ron pugh replication

[envisioneer]

Hi all,

Just joined, first post, so please forgive if I am asking for stuff that has already been answered, but have not managed to find much help by forum search. Any help or pointers towards existing info welcomed.

I have built and am now trying to get running a straightforward copy of the 14 transistor machine described by Ron Pugh here: http://free-energy-info.co.uk/Chapter6.pdf

Some pics attached. Rotor is plastic rather than aluminium, and I litz wound the coil wires hoping for a greater output, or at least think I did, but all else is as in spec. All transistors, wire gauge etc. the same as above doc. Coils hadn't been connected in top view photo, hence extra tails showing.

Being primarily a carpenter, I know next to nothing about electronics, but can follow instructions!

I live off-grid, with my entire house powered by 12volt systems, so my interest is primarily in off-grid battery charging rather than theory or proving over-unity. I am fascinated by the possibilities of energy from the vacuum and so am keen to get this up and running if at all possible.

Basically the rotor doesn't run. I hesitate to call it self-powered since it seems to me the drive battery is powering it.

As far as I can tell all circuits and connections are correct as I have carefully followed the diagrams given. Any hints for testing the circuitry beyond the basic is this joined to that welcomed!

The only tests I have dug up include checking the voltage on the trigger coil - shows as 0.6V AC on a good hand spin, can up this to 0.8V AC by adding a third magnet to each slot. When the machine is powered up, this voltage rises to 30V AC on a good hand spin ( measuring the trigger winding only), and it produces a slight whining noise which follows the rotor speed. Sounds almost like something rubbing but is only present when powered up. Switching off stops the noise instantly while the rotor carries on.

Also checking that a brief direct from battery firing of the coil repels the magnets (All N pole outwards), which it does.

So, if anyone has any suggestions for what to do, or where to look next, they'd be very much appreciated.

If any further info as to my setup is needed just post questions and I'll try to oblige.

Very much enjoy reading through other posts here and look forward to the day I can just spin this beast up and reap a nearly free harvest!

[Sprocket]

Hello & welcome.  Thanks for supplying the link - just spent the last hour reading through the info!  That said, I don't see any of the 'load/tuning' bulbs mentioned in the article, with emphasis on the tuning - if they're there, have your -fine-tuned it, and do you get them to all glow dimly as suggested?  Also, the article says this can produce 'serious' power, but doesn't elaborate - what do you expect to achieve, power-wise with this setup?  Thanks.

[envisioneer]

Hi Sprocket, and thanks for replying.

There is only one tuning bulb in the design, wired as part of the trigger coil circuit. It's in the middle of the front panel next to the pot. So it only lights up once the rotor is spinning.

After writing yesterdays post, I moved the two coils without the trigger winding out of the way, added an extra magnet to each slot (3 in each) and tried again. This time the lamp glowed dimly, the whine suddenly increased in intensity and smoke started coming out from underneath! I turned it off sharpish and found a transistor on one of the other coil windings (one moved out of range of the rotor) had burnt out. Wierd! I assume it's shorted internally because now when I just switch the power on without spinning the rotor, the whine starts immediately and the voltage on the trigger coil goes up to 180V AC! Will replace burnt out transistor today and try again with two magnets per slot. Perhaps three magnets generated too powerful a trigger current.

I'm guessing the whine is a mechanical vibration in either the coil windings or the core material, probably the coil itself as the core is packed pretty tight. Unfortunately I can't tell whether the rotor was being driven this time or no because it was only running for a few seconds before I turned it off and I was preoccupied with the fact that the lamp had actually lit up and then the smoke and noise!

As to power output - hope rather than expectations. As I say my entire home runs off a 12volt car battery. www.envisioneer.net gallery for pics. So I'm looking for basically a battery charger that needs no additional input. If I can charge say five batteries before the drive battery needs recharging, and rotate them, then I'm set. I could use wind, or water or solar, but as I say am interested in the possibilities of EFTV as it seems potentially more flexible and capable of greater output on a small scale than the rest. If I can get it to work as others seem to have  - I'll add it to the courses we already teach in sustainable off-grid living.

[Sprocket]

My first reading of the article suggested that all three coils have trigger coils (along with 4 others - 5 windings per coil in total) so wouldn't that mean 3 load/tuning bulbs are needed?  The article is incredibly detailed in someways but hampered with vague references like 'serious power' without elaborating - imo!   Examining you build more closely (great job btw) it is actually pretty large - it seems a 'little thing' at first glance

Again referring to the article, at the bottom there are  a few teasing paragraph regarding the Tesla Switch - its ability to charge the multiple batteries as well as the driving battery is a huge advantage (even though Bedini apparently hasn't managed this - hmm..) - have you tried anything like this yet?

[envisioneer]

I agree - It took a lot of re-reading of that article and measuring of photographs to extract a buildable design! I think it suffers by being written by another (Patrick Kelly) who has done a great job in clarifying someone else's work without any apparent input from the originator himself (Ron Pugh)  whose occasional posts I have seen on Bedini_monopole_3 @ yahoo, but have been unable to contact directly. However if you check the (somewhat confusing) wiring diagrams you'll see only one lamp and trigger coil at the far left which fires all fourteen transistors simultaneously. 3 x 5 = 15 windings, 14 drive/power and 1 trigger.

To give some idea of scale, the coils are 3" long and nearly as wide, the box is about 20" across. I've jumped in at the deep end with this one and so have no previous experience with bedini systems. I understand that both John and others have successfully manually swapped drive and charge batteries - just that you can't do both at the same time. I hope so - though I could work around this it would be a hassle.

Further developments: replaced burnt out transistor, removed extra magnets, (back to 2 per slot). Left the coil in previous position so magnet coil gap was over 1cm, and tried again. I'm using a pretty dead 12V lead acid battery (6.1V) on charge side. It never does anything interesting for the first 3 or 4 spins, then all hell lets loose! Maybe the charge battery is acting as a capacitor and needs a bit of charge before the whole circuit fires up? Still burning out transistors before I can tell if it's spinning or no.  Though it was kicking the rotor around an inch or two when switched on before popping its next BD243C. Progress I suppose.

Anyway have burnt out at least three more transistors -  now thinking I need to replace them with something heavy-duty like the famous MLJ21194's. Anyone know of a UK source for these? Alternatively perhaps using a better charge battery to start with would be less smelly? Reading other posts it seems an occupational hazard with these things. Moral: buy at least twice as many transistors as you think you'll need!

Would reversing the trigger coil connections have any effect? Don't want to destroy any more of these components than can be helped!