Solid State Tesla Coil (SSTC) - Part 2

This is Part 2 of my video series on designing and building a Solid State Tesla Coil (SSTC).
Link to Part 1:
• Solid State Tesla Coil...
In this video, I'm going to show the following:
-Finding the resonant frequency of a Tesla Coil with a Signal Generator and Oscilloscope
-Problems with single-MOSFET designs, and why they should be avoided
-How to design/build a half-bridge inverter to drive the primary coil
-Signal conditioning with inverted schmitt triggers and RC delay circuits to change
phase / duty cycle
-Using dedicated MOSFET gate drivers and coupling their output with a signal transformer
to isolate the driver logic from the half bridge
-Design of an interrupter to modulate the output of the coil
Hardware used:
-2"x12" PVC secondary former with 1,200 turns of 30 gauge wire
-4-turn, 3.5" diameter primary coil
-Approximately 6"x6" aluminum plate as a ground plane
-TLC555 (High speed timer for up to 2.1 mHz)
-NE555 (Low speed timer for interrupter - 100 kHz max)
-CD74HC14E Hex Schmitt Trigger inverter for signal conditioning
-TC4422 MOSFET Driver chips (9A max / 18V vcc max)
-IRF540 (100V max) MOSFETs for half-bridge
-MUR120G diodes for half-bridge
-30mm toroid wound with 25-turn trifilar winding of 26 gauge wire
for the gate drive transformer
In the third video, I'm going to cover how to use secondary coil feedback to drive
the primary coil, signal phase shift, and the construction of a full-bridge inverter
powered with mains voltage (120V).
Music used:
Serge Pavkin - Innovative Technology
Serge Pavkin - Tech Research (full version)
Serge Pavkin - Tech
Serge Pavkin - Positive Things
Serge Pavkin - Unknown
Serge Pavkin - Business Infographics
Serge Pavkin - Intergalactic

[@skeluroth247]

I absolutely love this series! You are not just explaining what a circuit as a whole does but you actually explain what every single component in it does. I also really like that you are splitting the circuit into sections and go through them bit by bit which makes it easy to understand. Please make more of these videos! Maybe after the slayer exciter and half bridge driver you should cover a full bridge or even look into dual resonant coils? I am really exited for more videos! Thank you for making these!

[@HyperspacePirate]

Glad you found it helpful. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the details of an SSTC at first, so I wanted to make it easier for other people in the future. I'm planning on doing a full bridge inverter on rectified mains (120V) for part 3, which should approximately quadruple the power of the coil. I'll have to change my MOSFETs to IRF250's, because the IRF540's I used for this video only handle a maximum of 100V. Dual resonant is probably a bit farther out. I'll have to do some head-scratching to figure out how to deal with the massive primary current that'll be involved

[@RAVI171175]

My GOD! Here comes another Great Scott! Dude, I highly appreciate your channel along with your clear explanations. That's the spirit of sharing. You are a great teacher & you do it very well. That's very helpful on your behalf. Keep it up & I pray that you get lots of subscribers like me who really appreciate your educative channel. Do watch those guys channel when you have time. They are Vai Hinduan & Tim yurch as these guys have made single Mosfet SSTC and they haven't burnt any transistors at all. Please do some more videos on the full bridge using more powerful Mosfets like the IRFP 260N or the IRFP 460N. On my behalf, it's a very nice & well explained video.

[@HyperspacePirate]

Thanks. Working on part III right now, and I'll have a full bridge w/ IRF250's. So far it already makes bigger sparks on 30V than the half bridge did on 80V. I want to push it up to 120V, though

[@OneBiOzZ]

A very underrated series out of all of the SSTC videos i have seen this series is the only one that actually explains the theory, failures and the thought process

[@robertoleon3784]

Thanks you very much ,is a real teacher,perfect explanations throughout the circuit without any pause,I have to recorder and listen at low speed to put in my brain,is very important follow this technicality loved

[@gettingbuzzywithsreyon2562]

Your demonstrations and explanations are very helpful! because now I understood, what are those problems in my 'mosfet slayer exciter circuit', nice video!

[@AnalogDude_]

8:49 maybe a CD4017 could do the job as well. Counting to 5, using 1th and 3th as output skipping the second and 4th and reset on the 5th via feedback from the 5th in to reset.

[@andytof47]

Super clear explanation of everything👍👍Fantastic series

[@klausziegler60]

This is probably the best Channel about the subject

[@TheLiverX]

As far as I know, the name "slayer exciter" comes from the fact that, first, it is an exciter, and, second, it is great at cooking the 2N2222 transistors it was originally designed with.

[@captain_joni]

Very well explained. I really do enjoy watching ur videos!!!

[@johndoe-bq1xt]

That's a pretty GooD explanation. I actually understood most of it. Thanks !

[@klausziegler60]

The very best channel on electronics

[@davypeleman5931]

If the topload is not really smooth (wich is the case when using aluminium tape) there's leakage from the secondary to the sharp edges made by the aluminium foil. This will decrease the output alot and can cause arcing or cornona discharge from the secondary to these sharp edges . Try the metal candy containers they are great toploads.

[@parsonsfra]

Very well explained!

[@procrafers]

This video is amazing

[@kdkinen]

You're just so good

[@pranavramesh4888]

Nice video

[@samueldavies646]

How would the ground plane compare to connecting to earth wire? And in portable coils do people just not earth the coil end at all??

[@raven_fpv]

Do you have a parts list and schematic for the signal generator?

[@TheElectronicDilettante]

Great videos! I’m currently trying to build my first Tesla Coil . I’ve been leaning towards Power MOSFETs for obvious reasons. I noticed in your schematic, you have gate protection Zeners . The MOSFET I’m considering is a TO-247 from STMicro(stw20nk50z). This has the two Zeners built in. Will this work or is it better to have the Zeners separate from the MOSFET package. Any input, advice, etc will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the informative videos, they’re super helpful.

[@maxischerr]

To make things easier use for example an IR2110 for driving a half bridge. It has no isolation but it works and doesnt need a gate drive transformer (because they can be a pain in the butt).

[@KarldorisLambley]

it named after a mr slayer, who invented it. and it is an exciter circuit.

[@davypeleman5931]

I have the best results with the one Fet designs. The other ones cause alot of problems and are very unreliable. For me the Brovin catcher circuit is the best. I have abused the circuit in many ways. Mosfet does not get destroyed. With the half bridge on the contrary. While tuning and tinkering, i always destroy mosfets and even the whole driver section (schmidt trigger, mosfet driver, 555 and all the voltage regulators). If that happens you gotta replace everything. It is very time and money consuming. And yes i get a big output with 1 Mosfet and it stays relatively cool. Now i'm tinkering with a coil. I get +10 cm sparks in continuous mode at 65 watts. i have alot of room left to give it more watts and did not even build the interrupter. With it spark lenght will increase further and power consumption will lower. But i guess it all depends on person. For me no complicated and costly designs. The simple ones work best for me.

[@tristanlee1171]

Great video, love the Tesla coil series! I'm a bit late to the party here, but I've been looking at the half-bridge waveforms for a bit too long, and I had a question about the current and voltage waveforms. I can't seem to wrap my head around the voltage alternating between Vcc/2 and -Vcc/2, I understand why it alternates but not the magnitude of the voltage. I get in a half-bridge converter there is a capacitive divider on the input, so it's apparent to me in that case but not here with the addition of the inductor. Is it just that ground isn't being used as the reference?

[@KarldorisLambley]

i wish you'd talked about how you wound the coil.

[@pritikanadas3140]

Can i use zvs driver

[@Magneticitist]

FYI "Slayer Exciter" does seem like a strange name but the circuit was created and popularized by GBluer as an SSTC on youtube who I believe went by "Slayer007" on old forums.

[@HyperspacePirate]

Good to know. I always wondered where the name came from - it struck me as cringey

[@Magneticitist]

@@HyperspacePirate I always thought it was kind of funny that circuit went worldwide and had so many people saying the name without a second thought like "Slayer" is just part of the normal vocabulary.

[@jaymzx0]

I snickered a bit at the 'street name' for the circuit. There are some shady dark alley oscillator circuits out there...

[@MCPicoli]

Also because it has a direct path to the power supply thus having the potential to slay careless users?

[@Magneticitist]

@@MCPicoli True, but back when the slayer was first around people only ran it at maybe 30V tops.

[@MarcBossYT]

Yay

[@user-pp6fs8zj3q]

Hi! Can someone please explain to me in which material is a good idea to make the metal donut in the upper part of the Tesla coil? Or maybe a link where someone explain it, thank you

[@HyperspacePirate]

It can be just about any material you want, then wrapped in aluminum foil / tape. Foam is pretty common.

[@dumpmboy64]

I know this is in an old video but this is crucial, what kind of ferrite did you use I’m having trouble finding one

[@homanhojeez678]

I hope I'm not too late but the recommended material is 77. There's a good video about gdt's on the teslaundmehr channel. Hope this helps and feel free to ask More questions!

[@dumpmboy64]

@@homanhojeez678 nah it’s good, but the thing is, it looks like as if he used iron core ferrite from a computer psu. I was just looking fir cheaper ways but I’ve found that cheaping out in things often times result in explosions

[@homanhojeez678]

@@dumpmboy64 yeah I know what you mean. I'm familiar with finding these things out the hard way 😅 anyways it's better to use cores designed for high frequency

[@dumpmboy64]

@@homanhojeez678 yup learned that the hard way

[@Freddyfanmulti3214]

the slayer part of the name is from its ability to kill mosfets easily and the exciter part of the name comes from the fact that it can transmit wireless power. Hence the name,Slayer exciter

[@guitardude5364]

Why not make it dual resonant?

[@proffessornukem8775]

I want to build a half bridge sstc, but would it be possible to use irfp460 mosfets with this driver? If so, would there be anything to look out for and keep in mind?

[@HyperspacePirate]

Yeah that's actually a pretty common FET for SSTC's from what I've seen online. Just be aware that with a half bridge your peak voltage across your primary is VCC/2 instead of VCC

[@proffessornukem8775]

Thank you, the only reason I'm planning to make a half bridge to preserve mosfets, I'm afraid I might fry a few. I want to connect use rectified 240 vac and my one worry is that the current spikes may damage the irfp460s. They are rated for 20A and 50A pulsed. I am in the process of making the schematic and the pcbs, would it be possible for me to send you my schematic after I'm done, you have much more experience with sstcs and I would really appreciate the consult.

[@HyperspacePirate]

@@proffessornukem8775 i'd advise putting resistors in series with your 240VAC at least while you're developing the coil so that you don't have any accidents from current spikes. Maybe 5-10 ohms with big load resistors

[@proffessornukem8775]

I'll definitely do that, can I send you the schematic once I'm done with it?

[@proffessornukem8775]

I think using a variac would be the best option but unfortunately I done own one yet.

[@16BITMEME]

Can I use Ne555N?

[@HyperspacePirate]

For the interrupter, yes. I think NE555 has a 100 kHz speed limit, though, so if you want to use it to run the primary of the tesla coil it's not a good option

[@16BITMEME]

@@HyperspacePirate Thanks ..... After 1 year this channel is going to reach 10M Subs ... Don't forget me , ;-)

[@kallgakr1273]

why didnt u just use a 60% duty cycle at the 555 timer ouput and than converted it to 40% via a simple inverter? maybe even a pnp transistor would be enough. very cool video

[@JaenEngineering]

Why not just set the 555 to output a 40% duty cycle and skip the inverter altogether? It's because if you watch, he needs two 40% duty square waves that were 180° out of phase, not a 60% and a 40%. The whole point is to have a period of dead space between the two signals so you don't ever had a situation where both MOSFETs are on at the same time.

[@kallgakr1273]

@@JaenEngineering oh thx i must have missed that part

[@NerdlabsSci]

COOL!!! edit:first comment!

[@keeganplayz1875]

For some reason, transistors and MOSFETs love to overheat..

[@nathanieljames7462]

your skin cells explode very brightly and seem to have a sodium-like colour to them!

[@djksfhakhaks]

Funny. I thought all tesla coils where solid state.