling 3A, vs the 2.2A I was pulling before. I still was seeing that occasional double pulse. You think I should try and pull more?

Hey Branch, thanks for sharing.

I see the occasional double pulse on the scope. Looks like you need to reduce the master base resistor a little.

Looking at your charge curve, I don't think your machine is powerful enough to push that battery up to 15.8v.

Do you have any smaller batteries you could use, just so you can see one fully charge?

John K.

[min2oly]

Hey John-

So I reduced the master resistance (I have a POT on there at the moment) until I was pulling 3A, vs the 2.2A I was pulling before. I still was seeing that occasional double pulse. You think I should try and pull more?

Here's your culprit for the double pulse:


I say culprit however the wave is closer to where the rest of them should be. Your ON time, that's when the wave shoots straight down where I have the arrow then it should shoot across and shoot straight up. Yours kind of tapers up at an angle, this is when the transistor turns off (the shoot up) That all should be closer to square.
hope this helps.
Oh, it must be because of the wobble or one magnet is stronger than the rest. Somehow one magnet is putting more energy to the base than the rest...
KR - Patrick A.

[min2oly]

Here's your culprit for the double pulse:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4646[/ATTACH]

I say culprit however the wave is closer to where the rest of them should be. Your ON time, that's when the wave shoots straight down where I have the arrow then it should shoot across and shoot straight up. Yours kind of tapers up at an angle, this is when the transistor turns off (the shoot up) That all should be closer to square.
hope this helps.
Oh, it must be because of the wobble or one magnet is stronger than the rest. Somehow one magnet is putting more energy to the base than the rest...
KR - Patrick A.

Wait a minute, John do I have that backward? maybe one magnet is not putting enough to the base... long day for me :-)
One way to find out for sure, watch that wave, turn the pot up or down until it's square.
KR - Patrick A.

[John_Koorn]

Wait a minute, John do I have that backward? maybe one magnet is not putting enough to the base... long day for me :-)
One way to find out for sure, watch that wave, turn the pot up or down until it's square.
KR - Patrick A.

I'd lean towards one magnet not inducing enough into the trigger winding to trigger the base.

Another way to find out is adjust the time base on the scope so two revolutions of the wheel are depicted on the scope - i.e. if you have 16 magnets on the wheel, see if you can see 32 cycles. If the double pulse shows up 16 cycles apart you know it's a bad magnet.

John K.

[Tom C]

those magnets were gauss matched with a dedicated gauss meter.... so they went out matched. they are from the same lot number and were sequentially removed from the same stack of magnets for installation. if its a bad magnet I can send another whole set, as they will have to be matched and installed together. will be hard to tell how different it is without a meter. you can also remove that magnet and see if the pulse leaves. if you run it with one coil and it does not double pulse, its not the magnet.

Tom C

[min2oly]

those magnets were gauss matched with a dedicated gauss meter.... so they went out matched. they are from the same lot number and were sequentially removed from the same stack of magnets for installation. if its a bad magnet I can send another whole set, as they will have to be matched and installed together. will be hard to tell how different it is without a meter. you can also remove that magnet and see if the pulse leaves. if you run it with one coil and it does not double pulse, its not the magnet.

Tom C

Is it possible that one magnet was mounted ever so slightly askew and/or perhaps it is right at the wable? Is it possible to move the coil perpendicular to the wheel and see if that gets rid of the double pulse, or move the wheel side to side some how?
KR - Patrick A.

[Branch Gordon]

I've managed to rectify this issue. The hub was slipping out of the cone...I ended up gorilla gluing it in there and now the wheel is running more stable. It still needs some truing, but at least it's not grinding on that cone anymore.

I have all 3 coils hooked up now, and have replaced my cabling with 10AWG wire. Coils are lined up using Patrick's method w/ the scope.

I shot a video showing it running and the scope shot.

Is it possible that one magnet was mounted ever so slightly askew and/or perhaps it is right at the wable? Is it possible to move the coil perpendicular to the wheel and see if that gets rid of the double pulse, or move the wheel side to side some how?
KR - Patrick A.

[Tom C]

we are working on version 2 of the centering cones to prevent this.... you will get a free one branch!

Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks Tom! Hopefully I can get the old ones off since I gorilla glued them haha!

I shot a follow up vid earlier today showing where this battery leveled off. Comments welcome!

we are working on version 2 of the centering cones to prevent this.... you will get a free one branch!

Tom C

[John_Koorn]

Hey Branch,

How high did the solar tracker push that battery?

John K.