Thread-topic: Fairly big changes to my little 304 VTTC
Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear about your mishap. I was wondering why you didn't show because I was looking forward to meeting you. There's always next year if Roger hosts it. I hope that you get your VTTC sorted out soon. I have always wondered if the RF ground of my 833A VTTC is adequate. I am just using the ground wire of the house wiring. It has always seemed to work well enough (20" streamers). Maybe I will try one of my copper ground rods that I use for my big SGTC and see if I get better performance.
For the Teslafest I brought along my 20-stage Marx generator, my 833A VTTC, my small VTTC, and some shrunken quarters made by my pulsed power generator (quarter shrinker, can crusher, disk launcher). I built the small VTTC in 1969 when I was 16 years old and it still works after 50 years. I couldn't bring my pulsed power generator because it is too big and weighs about 400 pounds.
I saw a lot of pictures and video taken. Perhaps they will be posted somewhere where everyone can see them.
Steve White
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Reeland" <chrisreeland@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2019 7:26:04 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Fairly big changes to my little 304 VTTC
Hi Steve,
And well, Roger and others.
I hope everyone had a good time at Roger's Tesla Fest, I will be looking
for photos and hopefully some video online later somewhere.
Well it is pretty obvious to those that attended, that I did not make it.
Not looking for any sympathy, but I want to say what happened to me here.
To keep things brief as possible here, (probably be long winded still) I
went to test my 304 at my place one more time. It has always been pretty
much been run at my Dad's workshop until now.
I get home from work at 1am. It was about 2am Friday that I got set up,
then I went to power it up. Everything seemed to be fine, then the coil
just cut out...rate indicator LED went solid on, instead of flashing.
Long story cut short, determined that I did not have a good solid RF ground
connection and it has seems to unfortunately decided to take an alternate
path through undesirable things unfortunately causing damage somewhere
still currently unknown.
Not all the details here, but
tried changing Triacs two times.
Changed in the interrupter circuit, all 3 transistors, both 555's. Still a
no go.
It still has strange non working behavior now. Still wondering if there is
some damage somewhere in the VTTC circuit also. Did a few basic checks.
Changed one bypass cap. Still a no go. After several hours of being
puzzled. Searching for parts. And frustration. It was now 9am Friday.
Between work and this, I have now been up for 24 hours straight.
Disappointed and exhausted, gave up went to sleep, also deciding to scrap
attending Tesla Fest. By the time I get enough recovery sleep, my planned
on leaving window for traveling was now also shot.
So pretty much a wash here.
Have not done much further here this weekend. I have just gathered/searched
for some more parts, for possible replacement. Decided to walk a way for a
bit until next weekend, to have a clear mind. I am going to go through
everything thoroughly. I will have to get the scope out and other better
test gear, to find the problem(s).
Main point here is, make sure there is a solid RF ground at all times. I
should have double checked. Learned the hard way here.
I will get it fixed eventually.
Related, I did on the previous weekend, did get the testing all done of all
my tubes. Had solid great consistent results.
I will eventually post these. Let me get repaired here first. I will post
some pictures and video also when I get it running again. Still have not
taken any of it running with the primary change.
And somewhat related, Gary Lau, has posted a link to some great interesting
results of his in post on Litz wire for sale. Pretty much, copper tubing is
the way to go on the primary, which has proven itself here on my 304.
Chris Reeland
Ladd, Illinois, USA
On Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 12:29 PM Chris Reeland <chrisreeland@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> I must be too critical of my experimenting at times :-)
>
> I'm planning on attending, and yes, I will be bringing the 304er.
>
> Chris
>
>
> Sent from my LG V20
>
> On Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 12:21 PM Steve White <steve.white1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Hi Chris,
>>
>> The "ugly" picture looks pretty nice to me. You should bring this coil to
>> Roger Smith's teslathon August 10 so we can see the fruits of your labor in
>> person. I will be bringing my smallest VTTC which I built when I was 16, my
>> 833A coil, and a 20-stage Marx generator.
>>
>> Steve White
>> Cedar Rapids, Iowa
>>
>
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