Bedini ssg energizer

[Gpilot]

Yes, i will buy the book. But everytime i ask a question are you just going to tell me to buy the book? Another question, i have trouble soldering directly to the collector. All other solders are easy, but the bulb and the diode to the collector seem to take forever to attach. I fear that the heat could be damaging the componants. Is there a trick for soldering directly to a smooth, flat piece of metal? I scratched the surface a little to try and get a good surface, but still difficult, and hot.

[Gpilot]

I bought a solder tag kit to put on my transistor so i can easily solder to the collector. I dont know exactly how to use it. There is a clear film that goes over the transistor, and some plastic spacers, and some nuts and screws. This way i wont heat up the componants too much. I will be getting the book for Christmas as well.

[Gpilot]

Its alive

I made a new circuit from left over parts and got the machine running. I tried a 100 ohms resistor first, and it came to life. Now, should i test with different value resistors? Also, how can i test the amp draw with a basic multimeter? Before when i was running the machine with no resistor, the primary battery would loose the ability to power the wheel after about 20-24 hrs. What is a good time to shoot for, and will changing the resistance further improve running time?

[Sephiroth]

Glad you got it working 100 ohm is fine for now. that should give your pot some protection. Are you still using the 2k pot? How far do you have to twist the dial to get it to run best?

As fo the current draw, you hook your ammeter in series with either positive or negative input. But without a good quality meter (a True RMS meter preferably) or at least an analogue meter it may not give you a completely accurate reading on the current because it is being pulsed. It shouldn't be too far out and will give you an idea of the current draw.

The current draw you want will depend on where your machine runs best, which is usually where it achieves the highest RPM for the lowest current draw. Another guide is the C20 rate of your battery, which is the battery's AH rating divided by 20... so for example a 24AH battery can comfortable handle 1.2 amps being drawn from it. This is just so the batteries stay in good condition.

What kind of batteries are you using? I would be suprised if they could handle 20-24h discharge with a SG the size of yours with no base resistor How far would you let the voltage drop? If they are deep cycle batteries you don't want to discharge them below 10.5v... if they are car batteries then never below 12v. Going beyond these voltages will damage the batteries.

[Sephiroth]

]the primary battery would loose the ability to power the wheel after about 20-24 hrs.[/B]

eep! Just read that again! I'm guessing this is the battery you tried charging earlier in the thread that was causing the neon to light.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling it will be a while before you can use that battery again. Last week I discharged a deep cycle battery below 4v to see how well an SSG can bring it back to life. It has become heavily sulfated and has been on an SG charger for a week with over 500v pulses going to it, but its resting voltage is still not over 5v. It has shown some improvement but don't think I'll be able to use this battery for a good while.

[Gpilot]

I have a 1k, 2k, and 5k pot. With the 2k pot, it starts the best with the pot at 0.. All the way left. It speeds up as i turn the pot, but only to about 25%, then slows back down. With the 5k pot, i cant tell any difference when i adjust the pot. I am using motorcycle batteries, 12v, i think 7.5ah.
One the battery gets to 10.5v, u are saying i should then reverse the batteries to protect them? 1 cycle ends when the primary battery reaches 10.5?

[Gpilot]

eep! Just read that again! I'm guessing this is the battery you tried charging earlier in the thread that was causing the neon to light.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling it will be a while before you can use that battery again. Last week I discharged a deep cycle battery below 4v to see how well an SSG can bring it back to life. It has become heavily sulfated and has been on an SG charger for a week with over 500v pulses going to it, but its resting voltage is still not over 5v. It has shown some improvement but don't think I'll be able to use this battery for a good while.

No, the battery i used last week i pulled from someones garbage. It was sitting at 1.5 volts. The battery that ran for almost a day was a brand new 12v 7.5ah, i bought 2. I ran it down to 4v, like you did. I switched it to the secondary, and it charged up again in 1 cycle. What this tells me is i need to study more about the batteries, and how to safely use them. I am so new to this.

[Sephiroth]

No, the battery i used last week i pulled from someones garbage. It was sitting at 1.5 volts. The battery that ran for almost a day was a brand new 12v 7.5ah, i bought 2. I ran it down to 4v, like you did. I switched it to the secondary, and it charged up again in 1 cycle. What this tells me is i need to study more about the batteries, and how to safely use them. I am so new to this.

ah, that sounds ok then. If the battery has an AH rating on it then I'm pretty sure that means it is a deep cycle battery so yeah, never take it below 10.5v... I don't even like to take mine close to 11.5v just in case!

With 7.5ah batteries you don't want the current draw to go above 375ma which should be fine for a single coil machine. They normally draw between 200 - 350ma.

With the 2k pot turned up around 25% sounds about right. Normally a SG uses a base resistance somewhere around 600ohm (it can vary a lot though). If your 2k pot is turned up 25% and you have a base resistor which is 100ohms that is bang on 600ohms

You should be able to up the base resistor to 3-400 ohms and use the 1k pot.

[Gpilot]

If i use a 1k pot and 300-400 ohms resistor, will it change any of the results i get? What would be the advantage of doing that? Am i wasting electricity in my current setup with the 2k pot?

[Sephiroth]

unless you ever need to turn the dial past 50% on the 2k pot then you will be better off with a 1k pot. The advantage of using the 1k pot is it will be easier to tune but it won't make any overall difference to the performance or efficiency of the circuit.

[Gpilot]

I am using the same 100 ohms resistor with a 1k pot. Would it be better if i used 300 ohms resistance and the 1k pot? Will it help with the fine tuning?

[Gpilot]

It seems when i added the 100 ohms resistor, i lost the ability to tune using my pot(1k). Should i lower my resistor to 50 ohms?

[Sephiroth]

It seems when i added the 100 ohms resistor, i lost the ability to tune using my pot(1k).

How do you mean? When you turn the pot it makes no difference to the rotor?

[Gpilot]

Adjusting the pot does not change the speed of the wheel. Fine tuning is not possible. When i was running the machine without a resistor, i was able to adjust the speed of the wheel with the pot, up to about 25% with both the 1k and 2k pot. Now nothing, constand speed.

[Sephiroth]

The only reason that can happen is if there is a short across the pot. Can you post a pic of the circuit?