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All transistor TS
Hi nvisser,
It is interesting that you should post about that circuit as I am just about ready to go back to it. I thought I had given at least one report on it. Sorry if I forgot. I did get that circuit to run all the optos and the output driver chip on the picaxe18x project board all night long (over 8 hours) and it did not run down the batteries even as much as .01 volts. They read exactly the same the next morning as they did when I started the test the night before. The picaxe18x project board allows you to separate the output driver chip from the pic chip so you can use a higher voltage to get the optos to turn fully on and thus also your main transistors. So the only power outside the TS was the 3 AA batteries that were powering the pic chip itself. By the way it must use a small amount of current as I have been using those 3 AA batteries for weeks now and they are still strong.
After a couple of weeks of trial and error (mostly error) I was never able to get the batteries to actually go up in charge although I could run different loads on them without them going down if I was careful about my on time and left enough off time. At that point I decided to order some schottkey diodes and try a slightly modified version of the circuit with all the diodes. I have not had any better luck getting the batteries to actually charge with that circuit either. I did learn something about the picaxe18x chip though. I can use a pulsout command to get an on time as short as .01 ms. I am still learning about the picaxe18x chip. By using this command and an off time of 100 to 500 ms I can get the batteries to bounce back a little higher than they were and then they stop. I think they are just rebounding from being used although I usually let them rest to stabilize before I start any new tests.
John K. posted some interesting info about how to determine load size for the TS, so I think I am just about ready to go back to the circuit without any diodes. I will then set up the pic for a real slow time and take the measurements John K. has suggested. After getting the load right I am going to try and use the pulsout command to get very short on times and vary the off times to see if I can get charging. I am pretty sure that without the diode drops we can use a larger load and with the short pulses maybe get some charging.
Oh I almost forgot. The way I ran the TS all night on it own power was to use a bridge as the load and charge a 21,500 mf cap and run the circuit off the cap. I think I used about 25 ms on, then 100 ms off, then switch sides and repeat.
Hopes this helps some, Carroll
Hi nvisser,
It is interesting that you should post about that circuit as I am just about ready to go back to it. I thought I had given at least one report on it. Sorry if I forgot. I did get that circuit to run all the optos and the output driver chip on the picaxe18x project board all night long (over 8 hours) and it did not run down the batteries even as much as .01 volts. They read exactly the same the next morning as they did when I started the test the night before. The picaxe18x project board allows you to separate the output driver chip from the pic chip so you can use a higher voltage to get the optos to turn fully on and thus also your main transistors. So the only power outside the TS was the 3 AA batteries that were powering the pic chip itself. By the way it must use a small amount of current as I have been using those 3 AA batteries for weeks now and they are still strong.
After a couple of weeks of trial and error (mostly error) I was never able to get the batteries to actually go up in charge although I could run different loads on them without them going down if I was careful about my on time and left enough off time. At that point I decided to order some schottkey diodes and try a slightly modified version of the circuit with all the diodes. I have not had any better luck getting the batteries to actually charge with that circuit either. I did learn something about the picaxe18x chip though. I can use a pulsout command to get an on time as short as .01 ms. I am still learning about the picaxe18x chip. By using this command and an off time of 100 to 500 ms I can get the batteries to bounce back a little higher than they were and then they stop. I think they are just rebounding from being used although I usually let them rest to stabilize before I start any new tests.
John K. posted some interesting info about how to determine load size for the TS, so I think I am just about ready to go back to the circuit without any diodes. I will then set up the pic for a real slow time and take the measurements John K. has suggested. After getting the load right I am going to try and use the pulsout command to get very short on times and vary the off times to see if I can get charging. I am pretty sure that without the diode drops we can use a larger load and with the short pulses maybe get some charging.
Oh I almost forgot. The way I ran the TS all night on it own power was to use a bridge as the load and charge a 21,500 mf cap and run the circuit off the cap. I think I used about 25 ms on, then 100 ms off, then switch sides and repeat.
Hopes this helps some, Carroll
Did I read this right?
) tells me I wasn't going anywhere so I pimped my D-TS to have all four batts at 24V...
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