Akula0083 30 Watt Self Running Generator.

[Hoppy]

Good evening Hoppy.

I have attached a revised copy of your clip showing what I feel are the two capacitors you are referring to.

Cheers Grum.

Evening Grum,

Are you referring to the cap connected to pin 'CT' of the TL494 chip? I had discounted this as it looks way too large to be a cap needed for TL494 external components.

Regards
Hoppy

[Grumage]

Evening Grum,

Are you referring to the cap connected to pin 'CT' of the TL494 chip? I had discounted this as it looks way too large to be a cap needed for TL494 external components.

Regards
Hoppy

Dear Hoppy.

Sorry a bit of missinfo !! They are actually the capacitors associated with the Voltage regulator. C6 and C13,  being 100uF and 100 nF respectively.

Cheers Grum.

[Grumage]

Dear All.

I have just finished chatting with T-1000. He passed on this fairly simplified control circuit which might help those, like me, who have a bit less electronic skills.

I am also providing an eBay link for 1 W LED's that will be just right for a starting load.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-1W-High-Power-Pure-White-LED-Bright-Light-Lamp-Bulb-Bead-DIY-/251088281787?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item3a760720bb

Keep on trucking !! 

Cheers Grum.

[MileHigh]

Grumage:

I am also providing an eBay link for 1 W LED's that will be just right for a starting load.

Do you know if any of the replicators have a digital storage oscilloscope with math functions?  I believe that a good PC-based digital oscilloscope can also do math functions.

Without the ability to compute the real-time-sampled voltage and current going into the LEDs you can't measure the power going into the LEDs.  The frequency of the pulse waveform will give you a sense for how high the minimum sampling rate has to be.  The higher the pulse frequency the higher the minimum sampling rate.

Plan B involves choosing the proper value of resistor and replacing the entire LED array with the resistor.  Then all that you need is a true-RMS multimeter.  The assumption is that the bandwidth in the pulse waveform will not be too high for the multimeter.  But that should also be verified to ensure that you are making a correct power measurement.

MileHigh

[Hoppy]

Dear Hoppy.

Sorry a bit of missinfo !! They are actually the capacitors associated with the Voltage regulator. C6 and C13,  being 100uF and 100 nF respectively.

Cheers Grum.

Thanks Grum. I agree that the caps are probably C6 and C13. However, I would like to see a close-up of C13 as it still appears to be way too large for a 100nF. I suspect that its an electrolytic and possibly a super cap.