Use for the Tesla Switch

[Guruji]

If that ain't simple enough I am truely sorry for ya.



I think your right, I'll change the drawing.

Thanks for noticing.

@Turion H11D1 like gyula said. If you have to order them you might just go with the relay version. Dirt simple ya know.

Matt

Hi Matt I was not talking sarcastically but that chip to programm it I don't have experience on those

[Matthew Jones]

Thanks Matt. I do have a small question about one item in the list you gave to Katie, just want to make sure.

"2 Hongfa HFS33, D-50 D200M, 50 volt 80 amp Solid state relay."

Do you mean HFS33, D-50 D80M instead of the D200M? I got a little confused by reading the data sheet. 50v 80amp should be D-50 D80M, right? Is it D200M a typo? Just want to buy the right ones.

Thanks,
Peter

Ya your right. I was probably in a hurry and confused some numbers.

Matt

[Matthew Jones]

Hi Matt I was not talking sarcastically but that chip to programm it I don't have experience on those

Oh OK. Well thats OK. You get one and I'll get you through it. At least as far as the TS is concerned.

Buy this one
BASIC Stamp Activity Kit

If you can afford it and it come with all kinds of lessons on how to use it. Once you use one you can use any of them.

If you can't afford it but you buy the one listed, I'll have instructions for how to make the code and run the thing and anything you need you can just ask.

Remember the only stupid thing is staying stupid. So ask away.
other people will getthem build an be able to help as well.

Matt

[ewizard]

Thanks Matt for all your work on this and providing all this info. I've got a Texas Instruments Launchpad already. I may wait and hope someone can set up a program on this to do what the Basic stamp does as I'm fairly certain the Launchpad can do the same thing. The big difference is of course the cost as TI as practically giving these away. While the Basic Stamp has been around a long time and I think that's their primary money maker Texas Instruments is a huge company that is putting these out for a super low price (I'm sure there are several good marketing reasons).

Complete LaunchPad Development Kit for $4.30

Easily launch your applications with MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad development.
LaunchPad features:
Integrated flash emulation for simple programming and debugging via USB (mini USB cable included).
Includes MSP430G2211IN14 and MSP430G2231IN14 Value Line devices
Breakout pins are easily accessible for interfacing external components or daughter cards.
Free software compiler and debuggers are available from both Code Composer Studio version 4 and IAR Embedded Workbench.
Open source code examples, projects and hardware design files are free and available for download.
Design resources, User Guides, videos and design files are all available at TI Wiki
I suggest starting here if interested : Here

I wish I had the time right now to get into this enough to learn the programming and set mine up with your system but not much chance at this time. I just keep hoping more people will catch on to these as they are so much less expensive than the Arduino or Basic Stamp and as far as I know can do essentially the same thing. I think the Arduino may be a little faster but for most energy projects I think the Launchpad will be more than quick enough.

I guess I'm suggesting that if someone is a good code writer or programmer but doesn't want the expense of the Basic Stamp but wants to put together a TS like Matt has you might take a shot at the Launchpad.

[Matthew Jones]

I had forgotten about that thing. I'll include it in the documentation I am writing.

Matt

[nvisser]

Of topic

I’m making this important of topic post to show of my new avatar.

[Matthew Jones]

What is it a South African Beer label?

LOL

Matt

[Turion]

Hey Matt,

Question. Is it ok to twist the three strands together before you wrap the core with them? Or is it better to just try and keep the wire flat with the three strands side by side on the wrap? I didn't do this (twist them) on mine, but almost wish I HAD. I was pretty careful in my wrapping process, but broke two wires (at different times) and had to start over. The wires didn't break at the point where I was putting stress on them in the wrapping process, but somewhere out toward the end where the lose pieces were flopping around on the floor while I was wrapping. I couldn't believe it the first time it happened because there was no reason for it, but the second time it happened I started thinking about all the bending back and forth I was doing as I fed that whole length of wire through those spaces between the core and the outside walls of the transformer, and I could understand that you can only stress a wire so many times.

Anyway, I wanted to post my results. I used the small transformer from Radio Shack that you recommended. I used three lengths of wire 37,37, and 44 feet in length. When I was done I could not slide a piece of paper between the wire and the outside walls of the transformer, but I could see daylight when held up to the light, so no way I could have gotten another layer on there. Hope that helps somebody else in trying to estimate how much wire to use on theirs. If anybody comes up with MORE than that, let me know!! I think mine is wrapped pretty dang tight, but some of you may be much better at this coil wrapping stuff than I am.

Here is how I did mine. After the pain of watching two wires break, I made significant changes in my process. I have a bench vise that fits under my workbench and opens to hold things about 12" wide, so I cut a small piece of wood the size of the transformer. I put it between two 2x4's sticking straight up to a convenient height, and clamped them in the vise. This left me with two pieces of wood sticking into the air that my transformer would just barely fit between. I put it between them and used a clamp near the top to tighten them even more and hold it securely. Since I am in a basement with plenty of exposed ceiling joists, I put a spool on the ceiling by running a bolt through it and into a piece of wood that I screwed to a ceiling joist. In essence it gave me a little pulley on the ceiling. The end of my wires were all taped together because I wrapped the longer wire's extra length on FIRST. As I fed my wire through I put the end over the pulley and pulled it down to another pulley at the other end of the room. As my room is only about 8 feet wide, I had to put several of these on the ceiling and zig zag the wire back and forth between them. (down to the end and then back to the beginning, then down to the end, then back to the beginning, etc., etc.) When all the extra wire was fed through my zig zag, I attached a weight ( a big bolt) to the end of the wire with an alligator clip to keep tension on the wire. The zig zag concept turned out to be a good thing because when it came time to feed the wire through for the second round, I would just take one section at a time off the zig zag and did not have to deal with the whole length of wire at one time. I would stick a piece of tape on the wire to protect it, and then move my alligator clip weight to keep tension on the wire I was not working with. Since I KNOW I am going to do this again, I am going to build a frame on my workbench with spools on both ends that I can use to zig zag my wires back and forth between for my next build so I will not have wire up in the air hanging over my head. The BIGGER the spools, the better because the less you bend your wire during the wrapping process, the better off you will be and small spools mean you are bending the wire around them more than you should.

Edit: Matt, I was thinking (always a dangerous thing) that if enough people are interested in building the bigger system, we might get a company like this one Class 2 Transformers to give us a price on custom built (wrapped) transformers to spec. If it's not terribly expensive vs cost /labor/frustration/performance of the ones we can build ourselves, it might be worth it. If the goal here is to eventually have a real live working Tesla switch, then quality parts is probably a real serious consideration, and I would be willing to order a couple unless they are insane about their pricing. What think you of that idea?

David Bowling

[Matthew Jones]

NO do not litz the wires.

37,37,44 is quate enough of a ratio. I mean it will work but try 36,36,44. That gives you 25% increase in the 3rd wire. You do this to keep the potentail up on the output.

Matt

[citfta]

Couple of questions

Hey Matt,

I have a couple of questions for you. In an earlier version of your Simple Switch you had some special diodes. I don't see them in this latest version. Did you decide you don't need them now? Also if I remember correctly you made some comments about being sure you had the two primaries phased correctly when connected to the circuit. It looked like they were connected so we would get a pulsing DC current from the secondary. In the latest version it looks like we are getting a regular AC current. Am I understanding all of this correctly?

I am planning to use the Picaxe 18x to control mine since I already have some of them. Is the 1250 pulseout of the Stamp 2e equal to 2.5 ms ? The documentation I read on the Stamp 2e says each pulse is equal to 2 microseconds. If I calculated correctly this means you are running the Simple Switch at about 200 hertz.

Thanks again for all your efforts to share with the rest of us.

Carroll

[Matthew Jones]

Hey Matt,

I have a couple of questions for you. In an earlier version of your Simple Switch you had some special diodes. I don't see them in this latest version. Did you decide you don't need them now? Also if I remember correctly you made some comments about being sure you had the two primaries phased correctly when connected to the circuit. It looked like they were connected so we would get a pulsing DC current from the secondary. In the latest version it looks like we are getting a regular AC current. Am I understanding all of this correctly?

I am planning to use the Picaxe 18x to control mine since I already have some of them. Is the 1250 pulseout of the Stamp 2e equal to 2.5 ms ? The documentation I read on the Stamp 2e says each pulse is equal to 2 microseconds. If I calculated correctly this means you are running the Simple Switch at about 200 hertz.

Thanks again for all your efforts to share with the rest of us.

Carroll

The first schematic was just a basic walk through type thing. I was just hoping someone would grab it and run with there own Ideas and ability. So the diodes were an easy way to Bridge the AC current from the transformer.
It was still putting out AC though. Same as now.

I think with the PIC and anybodychime and correct me, the PulsOut command uses 1 unit that is worth 10 microseconds.
The stamps unit is worth 2 microseconds. So we 1250 to come up with 2500 microseconds.

So with the PIC you have to do it different. (250 unit) x (10 us) = 2500 us.

So you would use "Pulsout Pin#, 250.

I think the hertz count is around 190 hz.

To tune the circuit you will make adjustments to this number based on the load the AC potential left on the transformer.
You'll hook a light up. Measure the AC. You might have 7.5 volts left on the transformer.
So you'll make adjustment to that number up or down and see if you can get More potential from the transformer based on the load.

Follow me?

Matt

[citfta]

Thanks Matt

I got it. I just wanted to be sure before I put everything together.

Thanks,

Carroll

[ehsanco1062]

NO do not litz the wires.

37,37,44 is quate enough of a ratio. I mean it will work but try 36,36,44. That gives you 25% increase in the 3rd wire. You do this to keep the potentail up on the output.

Matt

Hey matt,
I don't know how to thank you for all of these efforts you gave it to us, but I say God bless you.
My question is if I use #10 AWG wire how many meter must be the length of this wire ?is there any formula to determine the length of the wire according to the gauge of the wire ,because where i live there is no #AWG 6 square wire.
And one more question is there any switches in big one because in the list you have mention 40-100amp switches bigger is better but i don’t see it on the schematic.
Thank you again
Ehsan

[Matthew Jones]

As far the wire goes its real hard for me to give you figure on how much goes on the spool inside the transformer. We can talk about "In perfect world" you would need so much wire based the size of the wire, the spools volume, and the amount turns. But that won't work because your probably hand winding.

I would say best guess lay out 40 ft of wire for 2 strands and 50ft for the third.

If it fills up before you get it all on there subtract what you have left hanging out and refigure the 20% to 25% extra for the third wire.

You follow me?

I know it adds a little cost but, thats kinda how I did it and it worked out.

I also made a jig so once the wire was on it i could compress it with vice and still not ruin the plastic spool.

One of these days I will buckle down and read some more of these book I got on transformer design and I'll figure it out to tee but until then.

Cheers
Matt

[Matthew Jones]

OH ya I forgot the switch's.

You can use anything from Transistors to solid state relays. You wont regret buying a some big ones around 200 amp but you can go all the way down to 40 amp Solid state relays if you need to.

If I were to go buy something right now I would buy these.

http://ixdev.ixys.com/DataSheet/DS100130(IXFN180N25T).pdf

DigiKey llisting

They are 19 dollars, they can run 900 watts, and they can be paralleled together . If you were to use 4 of them per slot You could run a 3000 watt load easy.

Matt