FEELER: Plasma Speaker Kits

[Fiddy]

Hey, no, it generates a spark of 15-30mm off the top of a 4mm diameter spike thats about 70mm tall off the top of the secondary.

here's the breakout point you will receive on-top of my own secondary

 

[Mohrenberg]

Okay, I need one.

Do you think it will be more of the $150, or the $180 range?

 

[Mohrenberg]

How dangerous are these?
Do you know of a premade ready PSU or sale online?
Can they be run continuously?
Is there anything to stop me from machining my own breakout?

I saw these online a while back, but they didn't look nearly as cool as this. I really want one. I don't mess with tesla coils, as i would probably kill myself. That's the reasoning for the first question

 

[Things]

You'd have to be trying mighty hard to kill yourself. I think the best chance would be touching the capacitor terminals, one with each finger on each hand

But no, the output spark itself will give you quite a painful burn, but very unlikely to be fatal.

 

[pschlosser]

you could fall on it and it penetrates just right, in between the ribs and THEN send that 30mm spark into the heart with no one around to give you CPR.

it could be done.

 

[Things]

Jeez, if you wanted to get that technical, he could stab himself with a soldering iron, fall off his chair and break his neck ... tesla coils are risky business

 

[Fiddy]

How dangerous are these?
Do you know of a premade ready PSU or sale online?
Can they be run continuously?
Is there anything to stop me from machining my own breakout?

I saw these online a while back, but they didn't look nearly as cool as this. I really want one. I don't mess with tesla coils, as i would probably kill myself. That's the reasoning for the first question

Its leaning towards $170AUD.

They are mildly dangerous,

the arc off the top is the worst bit, you can touch the arc lightly and not get shocked real bad, but the plasma will start to burn your skin after 1 second or so.

Also touching metal in the vicinity of the secondary coil will give you RF (radio frequency) burns so avoid that too.

There are no pre-made PSU's that will work straight off the bat because you need a mains ground. Not very hard at all to do, i use a 4A 24V laptop looking PSU with an mains ground that runs directly from the wall plug to the RF ground on the PCB.

Depending on how efficient your Mosfet you get with the kit is, will determine the run time, i will say they don't like to run for more than 10 minutes at a time, the thing limiting the run time is the heat generated on the main mosfet which can be measured by the temperature of the heatsink on the main switching mosfet, there is a litle fan included in the kit that does an ok job of cooling the heatsink and mosfet, you can buy your own bigger 24VDC fan if you wish, ive allowed for fans at 24VDC up to 1A of current, alternatively you could use 2x 12VDC fans in series.

Theres nothing stopping you making a nice breakout point on that nice lathe of yours! You will get better performance with a breakout point that is smooth, shap points and 90 degree angles will want to make the arc want to breakout at that point, so keep that in mind in your own design, but as people have informed me it might not have such a big foot print at this power.

 

[Fiddy]

you could fall on it and it penetrates just right, in between the ribs and THEN send that 30mm spark into the heart with no one around to give you CPR.

it could be done.

Haha the most you will get is RF burns and depending on your PSU if your silly enough to play with the mains side shame on you!

And if you want to fall over on-top of your freshly built plasma speaker ill call it natural selection

 

[jcranmer]

This is really looking good Fiddy. Can't wait to get a hold of one.

 

[ped]

And dont lick the capacitors!

Worst I had was being around my fully energized SGTC , the conditions were perfect, rubber shoes, no metal around, the TC charged me up, and I discharged a 6" bolt of lightning from my index finger to my laptop keyboard.

My laptop now uses a USB keyboard.

 

[Fiddy]

You'd have to be trying mighty hard to kill yourself. I think the best chance would be touching the capacitor terminals, one with each finger on each hand

But no, the output spark itself will give you quite a painful burn, but very unlikely to be fatal.

Interesting you say this, the Main bus capacitors are only charged to 24VDC (the power supply voltage) so good luck killing yourself on that

The pain begins from the primary coil connections which are high frequency DC and the secondary HV.

I just received my primary wire from hobby king! really nice silicon 16AWG in red or black

the 6100ft of 32AWG wire has also arrived for the secondary's, all i need now is the Prototype PCB's, then i start testing.

 

[daawood123]

Hey, I'm interested, just quick question, I live in the UK, and our mains are different, so will that need any modification to the actual circuit or anything?

 

[pschlosser]

Hey, I'm interested, just quick question, I live in the UK, and our mains are different, so will that need any modification to the actual circuit or anything?

If you will refer to the original post:

What you need to provide:

• Good soldering skills and solder
• basic tools
• thermal paste
• Glue
• Winding jig (easy to make from scrap wood)
• 24VDC 3.75A+ Power Supply.

That 24VDC power supply will be, presumably, one appropriate for your country's household current.

So, the circuit itself will not require any adjustments, since it's designed for the 24VDC.

 

[daawood123]

Missed that.

 

[Fiddy]

Hey, I'm interested, just quick question, I live in the UK, and our mains are different, so will that need any modification to the actual circuit or anything?

as pschlosser said, 24VDC is 24VDC and in fact isn't Europe 240VAC anyway?

 

[Things]

Yes, AU and the UK are the same (Except the plug of course)