Added: 3 years ago
From: sm0vpo
Views: 57,459
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:

All Comments (148)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • thanks very much.......

  • My mom would love aa multivibrator

  • i want to know dose the transformer get hot

    

  • Excellent video! I checked your webpage and found your lower power versions of this inverter. They were just what I was looking for, small, simple and easy to make. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us. Keep up the good work!

  • MULTIVIBRATOR LMAO! 

  • a very intuitive video, thanks for posting dude!!

  • How hot did the transistors get?

  • haha you have to be an electronics teacher, my old electronics teacher had the same sense of humour as you, he plugged a lead into a plug and said to a kid if he holds onto the wires he will be plugged into the national grid and the kid was gonna do it lol he was like are you crazy, go sit in the corner XD but yeah also your accent sounds like your from yorkshire :D

  • Hi HARRY!!!, well Can't tell you how glad I am too see you putting your knowledge where we can see it in action, Thanks and please keep um coming,, I may never get it at this late date, math pretty crummy" but I will keep trying for at least a little luck, If you get a chance, ck out "gotoluc" he too inspire's those like myself

  • Hi HARRY!!!, well after having gone thru 3 yrs of youtube tutorials, 5 computors from junk via dial-upisp's, I'm still as dumb @ age 55 as I was @ 13. I 1st saw you @ your site a few years ago and was addicted to electronics since,,haven't had much success though. Will the TO-220's work? Tried this with them and they fried,,could be my circuit, I was using a multi-vib similar too this and it aint working to well. I also took apart a M.O.T. and rewound it to creat the center tapp trans for 2nd

  • i killed myself, brains brains brains, oooooh, brains, brains, brains, give me brain, me eat your brain,

  • Awesome! didn't know it could be done as simple as this!

  • Where does this buzzing sound come from?

  • @tvolala1976 It's called 'magnetostriction' it is coming from the transformer. As the domains inside the transformer core swing from north to south they slightly change shape causing the metal laminations to knock together.

  • So. I'm guessing I can use this same circuit with a rectifier to make any kind of dc/dc voltage conversion I want? Using different transformers of course.

  • Harry, do the 2N3055's get hot when the AC generator is under load?

    If so, would it be better to mount them on a heatsink?

  • @osmov is there anything that can take the place of the ferrite toroid, one that big is pretty expensive

  • how do i com crying to you if i get killed? i will be DEAD!

    it doesn't look like you made any kind of oscillator circuit at all and dont forget the heatsink!

  • Comment removed

  • how do i com crying to you if i get killed? i will be DEAD!

  • @powermaks Its the new thing , its called HUMOR

  • do you connect the earth wire with the neutral wire or you cut off the earth wire?

  • why not just convert your lights to led in your house and install a rectifying diode and run your house on dc much cheaper then using ac stick it to edison all you can

  • @serialkiller1717

    The lamps were only a demonstrable load. 230V AC is often used to power other items.

    Unfortunately a LED TV takes as much current as an old "fat" TV - it costs 4x more:

    LED TV - SEK10 000

    Fat TV - SEK 2000

    My inverter - SEK100

    An LED computer has not yet been invented, nor has the LED central heating pump.

    But to cut out the comedy, LED lamps themselves are somewhat cold and not at all pleasant to use. As regards ecconomy, the "low energy" lamps are comparable. HL

  • your my hero, Thank Harry

  • @OzzRock95

    Thank you - praise indeed :-)

  • Harry ..Great vedio ..Thank you..What was the dounut made of ? Ferrite ?

  • @247News1

    The "donut" was a torroidal (ferrite) transformer. They are more efficient than laminated transformers. Pity about the price. - HL

  • I tried this project before seeing your video and I shocked myself with 550 volts and I have to tell you I think Im lucky to be alive.

  • @NovusChaoMundi

    You should be very carefull with these voltage. It is easy to stuff 24V into the wrong winding of a 24V/12V transformer. As a matter of interest, you should ALWAYS have some form of load on the output, otherwise you can get minute spikes of up to 3000V. But they go as soon as you apply a light load.

    I had thought about klqanking a 100nf cap across the output but I thought that would complicate the project unnecesarily. HL

  • @sm0vpo I think the 100 uf cap will determine the cycling of the ac voltage about 60 cycles, good idea.

  • Oh, I have plenty of soviet transformers and resistors but no high-power transistors. Gonna find some and try to build something similar.

    The question is:

    Have anyone tried to recharge the input battery from the output via an ordinary charging circuit? How efficient can it be?

  • @nrz666

    If you have a torroidal transformer then the efficiency can be as high as 80% on load, but this drops as the load falls. A 200W inverter may be 80% efficient at 200W but only 10% at 10 Watts. HL

  • That was the idea. So glad you liked it.

    ASMOI I am using one of these as a backup for the 2138 Xmas lamps I have that dorn the house.

    BR Harry

  • best thing i ever seen on youtube . +5 star man

  • So glad you liked it. I had a lot of fun making it .-)

  • So glad you like it. I had fun making it - Harry

  • Great...

    can be use in my waterpump (1/4hp)?

  • @Torry36

    If you filter the output to get a sinewave you can. HL

  • @sm0vpo

    THANKS

    so I will use 100 nf or 100 mf?

  • @zidane444

    Great :-) I love this sort of praise. The e-mail I keep getting is predominantly negative. HL

  • @sm0vpo  +5 star

  • I think this is on my top ten list of good videos , nice job

  • I try my best. Thank you for the praise :-)

  • So glad you like it - Harry

  • if i lower the ohms of the resistors can i use lower input voltage and get a higher output?

  • Yes

  • cool vid. great job

  • So glad you like it :-)

  • in your diagram i saw only one 12v battery.. but your actual there's two 12v... what's the connection of another one 12v battery?... thanks

  • Watch the vide and listen. You choose the transformer to suit the battery voltage: ie. use 12-0-12v transformer with a 12v battery, or use a 24-0-24v transformer with a 24v battery.

    I showed a 12v transformer, but then here I have a 24v transformer.

  • What about using a 220V to 4,5V transformer and a 9V battery? (and same configuration)? I must modify something if i use that stuff?

  • 12-0-12v transformer with 12v battery, 9-0-9v transformer with 9v battery, and so on.

    BR Harry

  • HOW CAN INCREASE THE WATTAGE?

    THANKS

  • its cool stuf ,,but what`s the freqency?????

  • Fantastic !!!

  • waooo . thats great

  • BWAAAH OH GOD!! I've just killed myself so I decided the only answer would be to come crying to YOU!! TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ME PLEEEEEZ!

  • can you run a laptop from this?

  • Does this generate a 50/60 Hz wave and not some random high frequency wave?

  • nice video man.. done this at home and works great.

  • thanks man! great video.. done this and works very well

  • very helpful video, enjoyed it, good humor and delivery, nice! thank you!

  • That is an inverter, not a generator.

  • Thank you i was trying to do that from very long time.But when I made th multivibreator it can't light even a bulb of ten wats i made it with two resistors of 6018 oms was that right.Pleas help.And sory if i have misspellings i am from bulgaria and i don't know eanglish perfect.

  • nice work thank to learn more thing you also upload or more videos

  • ncie video

  • can i use my transformer 220 vlts primary and 12 0 12 secondary backward?thanks

  • if its ac/ac yes, if its ac/dc.not.

  • It should work just fine.

  • how quickly will the battery rub out if powering only lamps, torches, flash lights etc..

  • Thanks very much, it will take some time to digest but it sure looks like a great option.

  • harry!!!! you are still the MAN!!! my system is still runnig great thanks you...my wife loves the money she gets to spend shopping! Now that i can save some money on my light bill, the reason for this is that you said somrthing at your homebrew page that set it off and BOOM it WORKED for me!!! HARRY IF I EVER GET RICH AND NEED YOUR HELP!!! I WILL CALL ON YOU BUDDY!!!! thank you chuck!!!!!

  • @chuckluvs35

    How do you go about connecting the transformer? I'm not quite sure about it. What does 230V 12V-0-12V transformer means?

  • This realy works I tried it.

  • thanks smovpo i did 1 but my battery to fast to low batt im using 12v 7.4 ah not reach 1 hours you have idea to make longer to use this battery thanks................

  • Thanks Sm0vpo, you are great the is the circuit I was searching for since long time to use near my Marina deck. Please post more useful project. I will try to make this circuit very soon.

  • You seem to be a knowledgeable guy. Just wondering if you could tell me if this would work.. I have a 60 amp AC power supply. Puts out about 14 to 17 volts. Is there a way to turn it into a power converter ? What I would like to do is set up a windmill generator and use it to charge the batterys.

  • Good video !

    If you kill yourself dont come crying to me. lol

  • Working on more comedy :-)

  • great video with practical approach

  • So glad you liked it. It was done in a hurry.

    H

  • very nice smovpo you know how to make cfl inverter please post if you have... thanks

  • I have done one, see my homepages.

  • (UV light box under useful projects)

  • @sm0vpo @sm0vpo Sir my name is rohit and iam from india.i have started an inverter project based on seeing your great video! i have indeed collected all the parts for the project,but i have a question? what is output ampere rating of the 12-0-12 transformer that is shown in your video.in india we use appliances with a rating of 220-230 volts with 50 Hz?

  • What power do you want?

    If you use a 200 Watt transformer then you can get 100W before the load stops it oscillating. Use a 500W transformer for 250W, and so on.

    BR Harry :-)

  • Comment removed

  • is the pure sighn energy?

  • No, it is square.

  • hi, thank you for this nice and instructive video i wanther how you calculate the transformer winding and wire gauge use else how can i upgrade this inverter to 5000w

    thank you

  • The whole point is to use ready-made transformers. But if you use big transistors with heatsinks and a 500W transformer then you will have 500W. You can make two of them and parallel the outputs. The two will sync to each other. No reason why you cannot usw 3, or 4, all in parallel providing the inverters and transformers are IDENTICAL..

    BR H

  • Very nice video. I am guessing it makes a square wave of some kind.

    FYI, I think you misspelled intelectual

  • youtube should make a section in the comments for people to have conversations aside from the comments just about the video

  • They do not need it. Think abut it watts = volts multiplied by current. if either the current or the voltage is zero then the power is also zero. :-)

    BR Harry

  • How would I do this if I wanted to use your idea but instead of using a 12 0 12 transformer to make 220 volts I want to make 120 volts. How would I do that? What transformer would I use to say make 300 watt AC output?

  • No problem at all. It is the transformer that determines to voltages. For exaple, to get 117vAC from 12v use :

    117v - 12v-0-12v transformer.

    Many of the better quality transformer have a split primary (0-120v + 0-120v) that can be wired inseries for 240v or in parallel for 120v.

    If you live in a na rea whre there are only 120v power utility outlet, then the chances are that your transformers available are all 120v primary.

    Best regards from Harry

  • Okay, but I want my voltage input to the transformer to be 12 volts not 24 volts/

  • For 12vDC to 120vAC use a 12v-0-12v transformer with a 120v primary (it is used backwards).

  • those poor transistors, will someone please give them a heatsink? But seriously wont they be making quite a lot of heat?

  • No:

    High current at no voltage = no power.

    No current at high voltage = no power

    BR Harry

  • you are a great man! thanks for the info, it worked great for me, ,my wife laughed at me when i was putting it together,but stopped when she saw it working and recharging itself, so far it's been two weeks and still running. Thank you harry!!!

  • You are most welcome. I am so pleased people are actually using this :-)

  • please how long will it last?

  • Battery life?

    Assuming you are pulling 100W in a 12v system then the 12v side has a current of 10 Amperes. With a 100A/h battery you would get 10 hours non-stop use, minus any inefficiency. In practice you could expect 7 hours solid, if the battery is charged.

    BR H

  • how can we cry to you when were dead lol :)

  • Duh, dunno! Never thought of that ;-)

    Ha ha!

  • hi. can you help me ? i want to do a electric car .i use a electric motor 3.5hp altern current. what can i do to drive this motor with batteries .sorry be me english i dont speak well. thanks bye

  • Most effective way would be using AC motor(s) and frequency controller. The inverter build would be quite the same seen here using transistors with different parameters.

  • That depends on the type of motor.

    For example, if the motor has carbon brushes connecting to an armature with loads of brass segments, then you connect the field and armature windings in series and apply LOW VOLTAGE dc - eg 24v.

    BR H

  • thanks a lot!

  • You are welcome. It was fun to make.

  • you're not generating ac, you're inverting 12-24 volts to 115-230 volts

  • "inverting" = "converting". All generators only convert one form of energy to another.

    All "generators" have some input power, whether it be a head of water (kinetic energy), diesel fuel, or in my case, the energy stored in your car battery.

    If you want free energy then connect the DC/AC converter to your neighbours car battery :-)

    BR Harry

  • how to increase the watts?

  • Use a bigger transformer and transistors.

    Make several IDENTICAL inverters and put the outputs in parallel. They will automatically synchronise with each other. At least, my two 200-Watt inverters did

    BR Harry

  • "if you killed yourself, then don't come crying to me", hehe, good speech!...

    thank you, this helped me.

  • first dying, then go crying to him?

    that's a feat

  • .. and I did try to keep a straight face when I did it. It was not easy :-)

  • I love comedy :-)

  • how long do the batteries go till they need too be charged again

  • Depends on the discharge rate.

    a 100A/H 12v car battery will deliber 12x100 watt-hours = 1200. This means you can take out 1200 wats for 60 minutes, or 120 Watts for 10 hours.

    Remember that the inverter, as described, takes about 5-Watts of "idle power".

    Remember also that a transformer has an efficiency of perhaps 80%, rising to over 90% for a torroidal transformer.

    BR Harry

  • Hey Harry! Been a fan of your website for years,keep up the good work!

  • Will do. So glad you liked the site. There are many more projects on the pipeline.

    Recently got the sack from my job so I hope to start selling alternative power solutions - solar panels, inverters, regulators, etc.

    BR Harry

  • have you looked much at the bedini, perendev, or surge, or cycclone magnetic drive?

    --you would totally love those

  • Yes I have.

    I saw a film with the Perendev motor, but I believe that they are not real. In the film I saw it looked quite well made, but there was a shadow of a guy with an electric drill behind the thing.

    I do not believe in perpetuial motion, otherwise I would have used my DC/AC inverter to run a battery charger to charge the battery that powers it ;-)

    BR Harry

  • The only problem with 24v to 120v ac or 240v ac, is amount of amps needed.

    75 watt at 120 v ac will take about 3.75 amps at battery input.

    Any time you increase voltage you will increase input amps.

    The 2n3055 can only handle 10-15 amps, also the back EMF problems when running any ac motors will cause the transister to fail!

    Good only for low watts.

  • I agree totally. But if the lights have just gone out then my solution will put them back on again.

    I used 24V to halve the current problem.

    Commercial solar/wind power use 48vDC systems for the same reasons. High V = low current.

    Large computer UPS (bigger than 300W) use battery voltages from 24v to 120v. I have stripped down a defective UPS having 20x 5A/H lead-acid batteries in it.

    Also, the higher the batteru voltage the higher the efficiency.

    BR Harry

  • Thank you , i learned  alot

    what is your website ?

  • its the amps that kill not the volts... the voltage will throw you across a room (and burn you)

  • No, it is the milliamperes that kill.

    It takes 10mA to kill someone.

    Apply electrodes to the human body, using a conductive agent to improve the contact (as in medical electronics), it is possible to get the skin resistance down to about 5000 Ohms.

    It only takes 50v (peak) to deliver that 10mA though a 5000 Ohm resistor. Thats why the internationally recognised lethal voltage is 50vDC (35vAC).

    10mA and 5000 Ohms series resistor makes the human body into a voltmeter.

    Your turn :-)

  • Since this is a square wave inverter. This would only work with light bulbs right?

  • No. I am powering a telly, a computer, and even my oil-fired boiler with them. The circulation pump has to have a better sinewave, but eccomony lamps, flourescent lamps and sinple tungsten lamps all work perfectly. I was reluctant to try a computer myself because I thought that SMPSUs needed a good sine, but not so. Modern PSUs just rectify the input then chop the DC and stuff it through a HF pulse transformer. They don't care about the input form. Synchronus motors are the beasties that hate sq

  • uare waves. BR Harry

  • hello harry thankz 4 the video its works great, i used a 110v to 12v transformer

    and i got 220v, am using 12v to power the transformer, what should i do to get just 110v or 120v, thankz

  • Put a small load on it and the volts will fall to 115v. There can miniscule spikes higher than 115v and you are using a digital multimeter (peak reading) at a guess :-) BR Harry

  • "If you kill yourself, then don't come crying to me."

    Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

    Harry's as funny as he is smart!

  • I had a load of fun makinh the film. At the time Maj-Lis (my wife) was upstais calling me to come and settle down for a cosy evening. The hardest part was trying to keep a straighr face, or it would not seem so funny :-)

  • all in all very nice job

  • lol... would'nt it be kind of hard for me to come crying to you if this thing were to kill me? Dickhead.

  • how much load can you connect on that

  • Depends on the transformer. As a rule the oscillator bursts into HF osc when the is about 50% of the rating of the transformer. A 250 Watt txfmr will give you over 100 Watts. A small 16" colour telly is only about 65 to 85 Watts.

    I have just built one using a 500W 115-230v autotranformer and rewound the coils for 20v-0-20v + 115v + 230v and I am pulling 280 Watts out of it. Running a computer, monitor and a 135W TV set beside it. Havta switch them on 1 at a time, though - TV first. BR Harry

  • This is basically a power inverter. If you need DC to AC power the safe way to do is to buy a power inverter but you don't learn anything.

  • Yes, that is exactly what it is. Here in Sweden, a "power Inverter" costs about SEK350 but the method I give costs less than SEK100. Besides that, the primary object of the video was to show how easy it is to make one. The seconday object was for me to have fun making the video :-)

  • very good video, i love complex things explained so simply

  • So do I.

    As a matter of interest, until a year ago I used to work as a multimedia "mentor" showing how to install radio gear.

  • I LOVE YouTube. Makes a change from the e-mail "gimme gimme" complaints I get from my homepages.

    I am always willing to share information and take great delight when other people can do something they never knew they could.

    Many thanks to you and all the others above for the positive feedback. Positive feedback is what maintains oscillation. There will be more.

    BR Harry

  • Hi does it matter if I use two 680 Ohm 2kW resisters instead of 1.5? thanks

  • You should use 680 Ohms in each transistor - the two resistors are each in a different position. You can use two 1K5 resistors when you use 24 volt operation.

    It is the value of these resistors that will determine the actual power you get out. If you had 10 transistors, then you can use them as 5 + 5, each with their individual 680 ohms resitor in the base but connect the transistor emitters together, and the collectors together - but you will still need 680 ohms in each transistor base. BR H

  • Thanks for replying, what resistors should I use if I want to use 2*6Volt batteries with a transformer that has 6-0-6 secondary's, thanks a lot.

  • Oh, sorry. For 6v you should use two 150 Ohm resistors, assuming you are using the 2N3055.

    BR Harry

  • Yes I am using those transistors, thanks a lot, also can I ask what frequency the output is on the transformer and what the waveform would look like, thanks again sm0vpo.

  • The frequency of resonance is decided by the transformer. It is usually about 45 - 65Hz with ordinary mains transformers having an iron core. If you overload the circuit then the frequency rises.

    The output waveform is a square-wave. There may be a very small (micro-seconds) leading spike, but this will dissapear as soon as there is a load connected.

  • Ahhh interesting, I thought it was the transistors that gave the circuit its frequency, thanks.

  • No, it is the transformer. You can make the same circuit using a ferrite "pulse transformer". That will operate at typically 10kHz, but anything from 1kHz to 1MHz, depending on the ferrite and coils used. This is what is used to drive these portable flourescent tube lamps, but at a lower power.

  • So what effect would the frequency of the waves have on the circuit e.g power output, doesn't the inductance go up if the frequency does, and if so wouldn't the overall efficiency of the circuit go up, thanks.

  • The efficiency does rise with frequency, but most of these domestic transformer laminations start to "eddy" above about 120Hz. This limits them somewhat. BR H

  • WELL DONE!!! **claps** i had no problem following your instructions!

  • very good

  • Praise indeed :-)

  • Hello,

    I am a fan of yours, I build modified and tested

    your flip flop self contained tank circuit inverter, work's great.

    Do you have any other AC inverters with self resonating frequency?

    I am building a Push-Pull Ac inverter with an

    555 Timer as the square wave driver, but i would like to build one with it's own resonant

    oscillation frequency, therefore i could use more power without having problems with the feedback or reflected power.

  • I am presently building a PIC controlled inverter. Will be posting some info when it is ready :-)

  • So glad you liked the project. As you saw, it is ridiculously simple and works perfectly first-time, every time. There are more films in the pipeline, but my basic probelem is time, especially now wnen I have to cut up wood for winter heating, and prepare for the snow to come. Best regards from Harry - SM0VPO

  • Great video, keep up the good work.

    I built this one that you are showing

    and i am using a large heat sink on the

    transistors yo prevent thermal overrun.

    Work's great thank you very much SMOVPO.

  • Oh! What an interesting comment :-) I thought generating 230vAC from 12vDC is a good description. A "signal generator" generates signals with an input. A "character generator" generates bitmap code when correctly addressed. I still feel it is a descriptive title, since the AC is generated. But perhaps DC-AC converter could be a better title? Although to connect a slack-handfull of bits to the car and get 230 V AC could be considered "generating" in a power cut. Many thanks - food for thought.

  • its a great video but i do belive it might be labled wrong i am not new to ac/dc generation but not an expert either but i do belive this in an ac/dc converter rather than a generator

  • Toppen! Glad to know that you have found them usefull. I am still working on the next video ("My First Joint") but I am having a lot of pressure at work and so much to do with the house. Got to look after land, even if it is so full with antennas ;-) Best regards and many thanks for your positive comments.

  • Great video!

    Is there a way to recognize a transformer which has a split secondary before I wreck the casing? I have a few lying around and opened one (230V@60Hz to 12V 500mA 6VA) which, unfortunatly turns out not to have a split secondary. I´d like to implement this. Tak in advance!

  • Yes, connect your transformer to the mains and measure the secondary voltages. Another method is to count the wires, then mewasure the "continuity" (resistance). Most cheap transformers will only have 2 wires for the primary. If there are three remaining wires for the secondary and they all have continuity (conduction) then the chances are that you have a split secondary. At the moment I am working on an inverter that will work with a single secondary winding :-) Best regards from Harry SM0VPO

  • Hi, the two little lamps are 7W each, but the larger one is 11 Watts. A 36W transformer delivers about 10 Watts before it stops oscillating. A 200 watt transformer will deliver about 75 watts, which is enough to run a small color telly and a couple of lamps. If you use an external oscillator and driver then the 200 Watt transformer will deliver 200 Watts without any trouble, but that will be the subject of another film. Many thanks fory your coments, both of you. Best regards from Harry - SM0VPO