Plasma Speaker Tutorial Pt. 2: Putting it all together

[@TheSmokingGun57]

You done a great job with this tutorial, don't know WHY views are so low...unless I'm just not used to getting to watch such recent uploads...but anyone passing this up is missing out on probably one of the BEST "overall" video tutorials (meaning not just plasma speaker, but of all of those within my interests) on KZbin. One that is highly informative, while not trying to impress how much you know, straight and to the point in useful explanations behind the "why's" without going into every little detail when SOME MUST be able to be assumed as being understood in basic electronic circuitry, as well as expanding upon the principles without getting caught up in them. You dear sir, are missing your calling if you are not a video tutorial producer or narrator/teacher!! Well done! Cons: Yep... there was one...you promised in pt 1 that you would explain how to tell if you have an AC or DC flyback, and that really fell short of expectations however...you are forgiven, since I think you were getting impatient to play with fire...err...sparks...err...ARCS!!! LOL! ;-) It's OKAY, who wouldn't!!! As for this whole tutorial, although very well done, your demonstration lacked in the "SPEAKER" intentions behind this circuit, that started out on track, but once you got so carried away with producing longer and bigger arcs, you lost sight of the purpose, to demonstrate how these are used as a speaker....but I understand the "lure" of all that "Raw Power" literally at your fingertips...LOL! (Not being critical, just stating the facts of the matter... and now...doing my part ;-) ) Since my reason was primarily to learn more about the driver circuit... for those needing to better understand what was happening.... this allows the plasma arc to act as the speaker....it will pulse and tune the sound the arcs make to the inputted audio signal and reproduce it in how it interacts with the ground plane... I will add that... The audio quality on this seemed to be poor, only due to the "narrow" width of the arcs, for 1. Pushing the envelope of distance which was sacrificing the audio quality, but it CAN become quite impressive on its own merit if you 1. Do not set the distance so far...at least without the added power/resonant coupling to accommodate it, and 2. You will want to use bulkier or more rounded or flat ended and WIDER electrode(s) to "Widen" the arc regardless of length, (which is where the added power or coupling comes in) because the wider you get that arc to be sustained, the wider the frequency response you will get, including more of the low end of the spectrum, which lacks in these to begin with, but increase that width, and you will get much more out of them, it was the needle point the arcs were generating from that caused the music to be so "tinny sounding" and harsh/sharp and almost be indiscernible, but they DO make AWESOME 360° tweeters when used in combination with a woofer or sub! Still... you have my vote of best video tutorial for balance and clarity and being functionally helpful!! Especially for us OLD newbies!!! Much appreciation of your efforts...do you take requests?? LOL!! Seriously... There are a LOT of tutorials you would do much justice to and give those whose channels specialize in tutorials a run for their money for so many poor habits, from misdirected cameras being on their FACE instead of what they are "showing" they are doing with their hands, running power equipment...often without warning and then trying to shout over it, (geez do a dub) and coughing sputtering uhh,, ummm ahh and so forth... basically just not prepared with what they plan to get across...I'll check out your channel of its general topics...but if you took to tutorials I would be an instant subscriber and sharing your videos across the boards!! Thank you! Namaste'!!

[@monkeylordrick]

this is the most amazing detailed video on audio arcing, the end was more then epic,was that vac pushing that arc like that and a well tune 555 ? that was amazing

[@aldebaranflash2663]

Top job!

[@Edofin]

IMPRESSIVE !!!

[@anttikantola8128]

im glad you learn electronics,, someday you find the wireless implants inside our bodies, while the professionals fails to complete it.

[@uK8cvPAq]

And here I am using a plastic stick to draw little 1 inch arclets, when I was experimenting with monster arcs like this I was shitting myself and had a box over the fet in case it went bang and startled me.

[@FredtheDorfDorfman1985]

Ah flybacks are for wusses! Just kidding. Try using a chicken stick to draw one to two amp lightning arcs from a set of four unbalasted microwave oven transformers, with secondaries in series and primaries connected to 240 volt mains, that has arcs hot enough to fry ya, and has enough current to put you in a grave, twice! It'll zap ya dead, turn ya into a zombie, and when ya rise it'll zap ya dead again. Just kidding. Now that experience will put some hair on yer butt! That's one of those sphincter exercising experiences where you're pulling a monster arc and around back your sphincter is trying to eat your underwear. Just remember to wear boxers so they don't pull tight in the front and strangle the boys when the back of them end up half way up your colon! 😨😀😂

[@uK8cvPAq]

@@FredtheDorfDorfman1985 lol! ZVS driver at 50v (no voltage sag) was definitely an ass clenching moment for me, my balls were trying to crawl up inside and hide.

[@HaroldVictor1911]

nice bro !!!!!! thank for ur video !!!

[@monkeylordrick]

ok so the audio output jack thing goes from resist to 5 and the outer casing to ground ? is there anything else i need to know how to you add on that switch on your circuit board to change pitch and all that ?

[@spandandutta2485]

What is the value of your capacitor.....the resonance one.

[@godspirals]

NO' Thank You, very nice .Full On! be good to fit in the air intake of ya car engine. Cheers.

[@MusicianofScience]

Hi! I was just wondering. Could I use one power supply that can supply 12VDC and use it to power the 555 timer, then use that same power supply, step up the voltage using a dc/dc converter to 40VDC and use that to provide power to the flyback transformer? Also, if I didn't want to use the audio aspect, could i just leave that pin (pin #4) floating? Your response would be helpful. Thanks!!

[@FredtheDorfDorfman1985]

I'm sure you know already by now, but yea, if your 12 volt supply has enough current. The 555 circuit needs at least an amp. If you were to add a separate amplifier stage, driven by the 555's output, to drive the mosfet gate, or a gate driver IC, then the 555 circuit needs an amp and the gate driver stage, or IC, needs at least an amp. If you were to parallel several mosfets then the gate drive stage(s) could need up to as much as 8 amps, depending on how many mosfets you use, and a separate gate drive would be required for multiple paralleled mosfets because the 555's output stage can source no more than 200 mA, for the mosfet(s) gate(s,) at the most, (unless it's the CMOS TLC555 which can only source 100 mA from its output, because it's designed for battery powered low drain circuits.) And it's bad to pull the maximum current out of its output stage. It tends to heat the 555 up and burn it out quickly if you max the load on its output. You can connect its output pin 3 and the collector of its discharge transistor on pin 7 together to sink more current, about 100-200 mA more, but for sourcing there's nothing else to do but use an external amplifier stage for more output current. It's actually better to either use a gate drive IC, like a 4420-4429, or if nothing else a 2222/2907 or 4401/4403 type transistors in a complimentary arrangement that have a maximum of 600-700 mA for a single mosfet, and something like TIP31/TIP32 or TIP41/TIP42 for multiple mosfet gates. Finally the flyback primary, that you wish to drive at 40 volts, needs around 10 amps at 12-24 volts and 5-10 amps at 40-50 volts to give the best performance and have the highest output voltage, (at 20-40 KV,) and current, (which for flybacks not being driven with a Mazilli ZVS driver, isn't that much at less than 10 mA.) Flybacks don't put out much current unless way over driven which risks breaking down internal insulation, and arcing which ruins the transformer. Tip: When driving flybacks at low voltages, lower than rectified mains (5-50 volts, etc,) unlike it is in the CRT, the primary wire gauge needs to be thick for the higher amps it will need to do the same work that lower amps could do at say 170/320 volts rectified mains. 14 AWG magnet wire makes good low voltage primaries for 12-24 volts, and 16 AWG for 24-40 volts. If feedback/tickler coils were needed, for say a basic 3055 setup, then 18-20AWG is good for 12-24 volts and 20-22 AWG is good for 24-40 volts. If you were to be driving the flyback at rectified mains voltage then the built in, smaller wire gauge, primary does better because it's a better impedance match than the larger 14 AWG would be. At rectified mains voltage 1 amp, or less, could give you the same performance as 10 amps at 12-24 volts. The lower the volts, the more amps you need to do the same amount of work. Also, if arcing across the bottom pins, or arcing/corona from any other part of the flyback than the ends of the output leads, it is wasting output power. If you have a flyback doing this then emersing it in transformer oil, or mineral oil, is a very good idea. Like I did my large flyback, I took a large straight walled cylindrical plastic canister with a screw on lid, put brass screws with connection terminals soldered onto them through the wall of the canister for the high voltage output, built in rect mains primary, my hand wound 14 AWG center tapped 10 turn primary, and center tapped 5 turn feedback, sealed them in with silicone sealer, installed a base holder in the bottom of the can and a hold down peg on the inside of the lid, inserted the flyback and connected everything up,, then filled highly refined mineral oil in up to the top of the transformer, sealed it all up, tilted it to get the air out from under the transformer, and voilà, (which means, and then I accomplished what I set out to do,) and no more arcing. It arced terribly across the pins because I'm slightly over driving it at rectified mains 170 volts, but after putting it in oil it does it no more. The Mazilli ZVS is my next intentions for my big flyback, that came from a big screen TV. I think it's about time to give my flyback some bigger balls! Take care, happy high voltaging!

[@uK8cvPAq]

@@FredtheDorfDorfman1985 Those gate drive figures are peak currents, the NE555 supply doesn't need such a high wattage power supply. A good low ESR electrolytic capacitor near the supply rails will supply the peak currents, the 12 supplying it will only see the average power.

[@monkeylordrick]

i mean to cap not resist