RE: DRSS-XXX? (Cost of SGTC vs. SSTC)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner@xxxxxxxxxxx>

>unless prices
>get reduced drastically somehow, it will forever be out of my reach.

Yup, the DRSSTC is the coil of choice for young single electronic engineers
:))

At the moment anyway. I imagine sooner or later someone will come out with a
mini coil that can be made with $40 worth of parts. My local Maplin has the
old Siemens BUP314 IGBTs for $7 each, and I have seen Vasil use these in a
DRSSTC with great results. Or if we did a production run of kits we could
buy the more powerful Fairchild or IR IGBTs in bulk and get them for about
$5 a piece- same idea as the MMC bulk buys.

But there is still the knowledge barrier. The state of the DRSSTC is about
what the motor car was in 1900. In other words, to run one, you either need
to know a heck of a lot about electronics, or hire a "chauffeur" to do it
for you ;)

This situation will get better too as we get more operating experience.
Steve Ward has already discovered a nice simple tuning/feedback recipe that
gives great results. But it's still a bit fiddly. There's really not any
point making a mini coil kit until we have it all figured out and can
guarantee something that will work if you make it according to the
instruction sheet.

Finally- I think Paul Brodie mentioned he built a car that could do sub-10
second quarter miles. I am no expert on drag racing but I know the average
kid in a souped up Civic struggles to make 13 seconds- so it must be
serious! I've seen the price of racing engines, tyres, and such like, and I
imagine he probably spent as much on motorsport as any of us ever spent on
coiling- maybe even Terry with his big box of Tektronix toys ;)

Steve Conner