The Sunday Akula Review - hahaha
@Itsu (but also @Grum - @Happy)
About the spikes, where is your copper strip grounded? On the diagram it shows the copper strip grounded at C3. I don't know if that would make any difference when this strip will receive some static discharges from the the shock treatment of the Ecore. Maybe we need to add something between the copper strip and ground to kill or attenuate the spike before it hits the ground since in essence this is a floating ground system? Or send the copper strip connection to a real ground off the circuit to see if the spike will go away. Don't know.
Also, in most of Akulas' devices he has the transformer off and away from the board. Maybe you need to extend your 5 transformer wires to place it further away from the board since maybe its air static from L1/L2 towards the L1 choke then feeding into the VR1. Or as you are pulsing, move the transformer to see if there are any angles that influence the spike. Or place a metal plate between the transformer and the board to see if more shielding makes a difference just to see if the source is the transformer via air.
Also, for all builders, please remind us what type of winding you have, T1000 or standard mode. It may be good to eventually make up a build model number that builders can include in each of their posts (or temporarily in their signature) so we always know the device type and not have to ask ourselves this question after a few more pages. hahaha Or put a URL in your signature where you have posted a build summary.
Maybe something like.........
Four letter model designation: AK30 - AK01 - AK??
Characters 1 and 2 for circuit board type: GL = @Groundloop - SH = Shark-01 - FB = Free board - others
Characters 3 and 4 for diagram type:
?? to be determined by @verpies.
Characters 5 and 6 for transformer type: EC = Ecore - CC = Ccore SC = Straight core - others
Characters 7 and 8 for wind type: T2 = T1000 mode with two layers secondary below the primary - S1 = Standard mode - others to be determined.
Characters 9 to 12 for primary and secondary turns: 1545 would mean 15 turns primary and 45 turns secondary.
So if a builder uses AK30-GL-??-EC-T2-1554 we will know right away your build type and not have to remember this or ask you the same thing. Or maybe just summarize your build in your signature any way you want.
- Coil Winding Methods and Logic -
By the way the Akula circuit is working, seems to me the L2 has to react after the L1 pulse not at the pulse, then the winds must be Standard Mode so L2 can work on its own half of the core out of phase to L1.
In the T2 mode I cannot see why you want to have the L1 pulse hit the L2 two layers under L1 right away as L1 hits its half of the core, you are in essence hitting the L2 at the same time and both fluxs leave their center gap and will cancel out on the ecore ends if you have no coils on the ecore ends to pick it up. Does not make sense. I would want the L2 to be fully reactive to the Ecore movements and not mix it up by also being on the L1 side.
If L2 is over the gap -
If L1 is left of gap and L2 is right of gap, at most, I would say go with a T1 mode, I would not wind more then one layer of L2 under L1 and wound from furthest left of L1 side to furthest right on L2 side then build up the rest of the L2 winds on the right. This way only one layer of L2 is exposed under the L1 pulse making it perfectly directional and not like it is now with two L2 layers pushing in two directions when L1 hits. The only other variable with one layer L2 from left is when you get to the gap, reverse direction and continue the L2 on the right side making it a first layer bucking mode that should keep the same direction even if moved from flux of two gap sides. That adds another variable to the build.
Just my opinion but I will be testing a standard tuning and wind method first.
@verpies
Thanks a heep. Now I know how it works. D6 R2 C4 is a voltage splitter (and virtual ground) sharing the output between L2 and the load. R3 is basically a recharge regulator. But I would still add a diode between R3/C11 and facing C11. I would not want any chance of R3 feeding into L2 in case D6 went into reverse threshold mode.
Also can R3 value be changed to pass more back to C11. Seems to me this should remain a major variable that needs to be tuned specifically to each device. If in Build 1 the L2 produces less recharge then in Build 2, then R3 should be able to let more pass to C11 in Build 1 then in Build 2.
The other variable I am seeing is this. D6 could also work if installed in reverse since with the Q1 short circuit, you can expect high voltages to forward pass D5 and possibly hitting the reverse threshold of D6 to fill L2 and (help) recharge C11 along with L2s regular output from L1 flux transfer.
@ALL
Reality Check:Also, I took a close up shot of the original Akula30 circuit board to match his components to the diagram since I wanted to see this first before I set-up for my testing. I am very puzzled to see right away there is only one big diode there. How is that possible that on the circuit diagram there are two D5 and D6? I think it may be good to inspect the photo and try to trace the components to the diagram to see where the diagram is adding more components or diverging from the diagram.
Seems to me if Akula used his live board to make the self-runner and if the live board does not concord to the circuit diagram, and if Akula did not afterwards modify his live board to reflect the published diagram and then re-do his tests to make sure it is still self-running and all this done before publishing that diagram, then the diagram becomes an unproven variation of the original live board. That is not good because it means the diagram is not proven except by x_name41 who had to fake his demo when using that diagram. Just trying to cover all the bases. At this point I cannot trust Akula to be so forthcoming as to give exact details of his builds. He is probably getting a self-runner but when diagrams do not follow the actual build, we have to presume the inventor is playing a game of "I did it this way but you should try to do it that way and see if it works". I hate playing games when it comes to such matters, I would prefer to see exactly how Akula physically did it and not how he made his diagram. Diagrams do not produce OU.
You see, unfortunately we are caught in the middle of something that has varying interests. I am sure Akulas' main interest is to make some money with this, otherwise he would be more open and his diagrams would be 100% accurate and we would already have circuits coming out of China in container loads. But by the same token he needs the worldwide exposure to attract those money guys but he surely does not want to spill all the beans to keep control. So he shows an OU effect and puts down a diagram. Follow the diagram and good luck. If you need any direct assistance this increases demand for his direct intervention that could then be negotiated in his favor. OU forces melding with personal economic forces changes the game and puts the onus on us to try and see through the haze of interests. It is not easy when a guy sees this as a form of potential revenue for his family while trying to get exposure and not spill all the beans. The irony of all this is that our effort here is basically based on a non-proven diagram that we know had been faked by a second party. This for Akula is a good situation. He says use 1 ohm for R3 but he probably knows that a better value is required based on the recharge potential. But if builders do not wise up on those notions because we "stick to the diagram and values", we could be here for a long time before a self-runner is on the plate.
@Peterae
Truth is never negative. Better to be aware of the counter forces then to rely on blind faith. Sometimes I spend hours on SM videos close up trying to find a new lead for @GK or my FTPU tests, each lead adds to the others. In this case all we have is one real photo and a host of diagrams that do not reflect the real photo. So somewhere, somehow we have to see through this and realize, this is not a replication but 1/4 replication and 1/4 re-creation and 1/2 pure R&D. That's what Akula expects us to do to make it work. That's the reality.
But I have such a good feeling about this because at least he put down the basic out-of-the-box principle and this can be tried in many ways, not only as per the diagrams. I could even try a more passive variation of this in the FTPU or in any other build. So it's still good but "no free lunch'". Akula is playing a very delicate balancing act and he is doing it very well. He probably learned from TKs demise. Show you're open but don't say it all to give it away. As long as we are wise to the game to realize the diagram is not 100% and changes will be required, we should be OK.
Sorry for long post. I'll put myself on voluntary mute mode so I won't distract you guys any more then I have already until I get my testing up so, back to the bench.
wattsup