Branch's SSG Build

[Branch Gordon]

I also noticed that my current branch resistor is just a jumper. I just finished soldering in a 22ohm resistor per the instructions.

I'm also doing some searching and having trouble finding out what the function is of the branch resistor. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Branch Gordon]

Update: All my magnets are north facing now on my wheel. Charging has improved just from this change.

Still waiting on 470 ohm 1/4w transistors to arrive from amazon.com. Once those get here I will be replacing the 220ohm resistors I have currently in, and also removing the 22 ohm branch resistor I put in and just soldering in the jumper.

I am still running cycles and charting curves...there is an improvement each time. Sometimes that upward swing in voltage happens faster..and then sometimes it happens later but the battery charges to a higher voltage. I definitely have to let the curve level out completely, or I do not get as much out when I discharge. If I didn't have the CBA III I wouldn't see this..and if I just stopped at 15.3V my COP would be awful.

So I will keep conditioning...replace the components when they arrive, and post some curves in a couple weeks.

Branch

[Branch Gordon]

Hey Bob-

Just wanted to check and see if the following component selections would be suitable for what you are recommending?

Bridge Rectifier
Voltage Rectifier

I'm still a beginner with circuits...but these seemed to be suitable for what I'm trying to accomplish...

Cheers!

Branch

Branch,
What voltage is that LED panel designed to run on? I'm not sure if it is a bunch in series or banks for 12v or what. I want to caution you not to drive them too high with a cap, you could burn them up. If they are supposed to get 12v you could hang a voltage regulator off the cap to keep from over doing it, same with the bridge rectifier.

What is happening from the coil out is this, you have an AC wave from the coil in raw form. Since LED's are diodes that is why you were getting the blinking effect, they only let half of the wave through, kind of like a pulsed DC.

If you use the bridge you will be utilizing both halves of the AC wave to make a DC. If you just put one diode you are using half of the wave coming off the coil, same as the LED's are already doing but you want to use that diode because you do not want to feed the raw AC into the cap.

However you fill the cap (single diode or bridge) you can then send it off to the LED's and they should stop blinking because the cap will continue supplying with it''s storage. What I am getting at is to be carfull about the voltage you send them and you may need a regulator between the cap and the LED's so you do not over drive them.

Anyway I hope that helps.

[BobZilla]

Hi Branch,
Those should work ok but I would suggest you check the current draw of that panel with an amp meter to make sure the components can handle it. If you go a bit larger it will not hurt but if you go to small it will fry.

Also I notice from this thread and the other one you were using before switching back here that you are having a bit of trouble with tuning etc. ,, you may just want to hold of on running gennys and such until you feel your main machine is rock solid. With that said it's always fun to try stuff out and you can simple remove the coils if you want too.

Keep in mind that when you add a genny coil this involves yet more tuning because of the potential drag it induces. Many things will contribute to how it affects the machine over all like wheel inertia, RPM's and primary draw etc. I have had the most success with genny coils when I set the gap very far from the wheel. It will produce much less power than if you put it closer but it also does not affect the main function of the wheel as much. Wire size will make differences too. Smaller wire will give higher voltage, larger wire will give lower voltage but more current. It's all a balancing act in the end but generally speaking I suggest keep the genny kinda far back so it is not dragging much on the wheel. If you don't get enough current or voltage you can compensate by making a bigger coil or changing the wire size. You just have to play around until you get what you need out of it.

I don't remember if you have already said but what voltage are you getting on the genny coil? Put you voltage meter on AC and check because you don't have a rectifier on it yet. You can probably get a DC reading from the led panel if you can hook up at the end of the string. Anyway it's not all that important, I'm just curious.

[Branch Gordon]

Hey Bob-

The LED strip is 12v and pulls 500mA.

My charge curves are getting shorter and shorter each cycle, and I get better charging with that genny coil dragging down the wheel. John said on one of the DVDs that having a load on the wheel was very important, and I am definitely seeing it's effect on the charging.

You are right on moving it too close. If I do that, once my primary gets down to lower voltage, the wheel rpm gets too low and slips out of tune with much higher amp draw. I made sure to test the gen coil gap to stay above that target rpm.

I will go out there in a bit and test the AC voltage of the gen coil and post again.

Thanks dude!

Branch

Hi Branch,
Those should work ok but I would suggest you check the current draw of that panel with an amp meter to make sure the components can handle it. If you go a bit larger it will not hurt but if you go to small it will fry.

Also I notice from this thread and the other one you were using before switching back here that you are having a bit of trouble with tuning etc. ,, you may just want to hold of on running gennys and such until you feel your main machine is rock solid. With that said it's always fun to try stuff out and you can simple remove the coils if you want too.

Keep in mind that when you add a genny coil this involves yet more tuning because of the potential drag it induces. Many things will contribute to how it affects the machine over all like wheel inertia, RPM's and primary draw etc. I have had the most success with genny coils when I set the gap very far from the wheel. It will produce much less power than if you put it closer but it also does not affect the main function of the wheel as much. Wire size will make differences too. Smaller wire will give higher voltage, larger wire will give lower voltage but more current. It's all a balancing act in the end but generally speaking I suggest keep the genny kinda far back so it is not dragging much on the wheel. If you don't get enough current or voltage you can compensate by making a bigger coil or changing the wire size. You just have to play around until you get what you need out of it.

I don't remember if you have already said but what voltage are you getting on the genny coil? Put you voltage meter on AC and check because you don't have a rectifier on it yet. You can probably get a DC reading from the led panel if you can hook up at the end of the string. Anyway it's not all that important, I'm just curious.

[Branch Gordon]

Here are some photos for ya. Coil is putting out between 10v to 11v.

Also posting a photo of some curves. From right to left those are charges #2, 9, 14, and 15. Charge #15 is running right now. So every curve peels upward a little bit earlier than the last. You can see on charge #9 where the voltage shoots straight up towards the end? That's a curve where I had my genny coil too close...and that's the point where it slipped out of tune and started pulling a ton more. The charge output goes up too...it's just not efficient.

It took me 5 primaries to charge 1 battery when I started. It's almost at 3 primaries now...so a slight improvement haha. Again the little spikes in the curves are where I change to a fresh primary battery.

Hi Branch,
Those should work ok but I would suggest you check the current draw of that panel with an amp meter to make sure the components can handle it. If you go a bit larger it will not hurt but if you go to small it will fry.

Also I notice from this thread and the other one you were using before switching back here that you are having a bit of trouble with tuning etc. ,, you may just want to hold of on running gennys and such until you feel your main machine is rock solid. With that said it's always fun to try stuff out and you can simple remove the coils if you want too.

Keep in mind that when you add a genny coil this involves yet more tuning because of the potential drag it induces. Many things will contribute to how it affects the machine over all like wheel inertia, RPM's and primary draw etc. I have had the most success with genny coils when I set the gap very far from the wheel. It will produce much less power than if you put it closer but it also does not affect the main function of the wheel as much. Wire size will make differences too. Smaller wire will give higher voltage, larger wire will give lower voltage but more current. It's all a balancing act in the end but generally speaking I suggest keep the genny kinda far back so it is not dragging much on the wheel. If you don't get enough current or voltage you can compensate by making a bigger coil or changing the wire size. You just have to play around until you get what you need out of it.

I don't remember if you have already said but what voltage are you getting on the genny coil? Put you voltage meter on AC and check because you don't have a rectifier on it yet. You can probably get a DC reading from the led panel if you can hook up at the end of the string. Anyway it's not all that important, I'm just curious.

[Tom C]

Branch,

would be interesting to do a coulpe of runs with the cba on your primary battery charger, to see how it is treating your primary and to see if the battery is degrading.

Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

Hi Tom-

I am using the 2A12 charger to charge my primaries, so I wouldnt think I would be seeing any degradation right?

I will run a couple loads tests to check if you think it would be worthwhile.

Branch,

would be interesting to do a coulpe of runs with the cba on your primary battery charger, to see how it is treating your primary and to see if the battery is degrading.

Tom C

[Tom C]

Hi Tom-

I am using the 2A12 charger to charge my primaries, so I wouldnt think I would be seeing any degradation right?

I will run a couple loads tests to check if you think it would be worthwhile.

nah your good with the 2A12... I have seen many primaries go down in capacity with a standard charger....

Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

Yeah that's what happened to my first primary battery...my standard charger totally crapped it out.

nah your good with the 2A12... I have seen many primaries go down in capacity with a standard charger....

Tom C

[BobZilla]

Looking good Branch.

With that output from the genny you probably will not need the voltage regulator, seems like you will be under voltage anyway. I would still get a regulator just to have around though. It will be good to see what you get in DC once you put a bridge and a cap on there if you decide to run that way. Also I recall from earlier you had two gennys at one time. What you could do if you find your lacking in power is put those in series, then to the bridge, then to a cap, then the regulator. You don't have to but it is another way you could fiddle around with it. To do that just put the top of the first coil to the bottom of the second and use the remaining ends to go to the bridge. Don't do that without the regulator and stuff though because if you just put that straight to the led panel you may over do it.

[Branch Gordon]

Very nice! Thx man!

Looking good Branch.

With that output from the genny you probably will not need the voltage regulator, seems like you will be under voltage anyway. I would still get a regulator just to have around though. It will be good to see what you get in DC once you put a bridge and a cap on there if you decide to run that way. Also I recall from earlier you had two gennys at one time. What you could do if you find your lacking in power is put those in series, then to the bridge, then to a cap, then the regulator. You don't have to but it is another way you could fiddle around with it. To do that just put the top of the first coil to the bottom of the second and use the remaining ends to go to the bridge. Don't do that without the regulator and stuff though because if you just put that straight to the led panel you may over do it.

[Branch Gordon]

Hey Bob-

I looked up bridge rectifiers (I am still a beginner with electronics) and learned how to make one with diodes instead of buying a ready made one on ebay. I am using IN4001's, and two 1000uF 25V caps. I am getting 9.08V DC to the LED strip.

Pretty fun! The lights are still pulsing a bit with each magnet pass though...I'm guessing that means I need a larger capacitor?

So if I want to charge up my alum battery...I would just take some leads straight from the capacitor to the battery terminals and that's it?

Looking good Branch.

With that output from the genny you probably will not need the voltage regulator, seems like you will be under voltage anyway. I would still get a regulator just to have around though. It will be good to see what you get in DC once you put a bridge and a cap on there if you decide to run that way. Also I recall from earlier you had two gennys at one time. What you could do if you find your lacking in power is put those in series, then to the bridge, then to a cap, then the regulator. You don't have to but it is another way you could fiddle around with it. To do that just put the top of the first coil to the bottom of the second and use the remaining ends to go to the bridge. Don't do that without the regulator and stuff though because if you just put that straight to the led panel you may over do it.

[BobZilla]

Hey Branch,
It is a lot of fun indeed ;-)

I was going to mention that you could make your own bridge but I figured you had already ordered one. It's good you are learning and making strides on your own!

Really it is just residual signs of the frequency your machine is producing and you may have to play around until you get it how you want it. Did it improve with the bridge and cap at least?

I suspect if your coil were putting out more voltage it would help because your juice is mostly passing through and not building up. The idea is to build up the cap as a storage device, like a little battery if you want to think of it that way so that it can release a steady flow. That is where the regulator would come in BUT you need to be making more voltage than the led uses to create; a bottleneck at the cap. It sound like under the current conditions the led panel is thirsty for the voltage and it is drinking up everything it can get from the cap. The regulator is like a pressure valve that would feed the led just what it wants. So you may have like 16v on the cap and 12v coming out of the regulator.

Did you try the second coil in series? If you still have things setup so you could try that go ahead and hook that to your bridge and see what voltage comes off.


As it is,, no I don't think it will charge your alum very well. It would bring it up to a point but not fully charge it. If he source is 9v than the alum will not go past there. Remember that when charging you need a greater POTENTIAL than your target or they will just equalize. That is one of the amazing aspects of a mono pole besides thinking about the radiant and all of the theory,, someone who has never seen or heard of one but knows just a little about electricity would be amazed that you can take a lower potential on the front to charge to a higher potential on the back. In other words if you were to take two batteries one has 11.5v and the other 13v,, and hook them in parallel the most you could ever hope for is they would equalize and both would be like 12v in the end. The same would be true coming off your bridge/cap. Go ahead and hook it up to the alum and give it a few tries, it shouldn't hurt anything since it is a converted batt. Who knows you may get a nice charge on it but if it were a regular acid batt I would say it would be a bad idea. With the alum they are much more forgiving with running down the voltage.

One other thing you can try is to just put one diode going to the cap. It doesn't matter which lead you hook it too but put the band going towards the cap. This may give a higher voltage, may not but worth trying. I am thinking about the voltage drop through the diodes. If you just put one diode you will just be chopping off half of the AC wave.

[Branch Gordon]

Tonight I setup a microphone right next to my coil so I could hear any sounds it was putting out.



I put on my headphones, and booted up my recording studio software. I then started to turn the POT and found 3 very distinct points where I heard very audible single clicks. I then recorded myself tuning into each point so everyone can hear. I also took photos of the audio wave file. You can see the spikes quite clearly.

Highest Resistance: Click here for Audio File (this one you have to really listen for it, headphones best)
Middle Resistance: Click here for Audio File
Lowest Resistance: Click here for Audio File
Out of Tune:

Here's a video of the fader volume showing each pulse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xdz_qE5QvA

The lowest resistance is not very stable...it may require some very fine tuning...it tends to slip out of tune and I have to raise the resistance slightly. Interestingly, the middle resistance requires me to lower the resistance to get it in tune...and then it sticks.

You know what else is interesting is that I'm hearing a chorus effect coming from the SG now. I'm speaking from an audio standpoint...when you hear two audio signals phasing in and out of each other...and it sounds like a watery chorus effect. It's a little discerning haha.

Very cool project tonight that I just had to share with everyone! You can definitely see a benefit here to very fine tuning, beyond just seeing one pulse on your scope. We'll see if it translates to better charging for me...

Cheers!