Here is a quick explanation for those who are losing their mind right now because this will be a 3 part project instead of a 2 part project. First off, was it planned as a 3 part project? No! I usually try to stay away from such long projects since I know that not every viewer will like the project. And spending 3 parts on it or 3 weeks will certainly annoy such viewers who have no interest in the subject. But I had no other choice to extend it to a 3 part project this time. Not only was the build process very long but also problematic. I am still currently working on the feedback part of the circuit. Also I wanted to include how to play music with such a tesla coil since many viewers asked for it. In a nutshell such 10 minute videos are the absolute maximum that I can produce in one week in this one man production style. The first two parts were full so I had to extend it. I am also not sure whether part 3 will follow next week, since I want to offer variety for the viewers. Anyway, I hope you understand my struggle and look forward to the conclusion of this project. Stay creative!
GreatScott! We appreciate good things and understand that good things takes time......You have taught me a lot about electronics to me..... Thank You...
If it had 50 parts I would watch all of them with a big smile in my face... I can't understand those people who are complaining about a free content (amazing content I should say)... It is understandable that people want to see more and more from GreatScott... but... come on, some people are playing really low ("he splits the videos because he wants more money...", and bla bla bla). GreatScott, for me your channel is one of the best channels about electronics on youtube and far my favorite. Keep up the great work and try to ignore those negatives comments. Greetings from the neighbor Switzerland!
GreatScott! I don't get it. when your are using arduino then why are you using 555timer for PMV signal. you could have just program arduino for that . if any one gets that why is he using 555 please let me know.
Wow, just wow! This should definitely be recognized as art! Such combination of precision, efficiency and pure knowledge is an absolute jaw dropper! Every electronics student and hobyist needs to see this and use it as inspiration! Keep up with amazing work mate, best of luck for the final touch!
I made it a bit small but with slayer exciter with power transistor at 12volts and got even bigger arcs than your previos version. Thanks for your help 😀
man that is allot! I doubt anyone would build it because of the intense items and smarts you need to build it, But I find it very entertaining to watch someone build it :D
Hello, Scott, greetings from Litauen! I already built my SSTC using two IR2110 ics and IRFP460N mosfets. Noticable heating starts around 80VDC on the full bridge. High and low signals are generated using STM32F4 discovery board, TIM1, which has complemetary outputs and adjustable dead band. High and low side signals connected to driver IC's through optocouplers and current buffers. Discovery board is supplied with isolated 5V 0,7A supply and drivers are supplied through 7812 and 7805 regulators for each IC. Mains are regulated via variac and then rectified. Sec coil is around 40cm height and has approx 1100 turns and primary uses 10 turns. With 100VDC ( I was happy wth that for around 5 seconds and one MOSFET blew up :D ) I got around 15 cm discharges. Really nice channel and videos ! Good luck with a Tesla coil!
The Steve Ward Mini SSTC schematic is super reliable, powerful, efficient, and easy to build. I built a 10 in tesla coil using this circuit and get 10 in breakout. The mosfets I use did not even get warm even at 100% duty cycle which is crazy.
I can understand all the work behing your videos. You are doing a great job, as usual. Release the final chapter or the next chapter when you feel its time for it. not because people are crying bla bla bla.... Its your channel, do it your way, we viewers are here to support you. Keep the solid work, you inspired me (17yo teenager) to study electronics in university. Have a good Sunday Great Scott
Germans have a hard time pronouncing the letters "ce" together without turning it into "ts" That's why centimeter is actually Zentimeter in German That's why there are words like Zertifikat (certificate) and Tendenz (tendency), frequenz (frequency), and Arroganz (arrogance)
Sohoraye Yaadhuv comments like this are everywhere we dont give a damn if you dont understand what he is saying there is a lot of people who does so stop posting comments like this
You had an Arduino. You used a 555 timer. A second Arduino would have been more than enough and given its sheer power. Yet you used the venerable 555. Huge respect.
The IGBTs get hot because tdon is smaller then tdoff, 100ns in your case. that leads to cross condition. use a driver like a IR2184 which has a 500ns dead time built in.
Tesla coils do require some quite extensive setting up to maximise there resonate frequency, which improves miss matches and the overall efficiency of the coil. Solid state drivers for these can take what seems an eternity to design, tweak and reconfigure, but modulating (pulsing) the output driver helps keep the IGBT transistor's cooler. You could also add some sort of thermistor feedback circuit to one of the heatsinks which you could use to provide a thermal value to the Arduino which could be configured to reduce the output voltage as needed to stop thermal runaway- or worse case scenario, shut down and protect the IGBT's.
Hey! I am a huge fan of your work, learning quite a bit. I gotta say though, when you work with larger stranded copper wire, an inline crimped barrel splice and heatshrink would be a much better way to go. Soldering has limitations...
I've assembled a tesla coil kit for one of my high school teachers. It uses half-bridge and it sings. Worked a bit, and then started blowing the fuse immediately after plugging it in. I removed the igbt's and they both measured only a few ohms no matter how they were probed. After watching your video, I believe the fault lies in a design flaw. The protection diodes on the igbt's. the kit says they are optional, and does not include them. Right... optional only if you don't care how long it lasts.
Most SSTC's that use a full bridge have a capacitor in series with the primary, that may reduce the current and heating. Also, check that black paint, many use carbon to produce the black colour,
There is no dead time in your driver, that could be the reason of heating. Switching IGBT in open circuit could breakdown the gate. Also, oversized topload ruined Q factor of Tesla coil, so you get smaller discharge length for the same power. Beside that your project looks nice, well done.
Very nice project, congratulations. It would be nice to have the audio from the Tesla coil working, the "Bzzt Bzzt" sound is very interesting, maybe in part 3? Again, thank you for your videos.
If you add Extra Coil and connect it to the Secondary Coil and then connect Top Load to the Extra Coil like Tesla recommends in patent 1119732, you should be able to get even larger sparks. Extra Coil aka Resonator acts as a magnifier. The Colorado Springs model of Tesla Coil is called Tesla Magnifying Transmitter.
you absolutely need feedback for the tesla ciol because by simply being to close to it the resonant frequency changes as for feedback you can use a current transformer or you can use an antenna
du kannst auch ein stück klebeband über der draht auf der unterseite der platine kleben und dan weiter unisolierten draht verwenden da so kein kurzschluss ensteht
You should make video in such a way that everyone can understand a little bit,like the scince behind this and showing the diagrams more clearly and explaining them,its fun to watch but not for people who want to learn.please make it more interesting by explaining things.
I talked about the input not the output power , and what you say is right but that ist what happend here and it is wrong... A tesla coil have put out the highest voltage that it can and not current / His tesla coil is efficiently but it is more like a flyback transformer
I'm sorry, I did not realise what you actually meant by power, some people think voltage and power is the same so I wanted to correct that. have a good night!
maybe you need a freewheeling diode across the igbts to avoid the voltage spikes, since the igbt does not have a inherent body diode like mosfets do; without the diode the voltage spikes can easily exceed the reverse breakdown voltage of the base-emitter junction, which has a much lower breakdown than the base-collector junction, and heat up the igbt or damage it
A spark gap tesla coil with a decent input transformer can output over 12 inch sparks (self proven). And you can get 100A 1200V half bridge IGBT modules off eBay for $10 a piece. Why not go big given the ridiculous wire gauge you used for the primary? Not trying to bring you down, I love your channel. As far as basics go, it is a great video, but I would like to see it taken further.
those little purple arcs can be easily obtained from flyback transformers used in old tv sets, I thought those arcs will be like deadly green or something
It is really hard to use a full bridge to drive a "transformer" with very low Q value. I failed many times when building my music plasma thing and finally choose to step back and use a self exciting soft switching topology. Also, soft switching can protect your IGBTs from high voltage peaks. If you want to stay with your full bridge design, the following may help. 1 add a electric reactor 2 use a intermediary transformer between outputs and primary coil 3 somehow get the current feeding into the primary coil more like a sine wave 4 check out how induction cooker control circuit works and that may be helpful
Ok I understand that you're doing it because you want to learn something. But I just made a ~50kV supply with 4cm arcs (Air resistance, thats why I think its 50kV) using only two Items: A CRT Flyback transformer and a 12V Halogen-lamp driver. The 12V output has to be wound around the Flyback-transformers Core. I have 20 windings. You may need to actively cool the driver. In a weird coincidence most blower also use 12V...
Amazing work. I've been desperate to build a SSTC for years, I've mastered spark gap coils with great success. The only problem is my lack of expertise. You make it look so effortless. Are you going to publish the final design of the driver circuit ? I'd love to knock up a PCB layout for it. Up for a deal ?
I've watched a couple of your videos now and have two comments: 1. You seriously need a 12x36" metal lathe and 2. I'm seriously glad I dont live next door to you - your RF would be hell on my radio. I wonder how Tesla created his either on/off voltages or oscillating voltages for his coils without electronics? Was it a rotating armature with brushes?
Awesome project! I'm always struggling with using "Home improvement store" for "Baumarkt", Just Sounds too formal xD. Your secondary coil still looks like it could use some enlargement to boost the output ;)
Love the projects. I eagerly await each one! One question I have had for a little while is this: how many times did your eyebrows have to grow back while playing with all this electricity? LOL!
Here is a quick explanation for those who are losing their mind right now because this will be a 3 part project instead of a 2 part project. First off, was it planned as a 3 part project? No! I usually try to stay away from such long projects since I know that not every viewer will like the project. And spending 3 parts on it or 3 weeks will certainly annoy such viewers who have no interest in the subject. But I had no other choice to extend it to a 3 part project this time. Not only was the build process very long but also problematic. I am still currently working on the feedback part of the circuit. Also I wanted to include how to play music with such a tesla coil since many viewers asked for it. In a nutshell such 10 minute videos are the absolute maximum that I can produce in one week in this one man production style. The first two parts were full so I had to extend it. I am also not sure whether part 3 will follow next week, since I want to offer variety for the viewers. Anyway, I hope you understand my struggle and look forward to the conclusion of this project. Stay creative!
GreatScott! We appreciate good things and understand that good things takes time......You have taught me a lot about electronics to me..... Thank You...
GreatScott! keep the great work man!!
If it had 50 parts I would watch all of them with a big smile in my face... I can't understand those people who are complaining about a free content (amazing content I should say)... It is understandable that people want to see more and more from GreatScott... but... come on, some people are playing really low ("he splits the videos because he wants more money...", and bla bla bla).
GreatScott, for me your channel is one of the best channels about electronics on youtube and far my favorite. Keep up the great work and try to ignore those negatives comments. Greetings from the neighbor Switzerland!
GreatScott! I don't get it. when your are using arduino then why are you using 555timer for PMV signal. you could have just program arduino for that . if any one gets that why is he using 555 please let me know.
it's PWM
good that you used a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER
ElectroBOOM approves this channel
H bridge*
your welcome.
He only mentions that it could be possible to use rectified mains voltage but never implemented the FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER
u liar
+Sharky
actually, he didn't :)
Patchoulino is correct, the driver is an H-bridge, not a bridge rectifier.
I love how neat your circuit skematics are.
FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!,... wait wrong channel
RYU47376 I was thinking the same thing
RYU47376 it will be fun if he does the same thing with his German accent!
Sorry, but I don't get it. What is funny about it? Thx.
+Szoszaty ElectroBOOM
It's not single diode rectifier. It's FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!
Never seen a lefty with such immaculate handwriting skills! nice work
You and ElectroBOOM should collaborate sometime
That would be really nice... Funny and informative at the same time :D
PimDoos I tried building a Tesla coil using his circuit design didn't work so I'm just using fly back transformers.
Accent overload
I love flybacks
PimDoos no, he should colab with eevblog
So far you are the best bug finder of electronic and electrical circuit I have ever seen.
Wow, just wow! This should definitely be recognized as art! Such combination of precision, efficiency and pure knowledge is an absolute jaw dropper! Every electronics student and hobyist needs to see this and use it as inspiration! Keep up with amazing work mate, best of luck for the final touch!
I wish I could have all the tools and electronics required for this awesome project. Excellent video!
Great Scott! I watched every video you made , until now , you are my favorite youtuber/teacher
keep it going I really like your art
Thank you very much
The idea to use ducting was awesome. Fun video and project man. Kudos on the video. Thanks
I'm envious of your soldering skills. Practice indeed makes perfect.
I made it a bit small but with slayer exciter with power transistor at 12volts and got even bigger arcs than your previos version. Thanks for your help 😀
That topload thing really does give it that Tesla coil look. I love it.
You have all of the support from all of your trusty viewers so keep the great work and Stay Creative ;)
You pronounced 'centimeters' the proper way now; awesome.
man that is allot! I doubt anyone would build it because of the intense items and smarts you need to build it, But I find it very entertaining to watch someone build it :D
you are doing such a great job with that project . i think that you and electroboom have the best videos with tesla coil.
As an electrical engineering student, this makes me really happy :P Love your channel!
Thanks
have you graduated now ?
Update, update !
Very professional work! You have in depth knowledge, and not afraid of complex circuits :) Good job!
these videos are somehow satisfying
as an experienced tesla coiler i have to say that you actually made a really good SSTC
Thanks😁
I only understand like 20% of what is said but it is still very interesting! Keep up the good work.
Hello, Scott, greetings from Litauen! I already built my SSTC using two IR2110 ics and IRFP460N mosfets. Noticable heating starts around 80VDC on the full bridge. High and low signals are generated using STM32F4 discovery board, TIM1, which has complemetary outputs and adjustable dead band. High and low side signals connected to driver IC's through optocouplers and current buffers. Discovery board is supplied with isolated 5V 0,7A supply and drivers are supplied through 7812 and 7805 regulators for each IC. Mains are regulated via variac and then rectified. Sec coil is around 40cm height and has approx 1100 turns and primary uses 10 turns. With 100VDC ( I was happy wth that for around 5 seconds and one MOSFET blew up :D ) I got around 15 cm discharges.
Really nice channel and videos ! Good luck with a Tesla coil!
Thanks for the feedback :-)
I deeply envy this level of technical skill
The Steve Ward Mini SSTC schematic is super reliable, powerful, efficient, and easy to build. I built a 10 in tesla coil using this circuit and get 10 in breakout. The mosfets I use did not even get warm even at 100% duty cycle which is crazy.
this project requires so much patience , waiting for part 3
I can understand all the work behing your videos. You are doing a great job, as usual. Release the final chapter or the next chapter when you feel its time for it. not because people are crying bla bla bla.... Its your channel, do it your way, we viewers are here to support you. Keep the solid work, you inspired me (17yo teenager) to study electronics in university. Have a good Sunday Great Scott
Thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your studies.
Thank you : D
Zentimeter
Serious
What do you mean?
Germans have a hard time pronouncing the letters "ce" together without turning it into "ts"
That's why centimeter is actually Zentimeter in German
That's why there are words like Zertifikat (certificate) and Tendenz (tendency), frequenz (frequency), and Arroganz (arrogance)
Who else doesnt understand shit what he talks but watches anyway because it's cool?? i cant be the only one...
Sohoraye Yaadhuv Not me. I've got the understanding part.
Sohoraye Yaadhuv comments like this are everywhere we dont give a damn if you dont understand what he is saying there is a lot of people who does so stop posting comments like this
Ahmet Asantas bruh youtube has millions of users commenting here wont help...shoo try somewhere else
I don't understand but I watch so I can learn. It's a fun way to try to understand.
I used to not understand, but watching this guy, bigclive, and Julian Illett (plus a couple of others) I now understand a lot of the basics.
I always watch whole add in your video to support you
I'm glad that he used a
FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER
I love it when Full Bridge inverters don't explode as soon as you connect the power supply
I love how i watched this whole video as if i had any idea what he was even talking about
lol
You had an Arduino. You used a 555 timer. A second Arduino would have been more than enough and given its sheer power. Yet you used the venerable 555. Huge respect.
i dont understand anything about this video, but its just nice to watch for some reason
I am Impressed, You are a Genius
I love the NE555 timer chip. Been using it since it was invented by the Signetics Corporation in 1971.
Your Videos are so awesome :D
I always like to watch them when I go to bed
@GreatScott! Add a deadtime between the high and low pwm signal this will make the IGBTs run way cooler.
The IGBTs get hot because tdon is smaller then tdoff, 100ns in your case. that leads to cross condition. use a driver like a IR2184 which has a 500ns dead time built in.
Tesla coils do require some quite extensive setting up to maximise there resonate frequency, which improves miss matches and the overall efficiency of the coil. Solid state drivers for these can take what seems an eternity to design, tweak and reconfigure, but modulating (pulsing) the output driver helps keep the IGBT transistor's cooler. You could also add some sort of thermistor feedback circuit to one of the heatsinks which you could use to provide a thermal value to the Arduino which could be configured to reduce the output voltage as needed to stop thermal runaway- or worse case scenario, shut down and protect the IGBT's.
Hey! I am a huge fan of your work, learning quite a bit.
I gotta say though, when you work with larger stranded copper wire, an inline crimped barrel splice and heatshrink would be a much better way to go. Soldering has limitations...
looks promising, will be looking forward to the 3rd part
Seriously man, that's some scary hardcore electronics... 😳😳😳
I've assembled a tesla coil kit for one of my high school teachers. It uses half-bridge and it sings. Worked a bit, and then started blowing the fuse immediately after plugging it in. I removed the igbt's and they both measured only a few ohms no matter how they were probed. After watching your video, I believe the fault lies in a design flaw. The protection diodes on the igbt's. the kit says they are optional, and does not include them. Right... optional only if you don't care how long it lasts.
TRUELY GREAT SCOTT
Wow. I didnt understand single world and i still wached full vid. (:
really like what you did with the air ducts
Most SSTC's that use a full bridge have a capacitor in series with the primary, that may reduce the current and heating.
Also, check that black paint, many use carbon to produce the black colour,
Wow for how big this circuit is it's not very strong. maybe you can replace some components for what work on voltages, and boost the voltage to 50v.
There is no dead time in your driver, that could be the reason of heating. Switching IGBT in open circuit could breakdown the gate. Also, oversized topload ruined Q factor of Tesla coil, so you get smaller discharge length for the same power. Beside that your project looks nice, well done.
you can mark center by making a line from opposite corners in an x shape
Very nice project, congratulations. It would be nice to have the audio from the Tesla coil working, the "Bzzt Bzzt" sound is very interesting, maybe in part 3? Again, thank you for your videos.
If you add Extra Coil and connect it to the Secondary Coil and then connect Top Load to the Extra Coil like Tesla recommends in patent 1119732, you should be able to get even larger sparks. Extra Coil aka Resonator acts as a magnifier. The Colorado Springs model of Tesla Coil is called Tesla Magnifying Transmitter.
Wow, that's dedication. Excellent video!
The Zentimeters are back! 😁
you absolutely need feedback for the tesla ciol because by simply being to close to it the resonant frequency changes
as for feedback you can use a current transformer or you can use an antenna
Wow i'm exited for part3
This your vids are Electronics Porn :) I enjoy them v much :)
What
Thats all the stuff I was gonna say. And um, he said ⚡duty⚡. Super good video!
du kannst auch ein stück klebeband über der draht auf der unterseite der platine kleben und dan weiter unisolierten draht verwenden da so kein kurzschluss ensteht
Yes part 2. Keep up the videos.
looking forward to the last chapter
how can you work that clean? 6:46
That´s exactly what I thought when I tried replicating one of his projects, he makes it look very easy...
You should make video in such a way that everyone can understand a little bit,like the scince behind this and showing the diagrams more clearly and explaining them,its fun to watch but not for people who want to learn.please make it more interesting by explaining things.
I love old Norwegian music :D
There was one in this vid :D
Chuckle, love Peer Gynt, In the Hall of Great Scott.
So much power for such a small arc.... OMG.... : (
It's the voltage that makes it jump across air, not the power.
I talked about the input not the output power , and what you say is right but that ist what happend here and it is wrong... A tesla coil have put out the highest voltage that it can and not current / His tesla coil is efficiently but it is more like a flyback transformer
it was not that much, he is using a bench power supply....
maybe if he used a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER
oh ... i check your channel and you have more powerfull stuff :3
I'm sorry, I did not realise what you actually meant by power, some people think voltage and power is the same so I wanted to correct that. have a good night!
maybe you need a freewheeling diode across the igbts to avoid the voltage spikes, since the igbt does not have a inherent body diode like mosfets do; without the diode the voltage spikes can easily exceed the reverse breakdown voltage of the base-emitter junction, which has a much lower breakdown than the base-collector junction, and heat up the igbt or damage it
FOOOL BRIDGE
2 dislikes from edison Lovers !?
Great Scott! Great Work !!
LOVE From INDIA.
Jai hind bro me too indian
Cool circuit drawing
A spark gap tesla coil with a decent input transformer can output over 12 inch sparks (self proven). And you can get 100A 1200V half bridge IGBT modules off eBay for $10 a piece. Why not go big given the ridiculous wire gauge you used for the primary? Not trying to bring you down, I love your channel. As far as basics go, it is a great video, but I would like to see it taken further.
I love so much your videos !
those little purple arcs can be easily obtained from flyback transformers used in old tv sets, I thought those arcs will be like deadly green or something
this is really enjoyable.
It is really hard to use a full bridge to drive a "transformer" with very low Q value. I failed many times when building my music plasma thing and finally choose to step back and use a self exciting soft switching topology. Also, soft switching can protect your IGBTs from high voltage peaks. If you want to stay with your full bridge design, the following may help.
1 add a electric reactor
2 use a intermediary transformer between outputs and primary coil
3 somehow get the current feeding into the primary coil more like a sine wave
4 check out how induction cooker control circuit works and that may be helpful
Can you make a video on how to make a emergency light that lights up when the power is thanks... Your videos and project are all awesome!!
Ok I understand that you're doing it because you want to learn something. But I just made a ~50kV supply with 4cm arcs (Air resistance, thats why I think its 50kV) using only two Items: A CRT Flyback transformer and a 12V Halogen-lamp driver. The 12V output has to be wound around the Flyback-transformers Core. I have 20 windings.
You may need to actively cool the driver. In a weird coincidence most blower also use 12V...
excellent project
Really great work!
I dont understan everything he says but still watch to se the end result
Amazing work. I've been desperate to build a SSTC for years, I've mastered spark gap coils with great success. The only problem is my lack of expertise. You make it look so effortless. Are you going to publish the final design of the driver circuit ? I'd love to knock up a PCB layout for it. Up for a deal ?
did you make anything, i am trying to build it atm but have a few problems with the circuit
@@leonpakar6077 I never got around to it. I stuck with spark gap coils.
I've watched a couple of your videos now and have two comments: 1. You seriously need a 12x36" metal lathe and 2. I'm seriously glad I dont live next door to you - your RF would be hell on my radio. I wonder how Tesla created his either on/off voltages or oscillating voltages for his coils without electronics? Was it a rotating armature with brushes?
Are you planning on making it sing?
Yes.
You just made me the happiest man on earth.
hey Scott I have an idea for you that you can assemble all the parts that you used in projects and just sell it on amazon and eBay
yeeiy... was waiting for this. Thanks man
I use the same PowerSupply for my HHO devices
Awesome project! I'm always struggling with using "Home improvement store" for "Baumarkt", Just Sounds too formal xD. Your secondary coil still looks like it could use some enlargement to boost the output ;)
Can you do a video about prototyping boards(perfboard,stripboard etc) and how to connect components on them?
I put it on my to do list
GreatScott! Thank you very much !!! And keep up the good work .. i love it :)
Looks like somebody got a new circular saw.😉 Btw what about etching the circuit?
I really like your videos.
Could you make a video about your power supply (ps3020)?
Your videos are great 👍👍👍👍
o yeah part 2 amazing JOB :-) :-) :-)
Love the projects. I eagerly await each one! One question I have had for a little while is this: how many times did your eyebrows have to grow back while playing with all this electricity? LOL!
None. But I got shocked twice.
Hey Scott, please make a video on "load cell".
Wow! Inefficient!
Hi! GreatScott! Can upload some footage about the coil when it has a corona discharge like arcing in the dark? I'd would really like it! :D
GreatScott! Nice circuit, but coud you make a video on gate driver transformers?
I am sure it would be very helpful for a lot of us.
Hi Scott,
Can you make a video about tesla's new battery and how you can charge it with mains voltage