Feeling like I'm on Gilligan's island

[kennygee]

First of all I am an American working abroad, and the region I am in is somewhat lacking in proper materials. For example, I cannot locate proper lengths of magnet wire, so I am using 24 gauge telephone wire for the main coil, and splicing together three small rolls of #26 magnet wire for the trigger. I cannot locate a skate wheel so I made one out of an empty wire spool and duct-tape ha ha. I do have some Neo magnets. For the small wires, again it is not readily available so I am using clothing hangers at 3mm diameter. I did order the electronic components through Mouser and had them shipped over-seas to me.

With that as a back-drop, how sensitive is the SSG system? Mine will not run. I have reasoned that magnet strength, magnet- wire bundle distance, magnet-coil distance, distance of the top of the wire bundle above the top of the coil, and number of coil turns are the major parameters to optimize. (have I left anything out?). My system is highly improvised while at the same time striving to keep within the letter of the law of design criteria with my available materials.

I have checked my circuit configuration and it is by the book. I will make another circuit with new components to eliminate this possibility. Any pointers for me? Tom C answered my last question regarding the use of re-bar, but his mailbox is currently full.

cheers

[Brodie Gwilliam]

you can try the bottom trigger going to the positive of primary and maybe make sure you have 1000 ohms or more on base resistance and you should be able to hear it oscillate when the magnet is close to core... if this works then this should show that your curcuit is working ... what transistors you using? some wheels take a pretty good spin to start up... you should be able to hear the coil start firing when the circuit starts working

[Tom C]

Kenny,

Where are you located, I can ship anything to you most likely..... may take a while but it will most likely get there

Tom C

[kennygee]

Tom,
Thanks for the offer. I am on the east coast of Saudi Arabia. There is a radio shack here but they do not special order, they just stock basic items. I might be coming home (to Idaho) for about 3 weeks in December, which means I could stock up on a few items to take back with me. If that falls through, I have a MyUSA mailbox in Florida that I use to send stuff over here (kind of spendy, but beggers cant be choosers). So perhaps if I am lacking some things I could have you send them to my Florida mailbox and then I would have them shipped over here.

[kennygee]

Hi Brodie,
I am using transistor MPS 8099, and diode 1N914. So to be clear on your suggestion, I connect the bottom of the coil trigger wire to the positive (which is the top) of the primary wire, then I measure resistance between...? emailing me a diagram would be worth a thousand words. I am using as my base diagram page 14 of the Bedini SG Complete Beginner's Handbook.

[Brodie Gwilliam]

http://rpmgt.org/Schematic1.JPG , if that link works its a pretty good schematic, 2n3055 is usually the cheap transistor to go for if you can find one...that one doesn't seem to be rated for much current , as for solid state you just move the trigger winding that goes ftom negative of primary to the positive of primary , and then make sure you add 1000 ohms or more resistance to the base ....(the resistance thats drawn left side of schematic between the base of the transistor and the top if the trigger winding), that's where u add resistors ..... but while trying to get your wheel to spin I would have somewhere between 50 an 500 ohms resistance on the base.... 100 would be a good start, and make sure you spin that wheel hard too!

[kennygee]

Hi Brodie,
Thank you for the link and advice. I will be working on it. I tested and found that my transistor is fried, so that is one glitch discovered. I will let you know how it turns out. - cheers

p.s. is it possible that neo magnets are too powerful, and I need to switch to ceramics?

[Brodie Gwilliam]

it should still work with neo's.... just might not be as efficient, ive heard neos can be so strong that you might even be able to use a coil with no core

[John_Koorn]

Hi Brodie,
Thank you for the link and advice. I will be working on it. I tested and found that my transistor is fried, so that is one glitch discovered. I will let you know how it turns out. - cheers

p.s. is it possible that neo magnets are too powerful, and I need to switch to ceramics?

Hi kennygee, you are going to be MUCH better off with ceramic magnets. The SG will run with neo magnets, but will not give you any decent results.

John K.

[Faraday88]

Hi Kennygee,

Using a Stronger Magnet (Neodymium) will saturate the core and does not contribute to the trigger function of the SG.
Rgds,
Faraday88.

[kennygee]

ok thank you I will give it a go

[kennygee]

great. thankyou