Hey guys, just my introduction
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:17 pm
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.
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.