And here are a couple of representative screenshots.

I determined last night that the BUZ11A mosfet doesn't really switch properly, even when the strong sinusoid from Pin 13 is present. To see if the transistor or mosfet is actually switching, you need to monitor the Collector or Drain signal, it's the only way to be sure. I say again: the noise bursts are causing the signal to the inverter which results in the transistor switching, not the other way around. There is feedback to be sure, but it does not seem to be the case that the DC-DC converter chip is responding to being pulled down when the mosfet switches... because my mosfet wasn't switching.

However the TIP3055 does switch properly, as you can see from the scopeshot below showing the collector (inverted) trace.

Note that I am now at 1 ms/div horizontally and the sinus oscillations are in the ballpark of the signal on Akula's screen. It's not stable for me, though, and I have some hypotheses about that, such as my lack of a nearby source that is singing at that frequency.

(These are made with the inner, smaller inductance on the transistor side and the larger on the 340963 side.)

ETA: Disregard the numbers in the "measurement" box.... they are using the entire buffer, I forgot to reset it to just use between cursors. So the measurements are including lots of time of unstable waveforms or even non-oscillating blanks. Please just read the traces themselves using the channel voltage setting and timebase. Sorry about that!

TK,

I don't understand the purpose inverter section.  Even when the MOSFET or transistor is turned on, it seems all it would do is apply an additional 200R load to the supply rail.

Also, keep in mind that CMOS inputs typically have input overvoltage protection.  Typically these are diodes or "pseudo" diodes made from additional CMOS elements.  Normally these diodes turn on at .5-.6V below ground or above Vcc.  Many of the input protect schemes do incorporate an internal resistance for current limiting when the diodes turn on, but the actual circuit topology used can vary between manufacturers.  I believe this is why you noted a difference in behavior with a different mfg device.

In one of your first videos on this circuit, as you increased the FG input to the inverter and the P-P V of the FG exceeded the rail, you can see the rail increase on the peaks as the input diodes begin to conduct.  At least that is what it looked like to me.

PW
 

And here I've take out the TIP3055 and replaced the BUZ11A mosfet. I've made no adjustments, not even tweaking the pot.

You can see that the Drain voltage remains at the supply voltage of 3 volts or just under, and barely moves when the large amplitude sinus happens on the input to the inverter. So the positive rail cannot be being pulled down to make the bursts to make the sinusoid.... it is the other way around. The sinus is the "input" from the bursts which make the sinus in the transformer, which then switches the transistor. The bursts and sinus occur whether or not the transistor or mosfet is switching, though, so pulling down the positive rail can't be the cause. At least that's how I'm thinking at the moment.

@magpwr:
You are right about turns vs. inductance. The way I do it is empirically. I wind a  few turns onto the form and then strip off a tiny bit of insulation from the wire and take an inductance reading. Then I know, ballpark, my own particular microH/turn ratio, so I can wind some more turns, then check inductance again, until I get to the desired inductance. In that last coil outer winding I was shooting for 5.7 mH and wound up with about 5.9 mH, not bad for an amateur. I couldn't even tell you how many turns, less than 150 but more than 100 probably.

IF YOU NEED COPPER FOIL TAPE:

I have found some copper foil tape at my local hardware store in the gardening section. It seems snails don't like copper so if you put some copper tape around your pot plant they keep away. I say let the snails feast, we've got something better to do with copper foil tape 

PS: You may have missed my post 298 and 300 on this thread. I hope admin is quick with this one 

IF YOU NEED COPPER FOIL TAPE:

I have found some copper foil tape at my local hardware store in the gardening section. It seems snails don't like copper so if you put some copper tape around your pot plant they keep away. I say let the snails feast, we've got something better to do with copper foil tape 

Thanks for the tip. Yes, I know about snail repellent and also about stained glass copper foil. I'm working on a very tight budget and I already have a big roll of aluminum duct tape, and some brass tubing of the ideal size for a bobbin for the flyback core. I'll be happy to review any empirical reports you have that show an Akula device running on copper foil, but another identical one not running on aluminum foil.

PS: You may have missed my post 298 and 300 on this thread. I hope admin is quick with this one 

I didn't miss the post of the patent concerning Cold Fusion ignited by Nuclear Acoustic Resonance.... it was very amusing. I generally prefer the SF pulp magazines like Analog and SF&F, but occasionally the USPTO does publish a good one.

And the other post concerning your explanation and theories of operation are also very amusing. But you seem to be missing an important point. It does not matter what your theory is, how smart you are or how beautiful your mathematics. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. (Apologies to Richard Feynman.) What "we" or at least I am doing here is examining a claim that a particular device behaves in a certain manner. This device is constructed of COTS (commercial off the shelf) parts and enough information has been presented about its construction and operation that any person "skilled in the art" should be able to build one and duplicate the results. There is no unusual theory or explanation required or demanded, and unnecessary speculation and even _wrong_ theoretical ideas are not very helpful, in my opinion. If you bake a cake according to a recipe, no theory of ovens or cakes is required, the recipe either produces an edible cake without burning the house down... or it doesn't. If it doesn't, and you've not done something stupid like failing to cut slits in your foils ... then there is something wrong with the recipe. Maybe you've got a recipe for a tuna casserole, thinking it's a cake. Not going to get a chocolate cake from that! Even though it's a good recipe. Or maybe the recipe doesn't make anything at all, like so many we see here. At least Akula's recipe is making something!

 (Using the mass of the electron in an attempt to explain the S-shape of the plasma channel between two HV electrodes.... that was great, really enlightening. Are you a CRT designer, I wonder? Have you done much work with high voltage apparatus, plasma streams, corona discharge, static electricity? I'd love to hear about it.)

In this case.... no cake so far. Nuclear Acoustic Resonance hitting the wrong note in my apparatus, preventing the LEDs from operating? Great, please provide some empirical support for that conclusion. Secret irradiated Soviet ferrites necessary? Great, send me a set, and I'll do what apparently nobody else has actually done: I'll test them side by side with fake Chinese ferrites in the same apparatus, and we shall see what difference the irradiation makes. 

/sarcastic rant
 

What is the result? LEDs are lit without 3v power?

I've lifted that C5 cap several times to see the effect on operation, and it appears to be necessary to see the sine wave. Without it I just get big noise spikes everywhere,  no coherent patterns that I can tell.

The schematic I'm using, with my current changes,  is attached below.

hi TinselKoala,

It looks like you are following the Akula variation.Have you considered implementing resistor in series with Led(Limit current to led) and discharge resistor(around 560...3.3k ) connected in parallel with C5 100uf to ensure the sine wave looks like nice sine wave.

-----------------------------------

Finally received the 4.7cm diameter Ferrite pot core as attached after waiting for nearly one month.Now i shall patiently wait for copper foil to magically appear at my door step.