re: Dan's DRSSTC II 1st light tips?

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "marc" <xp88@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Ahh... Batteries or a current limited supply! Great tip!! This is the kinda
info I'm looking for. Sometimes, working in electronics you forget the
basics!
I do have Dan's nice safety feature installed. A 10k across the 3900uF @
460 V storage cap. Would not want to get bit by that thing charged up to
300 volts!

Thanks again!!!!

P.S. If I ever finish this thing I will definetely post pictures  (90%
done, 90% to go)


> [Original Message]
> From: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 7/6/2005 7:54:36 PM
> Subject: re: Dan's DRSSTC II  1st light tips?
>
> Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi Marc,
>
> >Hi,
> >
> >I am about 90% complete building Dan's DRSSTC II
> >DRSSTC II : "A Modern Day Solid State Tesla Coil Experiment" Book
> >
> >I'm at the stage of final wiring.
> >
> >All the mechanical stuff is done.. The coil, primary, strike rail,
toroid,
> >PC boards, etc came out great. Inductances are within 5% of the book! The
> >gate driver puts out pulses. Except for making the base round instead of
> >square, I followed the book  pretty closely.
> >
> >I WAS HOPING SOMEONE COULD GIVE ME SOME LAST MINUTE TIPS ON HOW TO DO THE
> >1ST POWER UP SO I DON'T KILL ANY OF THE FOLLOWING!
>
> Mine is not like Dan's, but maybe some of these general things will help.
>
> >(1) - Myself
>
> Be careful of the buss caps and primary wiring.  Be sure they are
> discharged before touching anything in there!!  Wear safety glasses 8-)
>
> >(2) - My expensive H-bridge IGBT's
>
> I used batteries to bring up the buss the first time.  They are low
voltage
> and do not have enough current to blow the IGBTs.  I could then check all
> the gate drives and everything.  Then I hooked it to the primary and all
so
> I could run it off the batteries (5 x 9V types).  When everything looked
> good, I put a big 25 ohm resistor in series with the primary so I could
run
> a pretty "easy" load.  However, I think Dan's uses secondary current
> feedback instead of primary current feedback so that my not work...
>
> When you first power the buss up, I check the voltage from both sides of
> the H-bridge to ground (system not running yet).  It should not be very
> high.  If it seems to be at a rail, something is wrong.
>
> >(3) - My computer, TV set.. etc
>
> Keep them, and wires going to them, away from the coil.
>
> Other's that have direct info on Dan's coil will have far more specific
info...
>
> Cheers,
>
>          Terry
>
>
>
> >thanks. Marc
>