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I have a question that's been bothering me.
I checked the voltages coming out of a Mikohn power supply.
The one in question has the larger 12-pin AMP outlet connector.
Inside are 3 connectors going to the board.
Each connector has 4 wires. (Red,Purple,Black,Yellow)
With a multimeter ground common lead going to the black wire, and the other red lead going to the red wire: I get -12Vdc.
With a multimeter ground common lead going to the black wire, and the other red lead going to the purple wire: I get +12Vdc.
With a multimeter ground common lead going to the black wire, and the other red lead going to the yellow wire: I get +5Vdc.

Am I reading/checking for output voltages correctly? :128-
Should I reverse my multimeter leads to get a different polarity?
 
Finally, does anyone know what the apparent needs for a +5Vdc and -12Vdc for with a Mikohn Power Supply?
So far, I haven't found anything that a Mikohn uses that needs these particular power sources. :129-

Thank you for any help you can give me on this. :89-
Click on picture to enlarge it!>>>

Not sure how you're getting -12v, but if you look at teh Supreme manual, J1 on the controller is 5v, J2 is 12v.

Keep in mind, that power supply board is probably not manufactured by Mikohn. most companies outsource generic boards like power supplies, and those voltages are pretty stadard for power supplies.

<edit>

Found the pinout for the Mikohn power suppy, note the lack of wires connected to the -12v row:

Guess I got you started on this one. Test it correctly (or say incorrectly) you can get your meter to read 17 volts :103-. I wasn't dreaming that up :149-

I know... :72-
The only way I can possibly get +17Vdc is to put the multimeter on a red and purple wire.
I get a -17Vdc if the multimeter is on the red and yellow wires.

I thought the red and black were supposed to be +12Vdc if when using a multimeter,
you stick the common lead on black and the red lead on red?
The picture brichter is showing from the supreme manual contradicts that.

Notice my power supply shows purple on top row. Yellow on second row.
Black in 3rd row and red on the bottom row.

Did you get the pictures of my other project? Should post them here in other interests. :89-

Yes, I will try to post them up in your other thread...
It came out great!

I meant the high voltage ones I sent today.

Holy Craps!!! Young Frankenstein!! :131-

More Shocking Pics!!!

Really cool picture!!!
That's one heck of a power supply!!! :96-

That looks like it is the electrician's form of "pyromania!!!!"

 :50- :50- :50- :50- :50- Wicked Cool! :50- :50- :50- :50- :50-

CH :95-

120 volts feeding (4) 15,000 volt 30Ma Neon Sign transformers hooked up in parellel for 120Ma. Stepped up thru 64 Capicitors dual spark gap and 15 turn primary winding to a 1600 turn secondary winding. Estimate stats put it a aouut 1.3 million volts output.  Not sure how many jiggi-watts :103- Longest spark to date is 74 inches to a grounding rod.

ANd this is the little one. My other is 6 feet tall. :200-

SHOCKING :72- :97- :208-

Looks very cool :89-

That is one big Tesla coil to have lying around the house!  :50- :50-
Let me guess, do you have a Faraday cage in your basement?  :200- :97- :97- :97-

Seriously, it looks like a WardLabs DRSSTC. Did you scrounge the parts yourself or buy them as a kit?

Hmm, Mikohn power supplies to Tesla Coils... interesting tangent.


Now we just need to figure out how to get the arcs to display the progressive amount...

Stayouttadabunker was that a custom? Did you have to make your own capacitors? I've see those were guys had to build there own caps using 5 gallon buckets as the case. Is the EMP noticeable, (does it ruin all your neighbors TV, cell and radio reception when its on)? Tesla was the man...

Built from scratch, some pieces were bought online. No faraday cage..thats why it is outside. But I have no problems with bugs in my back yard. :208- Or neighbors for that matter :96-

I have two RFI/EMF filters on the source, caps are store bought Cornell-Dubillier-942C20P15K-F 0.15MFD @2000 volt

The coolest this about Tesla coils is the Electro Magnetic Pulse it throws out as a byproduct. Be careful that will kill your Cell phones or any other small circuitry that is not shielded. I'm not sure of the range of the EMP coming out of one that size but I would imagine 15-20 feet or so. That's not an easy thing to measure though. I know you can't have one of those that's over 6 foot tall near an airport, the FAA will get pissed over the EMP threat. Fun stuff.

Tell you what, that would be one hell of a cattle prod or stun gun...LOL

You can ALWAYS put your tongue!! 

A buddy of mine made one in highschool. He used an Iron Shotput at the top.
It was cool that you could draw a spark out with your finger to about 3ft.
It left a little black mark but other than a slight buzzing sensation didn't hurt.

   How in the world did I miss THIS thread !!!.....  :103-  ALLSOME work there! .....  K+ good to see we still have some crazies (expermenting electronics tecks) left in this world !  :5- 

THANKS for the PICS !  :3-

You can find all kinds of information, schematics, and pictures through Google.

I thought these were cool..

Yikes!  :127- What if that came flying at ya?
I wouldn't wanna be anywhere near that sucker!!!

The grounded iron maiden style cage that he's in acts as a Faraday cage, keeping him safe. It still could be an unnerving experience. :50- :50-

Tesla coils are very cool!  :89-
Bunker, would'nt that look good on a haywire?
Just don't ask me to play it.  :72-

Are you suggesting that I install one of those on my Double Diamond Haywire machine.... :5-



ARE YOU NUTS!!!!!!??? :96-   (just kidding... :72-)

No, I am not suggesting you build one of these. Just messing with you!  :72-
Tesla Coils are really something, but I sure wouldn't try to build one. They can be pretty dangerous if you don't know what your doing.

Nuts? No, but that guy in the wire cage is!!!!!

Radio shack used to sell these screw in light bulb thingys that basically had a coil in the middle and shot sparks to the outside of the bulb.
They used to have some cheezy name like Electrical Storm.....
I know Spencers sells something similar too.
They were designed so you could put your finger on the bulb and the electric energy would go in that direction.

You could easily make one of these into a safe topper.

I DO NOT!!!!  recommend touching the sparks :60- :60- :60-

Unless one of your other projects was building a defribulator :50- :25-

I think you maybe talking about a plasma globe, I've seen those on eBay.

Question; What do they call those electrical or plasma discharges under glass like I saw at Quark's Bar at Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek experience? Big one's on the wall, little ones on the bar top that were in some sort of silica sand. And where are they available?

As Uniman said, those are plasma spheres.

I began a project to build one back in the early '80's when very few people knew what they were. I had a 12" sphere made to order. The sphere itself was stock Corning used in laboratory equipment and I gave the supplier my specifications for the inner tube and ball, and had a glass rod attached to the bottom to allow connection to a rubber tube to evacuate the air and replace it with inert gas. This glass extension would then have been sealed once the sphere were filled.

One can use any of the noble gases to get different colors (except Radon, because it's radioactive) and elemental metal contaminants (such as gold, mercury, etc.) can be added to change the color and properties of the plasma as well. The heavier (and therefore, more rare) the gas, the more expensive. As I recall, at that time, a small tank of compressed Xenon was $900, compared to almost nothing (maybe $40) for a huge tank of helium. Neon was also pretty inexpensive. For those interested, pure Xenon plasma is sort of a silvery white color. Pure Krypton is essentially white, but if you mix the two in the sphere, you get a greenish-turquoise color with white overtones.

Unlike neon tube lighting, these spheres need to be filled to 70-80% atmospheric pressure or more, as I recall.  (It's been over 20 years, so excuse my CRS). I had also found someone with experience to help me design the PS. The main design issue was careful placement and orientation of components on the board and proper shielding. It's also not a bad idea to design it with a VFO because different gases and combinations require different different frequencies to properly excite them. The frequency needed can range from 5khz to as high as 100khz. After realizing what could be done, I decided to get a 24" sphere and really do it right. Unfortunately, some life issues came up, as they often do, and I never got the project finished.

So what would happen if you did use Radon? Mushroom cloud?

No, radon is a noble gas and is essentially non-reactive with other elements. Most likely nothing will happen to you if you had a sphere filled with radon, since you wouldn't be breathing it and because it has a fairly short half-life. But no one is going to sell it to you. Long term exposure causes lung cancer, and exposure to it is more common that most people think. In fact, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., second only to smoking cigarettes. According to the officials, 21,000 people a year in the U.S. die from radon induced lung cancer.

It is created by the decay of radium which is formed as part of the decay process of naturally occurring uranium. It seeps into homes from the ground and usually goes undetected. Radon can build to dangerous levels because houses are deliberately built to be as air tight as possible, and this prevents the gas from escaping. Home detection kits are readily available, but this particular issue gets almost no press.

I hadn't intended to end up pointing out the dangers of radon gas, but as long as you asked, it is something to think about.

So, now we've gone from Mikohn progressive systems to Tesla coils to plasma spheres to radon gas poisoning...

We do bounce around, don't we.. :30- :127- :97- :97- :97-

Why didn't you use Hydrogen???  :127- :127- :127- :128-


I guess that things just blew up in your life??? :103- :103- :103-

 :208- :208- :208-

CH :95-

:95-, I wanted to, but I was in the wrong column at the Periodic checkout Table. :214- :96- :96-
Besides, I was running short on neutrons -- I even had to borrow a mole from my next-door neighbor. :25-



What a yarn I could spin -- Oh, the humanity! :5- This thread has definitely unraveled. :198- :198-

 :97- :97- :97- :97-

I just wanted to know what would happen if I passed a massive high frequency electrical chrge through it. That's what everybody wonders about, right? :5- :5- :5- :200- :200-

 :96- :96- :96- :5- :5- :5- :208- :208- :208- :208-

           ♫    ♫  "And if you ever saw it," ♫   ♫
:221-  ♫♫ "You would even say, 'it glows!'" ♫♫  :221-
                       :229--
               ♫    "All of the other gasses "   ♫
         ♫     "Used to laugh and call it names"      ♫
             ♫ ♫ "They never let poor Radon" ♫ ♫ 
              ♫   "Join in any plasma games." ♫       

He's now a poet!

 :208- :208- :208- :208- :208- :208- :208-

Yeah, what's next???? :79- :79- :79-

CH :95-

LOL .......he's gonna be singing and dancing on youtube.... :96- :200- :96-

Did your package arrive today? And in one piece :89-

Remember what you warned me about?

I forgot! LOL   
I walked in the door, brought it into the living room and opened it up.
All over the living room floor...my wife picked it all up because
we were in a hurry to get out to go do some xmas shopping...LOL
Holy Crap!!!
How many boxes did you use???? :72-
No wonder the guy brought it back to ya!
Thank you very much for it...now I gotta get the Supreme and Super Controller in
and try out that baby! :89- :91- :89-

I take it arrived in one piece :208- Tell the wife I am sorry for the mess but I wanted it in one piece for you :89- Have fun!!!!

What info do you have on this board??? :5-

I have a whole thread on it...LOL
I can't communicate with it.
Something doesn't work with my serial connection cable configuration.
I've tried several different ways to get it going but I haven't had any luck with it.
The Supreme manual talks about it and so does the Mikohn Download program.
For the time being, it sits by my desk awaiting for me to figure out how to "talk" to it. :96-
Here's a link to the thread on the Mikohn Animation Mark2 board.>>>

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=5361.msg47011#msg47011 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=5361.msg47011#msg47011)

I got 15 panels and that board arriving soon. Cheap :200- Guess that is our next project!

I seen that auction during the week! Cool ! :133-

Sucker need Christmas money and I low balled him and he bit  :3-

Does this need the Mikohn downloader program? I don't have that or the manual...hint :71-

I saw that! You got an awesome deal...I warn, they will not all work though...they are usually have a few problems with some of them and you might need some start brushing up on your soldering skills to get them all working correctly.
Usually, the problem lies with some old burned out triacs, diodes, or resistors out of norm values that cause certain LEDs to fail to light up.
The cool thing is...you got so many of them, you can easily make some thing neat outta them.!
I'm learning more and more about these every day!

Okay okay...check your mail! You have a xmas gift! LOL

Well,  I missed all this,  15 panels of what ?.  Sorry I must have been asleep on this one. B777

Sorry Power Stroke we turned off the Tesla coil and got back to the topic :200- :200-

MK2/ Cham44 displayes and their power supplies