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Hey guys, just my introduction

PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:17 pm
by ican
Hi all, I'm Adam, and I've been interested in Tesla Coils since I took high school physics, and just recently had the opportunity to buy the oneTesla kit and built it in a day. My son has been wanting to build a coil for the science fair for the last 3 years, so I decided it was time to get one for him. He helped me with the assembly - and reading resistor bands - and I did all the soldering because his hands aren't quite steady enough to make clean joints yet. After building the main board and interrupter, we tested the coil and were very pleased with the immediate results. We didn't have the computer connections needed to program the interrupter for MIDI however, so we assembled another interrupter kit from TheGeekGroup because it had the ability to connect via USB and was completely self contained after programming with the ability to be powered by 3.7v Battery, USB, or wall wort. Shortly after testing, we blew the IGBTs on the coil because I hadn't realized how low the duty cycle had to be for the DRSSTC circuitry in the oneTesla kit. So currently, our coil is fried and waiting for new parts.

In the meantime, I've done a lot of research on how to make the other interrupter work with a DRSSTC, and have found the ability to ramp down the duty cycle to as low as 3%, which is where we will start testing once the board is up and running again... Hopefully we can make adjustments to get it up to 15% duty cycle, and be able to switch back and forth between the two interrupters any time. Barring that, I may just have to build an SSTC to use the other interrupter, because I don't want to blow any more IGBTs. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress with TheGeekGroup's interrupter, as it's just cool to be able to use an SD card to hold your MIDI, rather than having to reprogram the interrupter every time you want to change the music.

Re: Hey guys, just my introduction

PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:45 pm
by ican
Got my AVRISP Mk II today! woot!






Now to figure out how the heck this stuff works. lol

Re: Hey guys, just my introduction

PostPosted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:28 am
by DJKOR
Did you get your kit from oneTesla? You shouldn't have to program the interrupted at all if you did. Just plug in the supplied USB to MIDI cable and you're set.

Edit: I realised what you mean. You wanted the interrupter to playback a MIDI without "streaming" it from your PC. Scrap that question then.

Re: Hey guys, just my introduction

PostPosted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:28 pm
by E.TexasTesla
Hello Adam, welcome to the forum. Glad your coil worked out, at least for awhile.
It's good to have father son projects.

I'm not shure why your interrupter wasn't already programmed. Mine was plug and play.

Re: Hey guys, just my introduction

PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 6:09 am
by stegu
If you like, you can actually convert (I would say "mutilate") the oneTesla to an SSTC by shorting the tank cap and using an antenna instead of the CT for feedback. Not sure exactly how, but there's a thread in here somewhere mentioning someone who did it.