Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I think that the reason why we see a build up and discharge like signal is because diodes are voltage depended capacitors (capacitance value changes with voltage) in blocking mode.
So when we set our input frequency not correct to resonant frequency, the change in voltage can cause the capacity of diodes to change and therefor changing the resonant frequency closer to what we put in. Once the resonant frequency of the tank circuit goes out of range voltage will drop and again we can start a new build up of the voltage because the diode capacity will again change like in previous cycle.
I can be totally wrong on this but this is how I see it at the moment.
As mentioned in the video, a possible reason why Don Smith wanted to use big capacitor banks is to keep the resonance a live when they are under load.
As you can see it's important to keep the impedance of the capacitors stable enough to have steady resonant frequency.
This does not take away my feeling that the bigger capacitor bank is foreseen to attract more charge then to store more charge, both can be at the same time.
We can see that there's a flow back from series LC tank to power supply. When we capture that, we limit the input current.
So what is it exactly that causes our supply to give higher currents to the tank circuit when we don't capture that flow back???
It doesn't feel to me as a resistance that's determining the show but the interaction from power supply to what comes back.
It feels to me that impedance is more an effect description then actually a resistance value, it's more like the interaction of what we send in with what comes back and we define it as impedance/resistance to make it easy.
I'm no specialist at all, so please think for yourself.
I think that the reason why we see a build up and discharge like signal is because diodes are voltage depended capacitors (capacitance value changes with voltage) in blocking mode.
So when we set our input frequency not correct to resonant frequency, the change in voltage can cause the capacity of diodes to change and therefor changing the resonant frequency closer to what we put in. Once the resonant frequency of the tank circuit goes out of range voltage will drop and again we can start a new build up of the voltage because the diode capacity will again change like in previous cycle.
I can be totally wrong on this but this is how I see it at the moment.
As mentioned in the video, a possible reason why Don Smith wanted to use big capacitor banks is to keep the resonance a live when they are under load.
As you can see it's important to keep the impedance of the capacitors stable enough to have steady resonant frequency.
This does not take away my feeling that the bigger capacitor bank is foreseen to attract more charge then to store more charge, both can be at the same time.
We can see that there's a flow back from series LC tank to power supply. When we capture that, we limit the input current.
So what is it exactly that causes our supply to give higher currents to the tank circuit when we don't capture that flow back???
It doesn't feel to me as a resistance that's determining the show but the interaction from power supply to what comes back.
It feels to me that impedance is more an effect description then actually a resistance value, it's more like the interaction of what we send in with what comes back and we define it as impedance/resistance to make it easy.
I'm no specialist at all, so please think for yourself.
