super efficient exciter circuit

[jaskro]

another guess a wild one .. the hv coil using the crock lead wire is feeding the energy back into torroid back into the circuit ...

why because i see this working great when u pump in more voltage to it ... and reduce the resistance on the base of the transistor , which means more power to the exciter coil.... which feedbacks to the circut using the crock lead wire..

i see u like to run it around 18-20v ..not below 9v .. my wild guess..

Below 11V there isn't enough power to light up the big LED's. I don't have really a preference. Everything between 15 and 22V is ok. My power supply is limited to 30V max.

The crock lead can hang loose in any direction. If it was close to the toroid coil it was purely accidental . It doesn't have to be close to it. There isn't any 'direct' relation between the lead and the toroid.

[jaskro]

super efficient circuit.
1. crock lead is closer to the torroid , that means it is feedback to torroid , which has magnetic properties.

2. super cap is best test , to see how much time it takes for discharge , i know it very sensitive the effect might not happen there, but to test it for sure.

3. other exiter circuits i have seen the power source battery has high voltage back to the source , i mean when u test a small led bulb (in air) on the source +ve it lights up.

4. move the power source away from the coil, but that would not be case because of the point 3.

above all very nice ..bravo..

Do you have a proposal for the supercaps. I have no experience with them.

[jaskro]

Ok, that's what I'm getting. The scoped waveform shows AC. Do you have an analog meter ?

I don't have an analog meter. How is your circuit doing?

[Jiffycoil]

Hi Jaskro,
I don't yet have the LED's so I have been running tests using diodes in their place. The circuit works and powers the secondary coil nicely. At 12v 500mA I'm lighting a small AC indicator bulb nicely. I have not yet taken reading but that will come when my setup mirrors yours as close as possible. My power supplies are all analog readout so that will be interesting but I will also use a digital multi meter attached to the output leads to verify the readings. I'm looking forward to the LED's arrival.

[gyula]

Hi Jaskro,

Very good you obtained a kill a watt meter. To get a feel on its "know how" I suggest you load your power supply output set to say 20V and load with normal resistors to watch how the current (or power) display on the kill a watt meter changes. Use resistors which give at least a 80-100mA draw at the 20V dc output, just connect these resistors directly to the supply output.

While I hope the kill a watt meter tests will bring answers, in case they are not conclusive I think you may try the following: try using say a 15V three terminal regulator IC like MC7815, LM7815, uA7815 etc and try feeding the exciter from it. Chances are the exciter is bound to work because these regulators have a very low output impedance like an regulated table power supply has. AND the benefit would be that if the exciter works like from the power supply, you could very easily check the current draw at the INPUT side of the 3 terminal regulator because these regulators give a very high isolation between their input - output sides. You could drive the 15V three terminal regulator IC from two 9V batteries, from a wall plugin DC supply or from even your present power supply... Normally such regulators have a 5 to 6 mA constant current draw in their ground leg and you can substract this from the exciter's draw.

I noticed your working frequency lowered to 1.2MHz in the latest video instead of the 2.5MHz, have you changed the L2 coil a little or something else?

rgds, Gyula

[gyula]

Something else:

You mentioned in your first video that the transistors get warm / hot. I ask whether you observed how hot they are when you run the exciter for a certain time, say for 20-30 minutes with under the 10mA current draw from say 18-20V and you estimate the output LEDs light with at least 3-4W? Are the transistors hot to the touch like they are when you run the exciter with say a 'visible' 80mA draw at the 18-20V? Just curious...

Thanks, Gyula

[Nick_Z]

I've noticed that when I connect the top of my Exciter L3 coil's free end to most anywhere on the circuit, except to where the outside ground is connected to the transistor base, any Cfls near the L3 will get brighter, by about 20%, or so. I don't know if that is from getting the feed-back or not, but my batteries still get discharged. It definatelly does help the output brightness level, though.

[xee2]

secondary coil has a plasma discharge at 9 volt 100mA draw

Great results. What size coil/wire are you using to do this?

[Jiffycoil]

Hey Xee2,
It's good to see you on this thread. I saw you here earlier today and thought "Xee is looking over the circuit layout" you always bring great insight. Any how, I'm using one of my old towers from the early "slayer" days. 1000 turns AWG 28 magnet wire. The primary is one of my flat AWG 22 insulated solid copper 8 turn coils. I'm winding a coil to match Jaskro's setup. Again what do you think about the circuit?

[hello_all]

here is video on supercaps..
Ultra capacitors power 12v Solenoids! - YouTube

[Jiffycoil]

Hey all,
Xee2 I just sat down at the computer outside the shop and read over the posts. I apologize for an error. I've been posting from my phone all day and just saw that I posted 100mA when it was 500mA. I was wondering why you were impressed with the output. I'm sorry for the error. I'm sure my amp draw results are high due to the setup. Note to self - review posts closer.

[xee2]

what do you think about the circuit?

I like anything that produces more output power with less input power.

[jaskro]

here is video on supercaps..
Ultra capacitors power 12v Solenoids! - YouTube

Thanks for the link. I checked it out and it is like anticipated. Very expensive for just running a quick experiment.

[jaskro]

Played around with the 'kill a watt' meter yesterday. The total power consumption of the hole system seem to indicate my readings were correct so far. On the other hand I also get some confusing data. Too early to draw conclusions. Right now I'm not going into the details. Need more time to play with settings.

[gyula]

Hi Jaskro,

Just take your time as most convenience for you, no need for any hurry.

On super capacitors: unfortunately they are expensive indeed and the cheaper ones like Coin or Button shaped ones with 5.5V or 5.7V max DC voltage ratings are intented for memory backup purposes and have inner resistances (ESR) in anywhere in the 5 to 30 Ohm range (!), these are not good for your present application. Any decent super cap or ultra cap have a data sheet which includes ESR values at DC and in the kHz range and you wish to choose in the some milliOhm to some ten milliOhm range, that would be already good for this exciter. The only problem with them is the max 2.7V DC voltage rating and if you connect say 6 of them in series you are still at the 16V value but with 6 times higher inner resistance. So a good compromise is to be taken if possible.
IF you search on ebay, you may find some useful looking offer:
10PCS 20F 2.7V KAMCAP Farad Super Capacitor Ultra Capacitor Power | eBay

Say a 3 terminal regulator IC like 7815 or 7818 is able to operate your present setup under the 10mA load current while you can still estimate the power LEDs give some 3-4W light output as from the power supply then it might be worth buying the above 10 pcs 20F supercaps and run the exciter from their series connections via the IC regulator.

There are supercaps for car audio applications (for HiFi funs with thick purse) but here is a used 3F (probably 16V rated) supercap offer:
STINGER SSCAP3 3 FARAD CAP CAR AUDIO SUPER CAPACITOR, | eBay Data sheet is needed to learn about the inner resistance, normally the higher than 2.7V rated supercaps are manufactured from several 2.5 or 2.7V types combined in series to get the 13.7V or slightly higher car battery voltage range. Such car audio supercaps start from 60-80$ and go much higher.

rgds, Gyula