Several people already have build their VIC circuits based on pictures and the schematics from WO9207861. If we want to replicate Meyers work and get the cell to work we need the complete schematics. Since 'they' only sell their complete VIC schematics and do not give the full design for free its time to work it out completely and offer it for FREE (yes i share the thoughts of Russ that this will only work if all is available for free).

Haxar already did some fine work in tracing the VIC card. I now started to completely design the entire VIC with KICAD. I choose this toolset because it is available on Linux/Windows, it is open-source, reasonable easy to learn, it supports nested schematics, it comes with a good autorouter function and has the abillity to generate gerber files for pcb manufacturing. Anyway, ... if you do not like KICAD it is your problem :P, else download it at http://kicad.sourceforge.net. I used KiCad-2011-12-28-BZR3254-stable-Win_full_with_components_doc_install.exe from http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/cao/ . If you download the snapshots the libraries will not get installed. Download the project zip file and use the unarchive option in the KiCad main menu to load it.

Complete:
- variable pulse generator
- gated pulse generator
- phase lock loop circuit
- pulse indicator circuit
- resonant scanning circuit
- Voltage Amplitude Control
- cell driver circuit

Schematics build on prototype board and verified:
- variable pulse generator
- gated pulse generator
- phase lock loop circuit
- pulse indicator circuit
- resonant scanning circuit
- Voltage Amplitude Control
- cell driver circuit

PCB:
- Components to modules complete for current schematic
- Components placed and traces made
- Generated Gerber files

Latest KiCad project file date: 14 may 2012

Regards,
Sharky

Quote from Sharky on January 18th, 2012, 06:05 AM

Several people already have build their VIC circuits based on pictures and the schematics from WO9207861. If we want to replicate Meyers work and get the cell to work we need the complete schematics. Since 'they' only sell their complete VIC schematics and do not give the full design for free its time to work it out completely and offer it for FREE (yes i share the thoughts of Russ that this will only work if all is available for free).

Haxar already did some fine work in tracing the VIC card. I now started to completely design the entire VIC with KICAD. I choose this toolset because it is available on Linux/Windows, it is open-source, reasonable easy to learn, it supports nested schematics, it comes with a good autorouter function and has the abillity to generate gerber files for pcb manufacturing. Anyway, ... if you do not like KICAD it is your problem :P, else download it at http://kicad.sourceforge.net.

I already did a complete variable pulse generator, gated pulse generator and cell driver circuit. I build and verified the variable pulse and gated pulse generator on a prototype board and is working correctly as currently designed.

The rest is work in progress .....
Regards,
Sharky

Nice work brother!!!! I'll check out the files after my cat nap... 24+ up time... Video editing the 35 min of HGG testing...

Free and open! The only way! Be blessed sir!

Thank you for the hard work! I will make a video of this data after I revew it! :)

Blessings! ~Russ

Quote from Sharky on January 18th, 2012, 06:05 AM

Several people already have build their VIC circuits based on pictures and the schematics from WO9207861. If we want to replicate Meyers work and get the cell to work we need the complete schematics. Since 'they' only sell their complete VIC schematics and do not give the full design for free its time to work it out completely and offer it for FREE (yes i share the thoughts of Russ that this will only work if all is available for free).

Haxar already did some fine work in tracing the VIC card. I now started to completely design the entire VIC with KICAD. I choose this toolset because it is available on Linux/Windows, it is open-source, reasonable easy to learn, it supports nested schematics, it comes with a good autorouter function and has the abillity to generate gerber files for pcb manufacturing. Anyway, ... if you do not like KICAD it is your problem :P, else download it at http://kicad.sourceforge.net.

I already did a complete variable pulse generator, gated pulse generator and cell driver circuit. I build and verified the variable pulse and gated pulse generator on a prototype board and is working correctly as currently designed.

The rest is work in progress .....
Regards,
Sharky

Beautiful.  Thank you for the work and a post like this.  Giving Rep Points for this thread!  This is exactly the heart of this website, thank you for your contribution.

Quote from Sharky on January 18th, 2012, 06:05 AM

Several people already have build their VIC circuits based on pictures and the schematics from WO9207861. If we want to replicate Meyers work and get the cell to work we need the complete schematics. Since 'they' only sell their complete VIC schematics and do not give the full design for free its time to work it out completely and offer it for FREE (yes i share the thoughts of Russ that this will only work if all is available for free).

Haxar already did some fine work in tracing the VIC card. I now started to completely design the entire VIC with KICAD. I choose this toolset because it is available on Linux/Windows, it is open-source, reasonable easy to learn, it supports nested schematics, it comes with a good autorouter function and has the abillity to generate gerber files for pcb manufacturing. Anyway, ... if you do not like KICAD it is your problem :P, else download it at http://kicad.sourceforge.net.

I already did a complete variable pulse generator, gated pulse generator and cell driver circuit. I build and verified the variable pulse and gated pulse generator on a prototype board and is working correctly as currently designed.

The rest is work in progress .....
Regards,
Sharky

Hey Sharky, I cannot open the .sch files?

Quote from KevinW-dirtwill on January 18th, 2012, 09:47 PM

Hey Sharky, I cannot open the .sch files?

- Start KiCad
- Open VIC.pro project file
- Open VIC.sch
Does that work? You should now see all the subcircuits as block diagrams and the 7805 voltage regulator. Then on the right side click the second icon for Ascending/Descending into Hierarchy. Now click on a block diagram to enter that schema. While in the schema click again to leave it again.

Otherwise do others have the same problem? If i extract the zip to an other location and open the project it works for me ....

Quote from KevinW-dirtwill on January 18th, 2012, 09:47 PM

Quote from Sharky on January 18th, 2012, 06:05 AM

Several people already have build their VIC circuits based on pictures and the schematics from WO9207861. If we want to replicate Meyers work and get the cell to work we need the complete schematics. Since 'they' only sell their complete VIC schematics and do not give the full design for free its time to work it out completely and offer it for FREE (yes i share the thoughts of Russ that this will only work if all is available for free).

Haxar already did some fine work in tracing the VIC card. I now started to completely design the entire VIC with KICAD. I choose this toolset because it is available on Linux/Windows, it is open-source, reasonable easy to learn, it supports nested schematics, it comes with a good autorouter function and has the abillity to generate gerber files for pcb manufacturing. Anyway, ... if you do not like KICAD it is your problem :P, else download it at http://kicad.sourceforge.net.

I already did a complete variable pulse generator, gated pulse generator and cell driver circuit. I build and verified the variable pulse and gated pulse generator on a prototype board and is working correctly as currently designed.

The rest is work in progress .....
Regards,
Sharky

Hey Sharky, I cannot open the .sch files?

lol Kevin, there not sch files for our application. but they show up  as that.
got to install this:

http://kicad.sourceforge.net

~Russ

sharky, I'm getting some errors (see attachment)

the schematic is like not all there? is this from this error?

i opened the project file then opened the sch... and its not looking like its working?

any thoughts?
Thanks
~Russ

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 19th, 2012, 01:52 AM

sharky, I'm getting some errors (see attachment)

the schematic is like not all there? is this from this error?

i opened the project file then opened the sch... and its not looking like its working?

any thoughts?
Thanks
~Russ

i think i figured it out... i see if you right click and select enter sheet it goes to the schematic... i was think that but did not know how to get there :) haha

~Russ

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 19th, 2012, 01:52 AM

sharky, I'm getting some errors (see attachment)

the schematic is like not all there? is this from this error?

i opened the project file then opened the sch... and its not looking like its working?

any thoughts?
Thanks
~Russ

What installer for KiCad did you use? I used KiCad-2011-12-28-BZR3254-stable-Win_full_with_components_doc_install.exe from http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/cao/ . If you download the snapshots the libraries will not get installed.

The first Zip file was created by myself, i now see there is also a archive/unarchive option from the main KiCad screen. The attached zip is created with the archive option, try if this works better.

Quote from Sharky on January 19th, 2012, 02:48 AM

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 19th, 2012, 01:52 AM

sharky, I'm getting some errors (see attachment)

the schematic is like not all there? is this from this error?

i opened the project file then opened the sch... and its not looking like its working?

any thoughts?
Thanks
~Russ

What installer for KiCad did you use? I used KiCad-2011-12-28-BZR3254-stable-Win_full_with_components_doc_install.exe from http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/cao/ . If you download the snapshots the libraries will not get installed.

The first Zip file was created by myself, i now see there is also a archive/unarchive option from the main KiCad screen. The attached zip is created with the archive option, try if this works better.

that's better! thanks!

you may wan to edit your first post??? add that link instead?

so scanning schematic and others you are still working on?

~Russ

PS. thanks so much for doing this, i will be making a video to invite others here to help, but may wait just a bit longer till its more complete??? thoughts???

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 19th, 2012, 03:49 AM

Quote from Sharky on January 19th, 2012, 02:48 AM

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 19th, 2012, 01:52 AM

sharky, I'm getting some errors (see attachment)

the schematic is like not all there? is this from this error?

i opened the project file then opened the sch... and its not looking like its working?

any thoughts?
Thanks
~Russ

What installer for KiCad did you use? I used KiCad-2011-12-28-BZR3254-stable-Win_full_with_components_doc_install.exe from http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/cao/ . If you download the snapshots the libraries will not get installed.

The first Zip file was created by myself, i now see there is also a archive/unarchive option from the main KiCad screen. The attached zip is created with the archive option, try if this works better.

that's better! thanks!

you may wan to edit your first post??? add that link instead?

so scanning schematic and others you are still working on?

~Russ

PS. thanks so much for doing this, i will be making a video to invite others here to help, but may wait just a bit longer till its more complete??? thoughts???

I edited the first post and changed the attachment. When there are updates to the project i will update the zip file in the first post. As all of us my time is limited, i would love to quit my day job and focus a 100% on this but that is not posible, ... unless somebody wants to sponser me :). Anyway, i will try to move this forward as fast as posible and we do need a lot of testing on the (sub)circuits to make sure all is working correctly, e.g. i made some changes to the gating circuit because with the version of Haxar it could not be steered out enough at higher frequencies. The process of testing, calculating, retesting is very time consuming but a necesary job that has to be done.  Whenever a part is ready it would be nice if other people take the project and build and test it as well, ... all input is welcomed on this. When the other subcircuits are done we can start working on the actual PCB design.

Quote from Sharky on January 19th, 2012, 10:58 PM

Anyway, i will try to move this forward as fast as posible and we do need a lot of testing on the (sub)circuits to make sure all is working correctly, e.g. i made some changes to the gating circuit because with the version of Haxar it could not be steered out enough at higher frequencies.

I think it might be better to track these changes over time of the schematic and PCB project files with a version control service like GitHub.

http://github.com

I'll give this service a try so that the files don't have to be hosted on this forum only.

I've been trying different PCB layout packages (free ones for home use), I ended up using DesignSpark as there are no restrictions (board size, layers or component count) - it's not easy to use but designed to be fleixible so companies can customise it to their requirements. It links very well to the UK long established component supplier RS Components from where you can buy (at top price) the parts you specify in your design.

Anyway, would it be possible to add plain screenshots (jpg) of the circuit? I've tried loading your sch files into DesignSpark but as expected, not joy.

Quote from haxar on January 19th, 2012, 11:46 PM

Quote from Sharky on January 19th, 2012, 10:58 PM

Anyway, i will try to move this forward as fast as posible and we do need a lot of testing on the (sub)circuits to make sure all is working correctly, e.g. i made some changes to the gating circuit because with the version of Haxar it could not be steered out enough at higher frequencies.

I think it might be better to track these changes over time of the schematic and PCB project files with a version control service like GitHub.

http://github.com

I'll give this service a try so that the files don't have to be hosted on this forum only.

i would say keep posting the updates files in a zip and attach it to the post, then in the post mention what you have done / changed. then any one can back track to eerilyer  posts if something don't work correctly.

 not the best but we can back track that way?

or one or 2 people agree on finishing it and work together on it as most of us are just standing by waiting or just testing some stuff out. ?

any how just some thoughts. ~Russ

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 20th, 2012, 11:17 PM

Quote from haxar on January 19th, 2012, 11:46 PM

Quote from Sharky on January 19th, 2012, 10:58 PM

Anyway, i will try to move this forward as fast as posible and we do need a lot of testing on the (sub)circuits to make sure all is working correctly, e.g. i made some changes to the gating circuit because with the version of Haxar it could not be steered out enough at higher frequencies.

I think it might be better to track these changes over time of the schematic and PCB project files with a version control service like GitHub.

http://github.com

I'll give this service a try so that the files don't have to be hosted on this forum only.

i would say keep posting the updates files in a zip and attach it to the post, then in the post mention what you have done / changed. then any one can back track to eerilyer  posts if something don't work correctly.

 not the best but we can back track that way?

or one or 2 people agree on finishing it and work together on it as most of us are just standing by waiting or just testing some stuff out. ?

any how just some thoughts. ~Russ

Russ,
Is there other SA. people on the site thet i can mabe team up with or some way to find out, ar should i inspire onothers to mabe join...

Boere groete,
Mechanic

Quote from ~Russ/Rwg42985 on January 20th, 2012, 11:17 PM

i would say keep posting the updates files in a zip and attach it to the post, then in the post mention what you have done / changed. then any one can back track to eerilyer  posts if something don't work correctly.

 not the best but we can back track that way?

or one or 2 people agree on finishing it and work together on it as most of us are just standing by waiting or just testing some stuff out. ?

any how just some thoughts. ~Russ

Just did an update on the first post, only the resonant scanning circuit is now missing. still need to verify others but since indicator, phase lock, scanning and cell driver circuits are interconnected it is difficult to test them seperatly.
Regards,
Sharky

Cool

The VIC Circuit includes the following circuits
"Variable Pulse Frequency Generator", "Gated Pulse Frequency Generator", "Phase Lock Circuit", "Resonant Scanning Circuit", Resonant Feedback", "Cell Driver Circuit","Analog Voltage Generator", and "Voltage Amplitude Control".. I added some my own..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrg0yYKcE7Q

From Alexandros Theologou on Facebook

Quote from KevinW-dirtwill on January 24th, 2012, 04:06 PM

Cool

The VIC Circuit includes the following circuits
"Variable Pulse Frequency Generator", "Gated Pulse Frequency Generator", "Phase Lock Circuit", "Resonant Scanning Circuit", Resonant Feedback", "Cell Driver Circuit","Analog Voltage Generator", and "Voltage Amplitude Control".. I added some my own..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrg0yYKcE7Q

From Alexandros Theologou on Facebook

Wow!!!
That´s simply amazing!! i can´t wait to see it in action!
Very nice build!!
I feel we are very close!!!

Just uploaded a PDF of the complete VIC schematic from the KiCad project. I am still not sure if 10V is absolutely needed for the circuits or that we can use 12V for all the 10V points, this would save a 7810 voltage regulator and extra 10V traces along 12V and 5V traces.

Anyway, ... a lot of testing is needed to make the schematics final and produce a PCB. So if anybody can help in building the circuits on breadboard(s) and do some testing it would be very helpful and speed up the process.

Quote from Sharky on January 26th, 2012, 01:03 AM

Just uploaded a PDF of the complete VIC schematic from the KiCad project. I am still not sure if 10V is absolutely needed for the circuits or that we can use 12V for all the 10V points, this would save a 7810 voltage regulator and extra 10V traces along 12V and 5V traces.

Anyway, ... a lot of testing is needed to make the schematics final and produce a PCB. So if anybody can help in building the circuits on breadboard(s) and do some testing it would be very helpful and speed up the process.

I do have a set of 7810 linear voltage regulators and hopefully during testing it won't be a dependency.

The VIC transformer which the circuit requires is all printed out and wound up. Finally, I'm currently casting out magnetite cores using a printed mold for the transformer.

That should be all that is needed to finally test this circuit (only if the magnetite cores, going as planned, will work out).

Quote from KevinW-dirtwill on January 24th, 2012, 04:06 PM

Cool

The VIC Circuit includes the following circuits
"Variable Pulse Frequency Generator", "Gated Pulse Frequency Generator", "Phase Lock Circuit", "Resonant Scanning Circuit", Resonant Feedback", "Cell Driver Circuit","Analog Voltage Generator", and "Voltage Amplitude Control".. I added some my own..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrg0yYKcE7Q

From Alexandros Theologou on Facebook

he had been working on that for quite some time now and it looks grate!!!

also some fine work sarky!!! and everyone!!

~Russ

Some video footage of the schematics on prototype and breadboard. Sorry for the quallity, not so good on this as Russ ;). Only the cell driver and pulse indicator are missing, the rest seems to work as expected, ... at least the manual adjustments, lets hope the lock will work as well, soon to be continued ...

Quote from Sharky on January 27th, 2012, 01:23 PM

Some video footage of the schematics on prototype and breadboard. Sorry for the quallity, not so good on this as Russ ;). Only the cell driver and pulse indicator are missing, the rest seems to work as expected, ... at least the manual adjustments, lets hope the lock will work as well, soon to be continued ...

fantastic!!! did you get my message about working more closely on this?

cant wait to see that scanning circuit on the scope!!!!

thanks for your hard work!!!

open source or bust!!!!

~Russ

My 2 cents on the 10v regulated supply.
           If these circuits are run on 12v battery power, like an auto, the variation on the supply will vary due to temperature, charge state, regulator, RPM, other electrical loads like headlights, etc. Plus the electrical noise could cause missoperation. The timing circuits and the PLL are all sensitive to these voltage changes. Stan planned to use this in the dunebuggy so he isolated the circuits. If you are building a bench unit that runs on a regulated 12v supply connecting the 10v circuits to the 12v will be OK but, realize that the VIC transformer primary could cause you trouble if on the same supply. Another note, the frequency range of the PLL is partly based on the supply voltage, some component values like the resistor on pin 12 may need to be changed.

PDF schematic on first post.
         Be careful that all the 10v points are brought to the same voltage. I see that the feedback opamp is on the 12v supply and feeding the PLL running on 5v. Q8 output (12v) connected to U4C input running on 5v.
         There is a missing capacitor from U8B pins 5 & 6 to ground. Should not be tried directly to ground.
         I see you placed the 220 ohm resistor in series with the primary coil. This will limit the primary coil current to less that 50ma. I think that Stan and the KISS methode would not have used a TIP120 transistor and all the driver tranistors if the current was that low.

         You guys are doing a great job. I'm still tring to come up to speed with all of the new data sence I was last working on Stans' process about 5 yrs. ago.

Quote from DanB on January 29th, 2012, 07:41 AM

My 2 cents on the 10v regulated supply.
           If these circuits are run on 12v battery power, like an auto, the variation on the supply will vary due to temperature, charge state, regulator, RPM, other electrical loads like headlights, etc. Plus the electrical noise could cause missoperation. The timing circuits and the PLL are all sensitive to these voltage changes. Stan planned to use this in the dunebuggy so he isolated the circuits. If you are building a bench unit that runs on a regulated 12v supply connecting the 10v circuits to the 12v will be OK but, realize that the VIC transformer primary could cause you trouble if on the same supply. Another note, the frequency range of the PLL is partly based on the supply voltage, some component values like the resistor on pin 12 may need to be changed.

PDF schematic on first post.
         Be careful that all the 10v points are brought to the same voltage. I see that the feedback opamp is on the 12v supply and feeding the PLL running on 5v. Q8 output (12v) connected to U4C input running on 5v.
         There is a missing capacitor from U8B pins 5 & 6 to ground. Should not be tried directly to ground.
         I see you placed the 220 ohm resistor in series with the primary coil. This will limit the primary coil current to less that 50ma. I think that Stan and the KISS methode would not have used a TIP120 transistor and all the driver tranistors if the current was that low.

         You guys are doing a great job. I'm still tring to come up to speed with all of the new data sence I was last working on Stans' process about 5 yrs. ago.

First of all, thank you for this valuable feedback!!
- I think that you are right in your assumption that when connecting the vic to the electrical system of a car the circuits need to be on 10V instead of 12V because overall battery load will not assure a stable 12V. In the first version of the schematic there was only a 5V regulator, i also realized that 12V car battery output is not stable enough to drive the logic circuits, so a 12V voltage regulator is already present, i am not sure yet if i adapt the vic to 12V where needed or will add the 10V regulator and change the connections. Currently i am on the first path.

- I also looked into the 4046 datasheet a bit more, ... i had mixed up a 74LV4046 and CD4046, the latter is used on the vic, the first is a low voltage part, need to change that on my test board but for the schematic, other than the supply voltage, there is no difference in pin layout. That brings me to the next two things, the center frequency(fo) and min/max frequency(fmin/fmax) of the 4046. From the datasheet it shows that they are slightly voltage dependend but not that much, also since the values need to be adjusted with the potmeter. With C1=0.1u R1=0.56k-50.56k ohms and R2=100k i get the following:
fo = ± 500Hz - 10KHz (adjustable with 50K potmeter)
fmin = ± 300Hz
fmax = ± 700Hz - 18KHz (changes with the value of R1 potmeter)
All should be within the required range for the resonance frequency in the order of 1 - 10KHz.

- You are right about the missing cap in the pll lock circuit. I missed that one from the datasheet and will add a 6.8nF cap to ground on pin 5 and 6.

- I had not thought about the cell driver part in the way you state it and i think you are right about that. Why using a power transistor when current is restricted to 50mA. I will change that back to the parallel resitor. The cell driver circuit has to be changed anyway, ... it is not working as expected. One of these days i will do some calculations on it to determine its problem.

- i will check your comments about high voltage output connected to low voltage input, the CD4001 is a high voltage part but you are correct that i need to adjust the supply voltage to 12V if the input is 12V as well.

So, still a lot of testing to do and i hope you and others build and test the schematics as well on bread/prototype boards to get the errors out.

Again thank you for your help, together we will make this work the way it was supposed to!!!!