Inventing the Ultimate Class-E Musical Tesla Coil (Single-FET SSTC) | A Complete Build Tutorial
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
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Among solid-state Tesla coils, there is a sort of unspoken tier list of difficulty. At the easy end, you have H-bridge SSTCs and slayer exciters, which can basically be assembled and used without too much trouble. At the more difficult end, you have the mighty DRSSTC, and at the farthest end, you have HFSSTCs...these are both notoriously sensitive and hard to get working right. And then, in the middle of the tier list, sits this under-represented circuit: the class-E SSTC.
Class-E SSTCs are kind of a mixed bag when it comes to difficulty: the driver is very simple and cheap to build, but it requires some probing and tuning to get working right. This circuit is also a favorite for small, high-frequency coils, and high frequencies tend to cause their own set of issues. So in today's tutorial, I'll be demystifying this strange single-MOSFET circuit and building my own super-easy version that runs off of an adjustable Schmitt trigger oscillator (as far as I can tell, I'm the first to do this, and it works GREAT)!
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/ labcoatz
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Want to build your own? Here is the PCB I designed for my circuit, free to download!
drive.google.com/file/d/18yTm...
Want to copy my design? Here are the .stl files used to 3D print my coil's base:
drive.google.com/file/d/1uS6-...
Need help with parts and instructions? Check out my Instructable and Hackaday project pages:
www.instructables.com/Making-...
hackaday.io/project/188598-ma...
To get your own PCBs for the lowest possible price, I personally recommend using JLCPCB, since you can get five PCBs for only $5 (that's including shipping, which normally costs $20 or more from other sellers).
Be sure to check out my collab partner Tate over on @BackMacSci !
Ryan's video on a similar Schmitt trigger driven class-E SSTC:
• Micro 3.5MHz Class E H...
He also has several new iterations of this circuit as well over on his channel @Magneticitist, so be sure to go check him out!
Have questions about your own Tesla coil or high voltage project? Ask away on the United Tesla Coil Builders Discord server:
/ discord
Useful websites:
classictesla.com/home/javatc3d/
www.vn-experimenty.eu/teslov-...
www.vn-experimenty.eu/teslov-...
uzzors2k.com/index.php?page=4M...
stevehv.4hv.org/classEsstc.htm
www.richieburnett.co.uk/hfsstc...
I apologize for the details that may not have been expressed clearly in this video. Here are some important details to keep in mind:
1. This circuit CAN run up to 120V, but I don't recommend doing so unless everything is tuned VERY thoroughly, and you're using a lower frequency design with enough primary inductance to sufficiently limit the current and enough capacitance to dampen D-S voltage peaks. Using a SiCFET allowed me to push up to 150V (about 200V when rectified), so silicon carbide FETs might be your best option for higher voltage operation. With standard 500V FETs, however, I recommend no more than 80V.
2. If your circuit shorts out when you crank up the voltage, the 400V TVS diode will almost always die sacrificially in place of the MOSFET.
3. On the PCB, the second, lower-value trimmer potentiometer is just for fine-tuning. If you really wanted to, you could just short the connections and move on without it.
0:00 Intro
1:15 What we want in our circuit
2:55 Our first contender: Steve Ward's class-E
3:47 NextPCB sponsorship segment
4:29 "Electra" prototype (failed)
4:49 The finalized circuit
5:35 BackMacSci explains Schmitt trigger oscillators
7:13 Circuit demo!
8:46 A bad pun
8:58 Circuit stats
9:29 Tuning
11:08 Class-E tuning
12:07 Design tips
13:05 Conclusion + GIVEAWAY!
14:23 Metal outro - Наука та технологія
I love LabCoatz!!
I love you both
@@tanner1985 Same
same
Awesome video and results bro, and thanks for the shoutout! This vid is right on time to help motivate me back into messing with these things. I noticed without overkill filtering some of them were switching things on and off elsewhere in the house and gave them a break lol. I suspect a lot of mosfets will give up the ghost following this video, and some will have easy success, but for anyone making it through to the end of the cold but living mosfet journey it will be a good experience either way. Thoughts and prayers go out to those no-scoping it.
Nice channel! Found you through NileRed's shoutout and it's cool to see that your channel gained about 4k since he shot his video :)
Yeah, doubling my channel size in 24 hours definitely wasn't the Christmas gift I was expecting! I'm gonna have to up my game in the coming year to keep everyone onboard, haha!
This channel is one of the best, due to its completeness, clarity and thorough treatment of each subject.
Excelente. Thank you for such wonderful work.
Keep working bro,I love your delicate builds🤗
Very nicely done
Awesome video, I should totally try this circuit
One of my favorite channels
Clear, neat. Perfect!
yooo finally after all this time
First of all, I want to thank you. I have improved a lot thanks to your videos. I want to suggest an idea to you. I do not know if it is relevant, especially since I am a beginner in electronics. You said that at high frequencies, more current is required from the gate driver IC to turn the mosfet on and off, which can increase gate capacitance and cause the UCC27524 to overheat. A solution might be to put an optocoupler between the integrated control circuit and the mosfet, this would electrically isolate these 2 circuits. On the other hand, I believe that the switching speed of optocouplers does not exceed 5 Mhz. It needs to be checked. Thank you again for all you do.
Glad I've been able to inspire you with my work thus far, and that's a good theory! The problem with using an optocoupler in this way would be the fact that the optocoupler demands "actual" electric current. That may sound a little funny, but think of it like this: a MOSFET or IGBT gate is essentially a capacitor that must be charged up to turn the transistor "on", while the inputs lines of an optocoupler just go through an LED. An LED requires a constant current to be on, while the MOSFET gate only requires a quick burst of current to charge up to the MOSFET's trigger voltage. Therefore, the MOSFET by itself requires less energy to charge with the UCC27524. Hope that all made sense, haha!
@@LabCoatz_Science I understand better when you make the analogy between the gate of the mosfet and the capacitor. Thank you for the explanations.
Awesome content!!!
Great video.
Excited
Awesome!
So pretty!!!
Very good work
Nicely done
Long live metallica
Another thing that I recently discovered is that the 1N4000 series rectifier isn't as slow as previously thought it operates from 2000 to 1500 nano seconds
Hi, does it matter if the coils are either wound both clockwise or counterclockwise? The electromagnetic field would be different but does it matter in this circuit? Btw brilliant design. Can't wait to build it.
Epic!
Thank you lots for this amazing and interesting video! I'd love trying to build a Class-E as well, and I was wondering if those casing parts are (or that case is) 3D printed. And if so, is/are the stl file(s) available?
Anyway, have a good time and I wish you everything good for your next projects
Glad I could inspire! The stl files are in the video description, but honestly, they aren't the best. Most of the stuff (like the PCB mounting pins and the top and bottom halves) has to be glued together permanently with something like epoxy, and the connection sockets for the PVC pipe may not fit perfectly (mine was a little loose, so I added a few layers of electrical tape to tighten up the joint) but if you're interested, they're there for the taking!
@LabCoatz Thank you very much for the quick reply! I've totally overlooked the line in the description. Anyway, I'll try to look for opportunities for the stl files, when I have some more free time soon. Thank you for the advice! You really inspired me with your work. I hope, you'll keep up the good work!
How could I calculate the Schmidt trigger for a 300 to 600kHz frequency range?
Fantastic as always, Zach! I’m super excited to try this circuit myself. As someone who is still relatively new to HV/HF electronics, I really appreciate your content, as it was a big contributor for me getting into this kind of thing! Can’t wait to see what the next year brings! Rock on! ⚡️
Glad I can continue inspiring, I really appreciate your support man!
@@LabCoatz_ScienceI saw the video you posted 2yrs ago...ultimate guide to sstc(simplest) but I don't get how you made the coil, like on what material? A ferrite core ain't feasible to me, could simply a PVC work?
OH brother after all this wait , more wait hahah nah I be ready for it
Several months ago I discovered another use for the 555 timer an inverting Schmidt trigger, I discovered this on UA-cam. it would work well in your application that way you're not wasting the other gates in a 74HC14
But the 555 tops out at 1MHz at most, wheres the 74HC14 can go up to 10+ MHz.
Do you think it could be audio modulated by Frequency shifting if you inyect the audio signal into the Schmitt trigger oscilator stage ? It would be cool to have both features in the same circuit to compare pwm vs freq shifting audio
I honestly don't know! You're welcome to give it a try though, as it probably won't damage anything!
@@LabCoatz_Science I will brother , I am about to get a ucc27524 and I will build your desing
Yes, if you use a 74LV4046 pll ic and inject the audio at the VCO input, this will nudge the frequency up and down, but is not a good way to audio modulate a Class E setup as it will throw the circuit in and out of Class E operation which will stress the fet, and is really only suitable for use in a regular half/full bridge SSTC.
The best way is to simply just audio modulate the DC bus feeding the Class E circuit.
Congratulations. I've been wanting to build something like this for three years, but never had the funding.
On one hand, this is so cool.
On the other, it's so depressing. If I only had access to funds I could have been doing this. But I'm not one of the lucky ones. In fact, I'll be homeless again in two days. A failed attempt to improve my quality of life backfired hardcore.
Hey Zach, I think I broke the sound barrier while discharging my circuit. .. no damage to the anything .. but that crack and blast .. it shook the walls and my chest. Then the card board housing I chose for your supply was blown out .. still nothing in the way of damage .. no arc flash. Everything still works .
what do you think it could have been . ? Just a user error .. haha
Oh and sorry , by discharge I mean I was finished with the 45min of fun and goin to bed .. disassembling everything ..
and so it’s good practice to discharge things to a ground ..
I have a dedicated ground in all rooms of the house at this point haha..
I want to try that 400v tvs to protect the fet , the 18v tvs at the gate would help with the gate ringing right ?
Not really, the TVS is just to prevent voltage spike damage, since there is no GDT isolation. The gate resistors are what really help with the ringing, but they can't be too large, otherwise the gate signal will become more "flabby" with slow transition times.
@@LabCoatz_Science You left me thinking when you said the coil would resonate at any multiple of the resonance frequency , I did some Frequency measurements on the logic of my pll sstc and it was way lower that what I expected (400khz ) at first I thought that was my shitty arduino frequency counter but now I am thinking I might be running at a lower resonance . My calculations say it should be about 2mhz
Is recomendable do this if i want to start high
Why wasn’t the antenna feedback working?
Nice build. Isnt it better to put the resonant capacitor across the primary instead across the MOSFET?
As far as I can tell, no, the capacitor must be across the MOSFET for it to experience the necessary ZVS required for efficient switching. Hence why such "tuned Slayer exciters" still overheat their transistors.
@@LabCoatz_ScienceI think you could make an Armstrong oscillator/class C amplifier with a single transistor. Just like a vacuum tube Tesla coil but with a transistor in place of the tube.
Man I'd like one those analog controllers 😁🤘
When you shows EasyEDA I thought the sponsor is gonna be JLCPCB lol!
Can I have the schematic or electrical plan please?
Tks for this wonderfull project !
How did you know how many turns you had to have to get 1.5Mhz?
I calculated with JavaTC, and then checked with my oscilloscope.
@@LabCoatz_Science i bought exaxctly the same components. I will do like you. Javatc is hard to understand....
@@tkfou801 no worries, once you get the hang of it, it's pretty straightforward!
@@LabCoatz_Science Top thanks!
I also see that on the card there is a 1nF capacitor connected to the GATE of the IRFP460 but I don't see it on the schematic ... What is its use?
@@tkfou801 It was omitted; it would have been for dampening gate ringing, but instead, it just made the switching speed slower and it drew more power.
Let me say you something
Hi .
I am just decided to make your circuit but the problem is will the ucc27425 work for this instead of ucc27524.
If it is ok i have all compoundnents in hand
No, if you look at the layout of the UCC27425, you will see it has both an inverting and non inverting output, while the UCC27524 is only non inverting, so the UCC27425 is incompatible.
Ok
Your preview photos did not miss represent. If anything, the photos didn't do justice!
So i built this and can't change the duty cycle, and drew 2.5amps until the 460 cooked.
Any ideas?
Little update, may have had a bad 7812.. changed all chips and tvs and 460... now I have duty control :D
Hey could you provide the schematic its been deleted
How load is this build? What are the ways to increase the volume?
At full power it is about as loud as a phone speaker, but the volume really depends on the input signal strength and the coil's output size. For example, my computer outputs a stronger headphone-out signal than my phone, so it produces the loudest spark.
@@LabCoatz_Science Thanks for the reply! If I wanted to make the coil 3 or 4 times bigger, taller, would that change any of the electronics required? What else would I have to change?
I asked you in the sstc vedio comments how to make a music signal for the sstc can you help me
For my old SSTC, there are a whole bunch of ways you can go about it. I personally used an Arduino to switch a transistor, and that transistor switched 12V on/off to the coil.
Mine is 1MHz, how could I calculate the Tuning cap?
I told how in the video: JavaTC to get close, and the rest is manual adjustment of the primary coil.
Vas a hacer está bobina con el Schmitt trigger ? Definitivamente vale la pena , pero yo creó qué usaría el cd4046 si vas a hacer modulación de audio , en la mía el sonido es mucho más claro y fuerte cuando usó el vco , no estoy seguro pero quizás en el Schmitt trigger se podría inyectar el audio en la parte del oscilador y hacer una especie de vco , en mí esperiencia el audio por frecuencia modulada suena mucho mejor qué por pwm , en cuanto al capacitor creó qué estos osciladores son muy versatiles con los valores qué usó en el video podés variar desde 400khz hasta 6 mhz si no me equivoco
Nice Video. However, it seems that you didn't try the coil with music or maybe I missed it :)
The intro bit where I say "hey this is Zach..." was all recorded using the Tesla coil as a speaker instead of my voice. And at the very end, after I stop talking, the music is coming from the coil as well.
@@LabCoatz_Science ow thanks a lot.
Can I plug this tesla coil directly into my home's electricity or should I use a transformer?
Also, I'm going to build a musical tesla coil with nice (medium length) sparks for my university project and I'm on a tight budget (3rd world country) Do you advise me to build a DRSSTC or SSTC like in the video or is there any other recommended video/article?
Looks awesome but sounds like tuning makes it essentially unmarketable.
Zack, another UA-cam channel worth mentioning is
hyperspace pirate, he's built some interesting circuits
Hey zach... Please make a Musical Tesla coil channel in our Discord group... Thank you
Checkin if I'm ready: soldering skills, check
Oscilloscope: Rigol 4 channel, check
A secondary wound 3 years ago and waiting in a box, check
IRFP460 mosfet, check
Skills to understand Class-E amplifiers: nope.
I have to learn a little, before tackling the project! C'est la vie!
In all honesty, this build really wasn't too bad. As long as you have a scope, it's pretty easy to one of these things tuned!
@@LabCoatz_Science I have two oscilloscopes, one old Hameg analog, and the Rigol 4 channel, still boxed. I'm preparing myself for tesla coiling since 2020. Here in Italy it's not a common hobby to build Tesla Coils, unfortunately. Greets!
Sheesh you got all the right tools brother you just need to late night coiling , I wish I would have a scope...
❤👌👍👍👍👌
Youre forgetting about the kids who played command and conquer, and realized the russians deffence system (the tesla coil) is real, and shoot lightning... and has been a dream since you were 6.. then by the time you're 18, youve built 12 of them before losing interest until 30.. when you get right back into it because mental health problems! 😂
OK great work and clever circuit, excellent descriptions, but am I the only one who's frustrated (and even confused) that the video doesn't actually show us what it sounds like??? The demo is completely covered by super loud music edited over all the clips of the circuit in operation. Show me what it actually sounds like! So much talk about the ultrasonic modulation but I want to hear how well that works.
You make a valid point, and I could've demonstrated the coil's modulation feature more. I did put two main instances of it playing audio in this video though...for example, at the very beginning, I'm not talking during the introduction: the audio was pre-recorded and played through the Tesla coil! I also played a bit of music through the coil at the very end of the video as I say "LabCoatz out"
man i wish i had the money and skills to make a tesla coil
there are some pretty cheap and easy designs out there. I suggest checking out my channel and labcoatz's other videosto learn more about tesla coils and how to design them.
Look at my video.. Made a tesla coil within 10$
It is not expesive at all , you can salvage components from old electronics , I recomend you to start with a slayer exciter almost any NPN transistor and some diodes it will work
@@rodriguezfranco3839 slayer exciter won't give long arcs.. I want them big
@@styrishrodrigues if you want big arcs do the push pull sstc by tefatronix or skori