High Voltage from Thin Air?

[Lidmotor]

Now the real fun begins

@ Mutten---- Thanks. You are right. Now that I at least got the FL to light I can go forward. I think that you were right about my L1 being too big. I'll wrap a smaller one and see what happens. I have to go "Back to the future" now and also try to get the SGate to work right.

@Dr. Stiffler----I am going over and over your videos and messages to put the pieces all together. Everytime I get something to work I go back and look at your appropriate video or text to see if I missed something. Not having a background in EE may or may not work against me here-- but I am learning this anyway. This is truly amazing stuff. I will try to replicate your "popcorn ball" experiment if I can.

Lidmotor

[slayer007]

Finally have mine working

I tried as Lidmotor did a smaller 4w Fl.
I'm also using a 18v transformer for the power supply.
I also had to make L2 bigger it's around 100 turns.

It still needs a lot of fine tunning the Fl is not to bright but it's a start.

Here is a short video of it.

YouTube - Dr Stiffler Sec #3

[Mutten]

Here's something interesting.

I wired up a dimmer switch to my DMM and the night light.

Takes about 60 mA 110v to get the same light out of the bulb as you do touching it to the popcorn dome.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3108-1.jpg

[DrStiffler]

Here's something interesting.

I wired up a dimmer switch to my DMM and the night light.

Takes about 60 mA 110v to get the same light out of the bulb as you do touching it to the popcorn dome.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...C15-3108-1.jpg

@Mutten
Okay, we do not have to get to technical for a rough look at what you say, the peak VA would be 1.1E2 * 6E-2 = 6.6W

No to get it to RMS, lets see 1.1E2 * 7.07E-1 = 7.77E1 or ~ 77.7, make life simple and take 6.6 * 0.7 = 4.66.

Now anyone working with a SEC Exciter knows you are not capable of 4.66W, so what's going on. Well, first do not depend on the human eye to tell you when you have an equivalent brightness. You need to use a photo cell, camera light meter or a solar cell and pre-calibrated so you can remove the curve the human eye has.

Now, if you are sure of this, what is the input to the exciter? We do not care that the exciter may have an AC out, we only are concerned with the real input.

Great idea and will work, but detractors will tell you that the eye thing will not pass muster. Anyway if you pass say 20mA from left arm through chest to right arm, you should know it, even the RF animal.

[amigo]

I little bit of fun with a burnt out tube.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3107.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3106.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3105.jpg

talk about weird, its lighting up around my thumb.

That is cool you got it lighting up that much, as I can't get a large FL to light at all.

Sometimes I feel I'm over complicating things, seeing the others who got their circuits to work using approximate parts...or maybe my mind is just influencing the outcome of the experiment.

[Mutten]

@Mutten
Okay, we do not have to get to technical for a rough look at what you say, the peak VA would be 1.1E2 * 6E-2 = 6.6W

No to get it to RMS, lets see 1.1E2 * 7.07E-1 = 7.77E1 or ~ 77.7, make life simple and take 6.6 * 0.7 = 4.66.

Now anyone working with a SEC Exciter knows you are not capable of 4.66W, so what's going on. Well, first do not depend on the human eye to tell you when you have an equivalent brightness. You need to use a photo cell, camera light meter or a solar cell and pre-calibrated so you can remove the curve the human eye has.

Now, if you are sure of this, what is the input to the exciter? We do not care that the exciter may have an AC out, we only are concerned with the real input.

Great idea and will work, but detractors will tell you that the eye thing will not pass muster. Anyway if you pass say 20mA from left arm through chest to right arm, you should know it, even the RF animal.

For a ballpark measurement I would say the dimmer switch is within 10 mA.

Heres some side by side comparisons. The night light connected to mains is actually running between 60 and 70 mA to get the approximate glow.

The sec is running at 24v 50mA. 1.2w power?

light is connected to the SEC and earth ground.

side by side.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3110-1.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3112.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/muttenmagroo/SEC15-3111.jpg

I know not exactly scientific, but I have no way of measuring light output at this time. I actually think the one running off mains power is slightly dimmer in those pictures but its real close.

[mlurye]

amigo,
I did notice that exciter operation dependant on transistor temperature. May be turn exciter on, let it go for a minute or 2 and then fine tune it. You might get better results.

P.S. I'm running my exciter at 13V (transistor is not getting overheated), with higher voltage you can get better results (Mutten using 24V). But transistor will get very hot.

[amigo]

@ amigo,
Hello amigo, can I just ask you 1 question about your successful replication ?
- Does the FL light if you replace the hand/body contact with a earth ground connexion ?
Thanks for sharing your work with all,
MDG

edit : I changed heart by earth ...

Sorry I missed this one...

Yes it does, or at least it stays lit. I do not have a real Earth Ground, but even a longer piece of wire will let it light up.

[amigo]

amigo,
I did notice that exciter operation dependant on transistor temperature. May be turn exciter on, let it go for a minute or 2 and then fine tune it. You might get better results.

P.S. I'm running my exciter at 13V (transistor is not getting overheated), with higher voltage you can get better results (Mutten using 24V). But transistor will get very hot.

Interesting, though is your field strong enough to light the FL and keep it lit without contact with the "popcorn" ?

I keep my voltage at 16-18V, did not try going over 20V...

I have a copper tube put on my transistor for cooling, though I actually have several different transistors. One of them from ON is rated for 1.5W max, as opposed to the usual 625mW which let's me drive it with more current.

I did smoke couple of transistors though, never a pleasant experience. It usually happens when the circuit is tuned in a wrong range (I have several L1 that I interchange so I swap them and accidents happen).

[mlurye]

Interesting, though is your field strong enough to light the FL and keep it lit without contact with the "popcorn" ?

Didn't try it yet.

[Lidmotor]

SEC Popcorn Ball Experiment---My replication

Here is my replication of the now famous "Popcorn Ball" experiment. I got some very interesting effect. In the video I said that I could "walk around" with the bulb lit up but I should have said that you could "move around" with it (inches or a foot).
Anyway it worked and I understand what you are after now Doc. Great experiment. I got the gate to work also as you described but I did not show it in the video..

YouTube - SEC Popcorn Ball Experiment

Cheers,

Lidmotor

[amigo]

Lidmotor,

that's pretty amazing with the large FL glowing so bright and that far away from the "popcorn"

How's your transistor, is it burning hot or just warm? I figure at 200mA it gotta be coming close to smoking, although you are only driving it with 14.5V, still...

[Lidmotor]

Hot transistor

Lidmotor,

that's pretty amazing with the large FL glowing so bright and that far away from the "popcorn"

How's your transistor, is it burning hot or just warm? I figure at 200mA it gotta be coming close to smoking, although you are only driving it with 14.5V, still...

Amigo----Yes she is gettin pretty hot. Too hot to touch. I kept waiting for it to go to happy transistor heaven in a smokey cloud but it hung in there. Tomorrow I'll hang some sort of heat sink on it.

I was very surprised at how the FLs held the charge at a distance and that the big bulb would light up. That little transistor was working really hard to do it.


Lidmotor

[mlurye]

@all,
I need some help with tuning up "popcorn", cannot tune it up. I do have 2 spheres and top one is connected to the L3 (60 turns) coil. Lb tried 1uH, 2.2uH, 4.7uH (can get exciter going with all this values, but not with "popcorn") and C1 from 0 to 680pF. Tried to run it with 13-16V, no luck. So any hints or tips on tuning up would be appreciated.

[DrStiffler]

@all
I found one interesting thing. If you connect L3 instead of ground to the collector of transistor (so that you will get a loop). Gate will function without any problems. If it is not clear let me know and I'll draw a schema....

P.S. Gate and L3 will operate in closed loop.

@mlurye

I am quite happy you found this, it shows you were working and trying different things. It should not seem strange that this is how you must begin with SEC, you can not read a book and build these circuits (well you need a understanding of basic electronics), you are working with what is considered misbehaved circuits and design, so what you did here is great, you tried different things.

This is what I expect from replicators, however dumb it may sound, try it, worst case is you blow a 0.03 cent transistor.

Okay now lets talk coherence from an SGate. What do I mean, well a CEC>1. What circuit should you use to look into this, GUESS WHAT?

Now you do need to understand how to show and measure a CEC>1, now would be a good time for a few conventional books to help out and yes you need some test gear. NO! it does not run itself, that is something else, bare with me and lets explore and prove something out before to many fires start up over it.

Here is the SGATE to work with and a picture of a number of leds driven by one. Keep adding LEDs, watch the current and continue until they start to dim, then run some numbers......