VIC v5 driver board order list

Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #50, on April 28th, 2017, 10:28 AM »Last edited on April 28th, 2017, 04:34 PM
Yes, I did somehow forget the 15k resistor, but I thought I updated the BOM since then.  My mistake.  Perfection is what I strive for, not what I am.     :D

Henne, your 5 volt regulator is in backwards.  Don't put power to that board until you fix it.

There's also a line drawn on the board near R3.6 & R3.7, you'll need to solder a piece of lead in there.  And you are missing a 120 ohm resistor at R2.2.  It also looks like your LED may be backwards too.  Other than those things and C3.3 being a different footprint, it looks pretty good.

Set your current limit way down to something like 5 mA and give it a shot after you fix the few booboos.  You should be good to go.  Then follow my video to get the basic tuning points set.

Attached is a tight high-res image of my board you can compare against.




You'll notice the diodes and resistors being axial components, not radial, are mounted vertical to save space.  There is also a trick to this and I do it for another reason not obvious.  The body side goes to the hole with the circle around it and the lead end goes to the other hole.  For diodes, the strip (cathode) points upward.  For resistors, one would say it doesn't matter since they are not polarized.  That would be correct, however I have them placed the way I do because the top side you may want to connect a scope probe to for diagnostics.

Also on the pots, they can be soldered in either way, but if you align pin #1, the turn direction will all be consistent--clockwise higher, counter-clockwise lower.  At least that was my plan when I designed it.

The bottom of the board is a ground plane, so if you look at the bottom and notice if the pin has a contact there to the ground plane, that will help you with the polarity orientation.  I had to do this with the LED because I could not see well enough--I'm using a smaller one than in the BOM.  I also used tantalums for the filter caps and they are polarized like electrolytics.



HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #53, on April 29th, 2017, 04:13 AM »
Looks good Henne.

Hopefully Mouser will get everything stocked soon, I'm not sure how long I'm willing to wait: (


Henne

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #55, on May 2nd, 2017, 12:30 PM »
I appreciate the feedback guys. I guess I missed the updated BOM somehow. My bad!

Matt, that hi-res picture is super-practical! I was using your tuning video for reference, but the picture is much less blurry. Thanks for that!

Waiting on some parts now before I can continue.

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #56, on May 3rd, 2017, 05:10 AM »
Thanks Dom,

I'm going to get a hold of Mouser today and change my order. Really want to get things going soon.

Anyone else got their board done?

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #57, on May 13th, 2017, 02:00 PM »Last edited on May 13th, 2017, 02:41 PM
Have you guys tried to go back and edit your Mouser order?

I can't see the option anywhere?

mercury101

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #58, on May 13th, 2017, 06:32 PM »
Supposidly they were delivered. My days off are cancelled. I am stuck in Thompson for another month at least. Been further up north no time for Internet. 


Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #60, on July 16th, 2017, 06:47 AM »
With Mouser (apparently) you have to select only "In Stock" components.  If something you need isn't marked "Can Ship Immediately", it's best to find an alternative, even Digi-Key, Arrow, etc. if necessary.  Passive components, diodes and such are usually pretty easy to find an alternative for.  The tougher ones are chips--I've had to wait on those 14 amp IXYS gate drivers I like so much, several times.


Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #62, on July 16th, 2017, 02:34 PM »
Quote from haxar on July 16th, 2017, 12:05 PM
Fortunately, they're just caps. The 0.33uf cap is out of stock again, but it fits the board. (ETA Nov 09, 2017)

https://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=QYX1H334KTPvirtualkey64700000virtualkey647-QYX1H334KTP
That little bugger again.  If I had known, I would have ordered a bunch of them.  Had no idea they would be so difficult to get a hold of.

Do keep in mind it is possible to parallel some smaller ones or series some bigger ones to get the same value.  Looks a little ugly, but will do the job.  Try to keep the leads short as possible to avoid picking up stray signals.



Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #65, on July 24th, 2017, 05:44 PM »
Yeap, looking good Hax.   Sure like to see these things contribute to some Hydroxyl gas production.

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #66, on August 8th, 2017, 03:27 PM »
Finally got notification by Mouser that my parts were shipped today. More to come!

haxar

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #67, on August 8th, 2017, 04:51 PM »
Just waiting on the 0.33uF cap.

That won't be used again. There's a limited production of these.

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #68, on September 18th, 2017, 11:20 PM »Last edited on September 18th, 2017, 11:33 PM




Ok, finally got the components in place and soldered. I didn't update the BOM so I had to use a 15k 1/4W 5% resistor I had laying around. Also thought I had 16 pin ic sockets but realized that I had none after installing the 14 pin socket. I'm also using the 1N5408 not the 1N5408G, not sure if it will make a difference???

Other than that I figured all the square pads were for the cathodes.

Let me know if you see any mistakes.... then can you give us a rundown on powering it up and tuning?


Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #70, on September 19th, 2017, 12:16 PM »Last edited on September 19th, 2017, 12:20 PM
Quote from HMS-776 on September 18th, 2017, 11:20 PM
Let me know if you see any mistakes.... then can you give us a rundown on powering it up and tuning?
Looks good from what I can see.

Connect it to a power source that is current limited and follow along with this video:
https://vimeo.com/207613782

If everything is good (soldered in correctly, component polarity, etc.), you should be able to pretty much match what I did.  From there it's coil and cell time.  Henne has been having some success, so I think this driver will get you off to a good start.


Haxar, do you have success with your boards as yet?  Anything you can tell HMS about that I forgot to mention?

haxar

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #71, on September 19th, 2017, 12:30 PM »
Quote from Matt Watts on September 19th, 2017, 12:16 PM
Haxar, do you have success with your boards as yet?  Anything you can tell HMS about that I forgot to mention?
Nope. Still waiting on cap.

SMD components are better to source. Next version should be that.

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #72, on September 19th, 2017, 08:02 PM »Last edited on September 19th, 2017, 09:08 PM
Matt, I followed your video, even found a 9V battery to do everything the same as you did.

I was able to see all the same things you showed, except the last thing where you took your secondary through the current sense xmfr... when I did that I got a lock on 1kHz (Using my VIC primary and using the VIC secondary as a feedback coil....I don't see the circuit scanning trying to match, I get a lock right away.


I have to add this board is REALLY well designed, seriously you did a great job on it!
Thank you Matt!


Matt Watts

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #73, on September 20th, 2017, 12:04 PM »Last edited on September 20th, 2017, 12:06 PM
Thank you for the compliments HMS.

The board will drive a baseline 1kHz signal.  It's always going to oscillate.  It doesn't exactly scan like Stan's setup does.  Instead, this baseline 1kHz frequency essentially pings the coil.  If the feedback is anything different, then the oscillator starts to move towards the feedback frequency.  It does this pretty fast, but its got to sense from the feedback some kind of ringing that's at a different frequency.

Sounds like in the case of your VIC, the feedback is only hearing the same frequency that is being generated by the driver, hence it doesn't start to track some different frequency.  My guess then is your VIC has an extremely low Q-factor and doesn't ring on its own self resonant frequency.  Almost like a cracked tuning fork.  Something about your VIC...   Like it's really damped for some reason.  Is it at all possible the resonant frequency happens to be way low?  Below 1kHz?

Just for grins, you might want to connect this driver to a known resonant tank circuit and prove to yourself how quickly it will find and lock on the self resonant frequency.  That will at least give you a feel of what is supposed to happen when connected to your VIC.

I remember you scanning and scanning your VIC, never to find resonance.  If this driver board could find something you couldn't find in days of scanning, I would be really surprised.  Normally just a quick ping test will tell you where it likes to ring at.  You set your sig-gen to that frequency and away you go.  This board just takes that process and makes it plug-n-play.  Plus it will constantly track if anything varies during runtime.

HMS-776

Re: VIC v5 driver board order list
« Reply #74, on September 21st, 2017, 03:46 PM »Last edited on September 21st, 2017, 04:22 PM
Thanks for the advice Matt,

Today I tried an inductor with a cap and resistor. I placed the inductor in the current sense transformer and I am still locking onto 1kHz?

I removed that cap and put a different value cap in its place and the LED went out.

Perhaps I just need to adjust the center freq and the TIP120 bias....

When I put a resistor (47ohm) in the current sense xmfr and connect it to my freq gen I get a lock almost instantly even when I change the freq so I know the circuit is working.

I'm thinking either I'm not putting enough energy through the circuit for the current sense xmfr to see or I'm not adjusted properly on my bias and center freq.

I'll do more testing when I get more time. It's been a while since I messed with all this stuff, and I have a feeling I've forgotten a few of the "quirks" which is probably why I'm having difficulties.


BTW, anyone heard from Ronnie lately?