I Finally Got My Pulse Motor Running on a Single a Battery

Hook

I wanted to see if I could run the whole thing off a single a battery and still pull decent voltage spikes. Turns out… yeah, it works. The rotor spins smooth, the scope goes crazy, and I didn’t have to solder a single joint.

Watch this experiment

I hooked three coils in series and used that stack as my generator side. One coil has a solid iron core, the others don’t. Nine magnets on the rotor, a 4-strand drive coil on the other side, and everything clipped together with no soldering. Scope on the black coil and we’re off.

What you'll learn

You’ll see real voltage numbers, how iron cores change output, why nine magnets give a spiky waveform, and how series wiring different gauges still runs smooth. All from one battery.

From the bench

I’m sitting here with the scope hooked to the black coil. First reading comes in around 20 V just from spinning by hand. Then I let the single a battery take over and the spikes climb fast. 500, 520, 560 V – the scope is jumping all over. The rotor has nine magnets so instead of a clean sine wave you get a ton of little waves stacked up. It looks awesome on the screen.

How it works / what we changed

The generator side is three coils wired in series: 12,000 turns of 32 gauge, 22,000 turns of 32 gauge, and 750 turns of 20 gauge. The 20-gauge coil sits on a solid iron core and that helps it make a lot more voltage. Without the core it barely did anything. On the drive side I’ve got four strands of 26 gauge (860 turns total) in series so it repeats the same turns over and over. Then another pair of 20-gauge coils also in series with a 26 and a 32 mixed in. Everything runs off the single a battery and the rotor just glides.

pulse motor no soldering

The whole build is clip leads and hook-up wire. No soldering iron, no perfboard, no mess on the bench. If you want to try a pulse motor tonight you can literally start with stuff you already have on the table. I swapped coils in seconds just by moving alligator clips.

pulse motor oscilloscope readings

Scope is set on the black coil. You see the voltage spikes hit 500 V, then 520, then 560 V. Because there are nine magnets the waveform is packed with extra peaks instead of one big smooth hump. That density is what gives the high spike numbers even though we’re only running from a single a battery.

pulse motor coil winding

I wound 12,000 turns of 32 on one, 22,000 turns of 32 on the next, and 750 turns of 20 gauge on the iron core. The drive coil is four strands of 26 gauge hooked in series so it acts like 215 turns repeated. Different gauges and turn counts all wired together in series on both sides. The iron core on the 20-gauge coil made the biggest difference in output.

pulse motor back emf

Those 500–560 V spikes you see on the scope are back-EMF. The collapsing magnetic field in the coils kicks back hard and that’s where the voltage comes from. Even though we’re feeding it from a single a battery the back-EMF is what lights up the scope like that. Classic pulse motor behavior.

bedini ssg circuit

This setup is basically a Bedini SSG style circuit but stripped down. No transistor shown in the clip, just coils, magnets, and a single a battery. The series wiring and the iron core give it that smooth running feel people chase with SSG builds. I’ve been playing with these for a while and this no-solder version is the simplest yet.

pulse motor battery charging

People always ask if these things can charge batteries. In this test I’m not charging a second battery, but the spikes are more than enough to do it if you add a diode and a cap. The 560 V peaks off a single a battery show there’s plenty of energy to harvest. That’s the part that still gets me every time.

Builder checklist

• One battery (I used a small 12 V but any decent cell works)
• Three generator coils (12k, 22k of 32 ga + 750 of 20 ga on iron)
• Drive coil: 4-strand 26 ga or similar series setup
• Nine magnets on rotor, evenly spaced
• Alligator clips only – no soldering
• Oscilloscope or at least a voltmeter that catches spikes
• Solid iron core for the heavier coil

Troubleshooting

If your spikes are low, add the iron core to the 20-gauge coil – it helped a lot. If the rotor won’t spin smooth, check that all coils are truly in series and the magnets are balanced. Nine magnets give more waves but can make timing picky. Clip leads can wiggle; tape them if it cuts out.

Safety

High voltage spikes even from a single a battery can bite. Don’t touch the coil leads while it’s running. Keep fingers away from the spinning rotor. If you add caps to catch the back-EMF, discharge them before handling. Eye protection around spinning magnets is smart.

FAQ

Can you really run a pulse motor on a single a battery? Yep, that’s exactly what I did. The back-EMF does most of the interesting work.

Do I need an oscilloscope? Nice to have, but you can start with a multimeter on peak-hold mode.

Why the iron core? Without it the 20-gauge coil made almost no voltage. With it the output jumped.

Is this a Bedini SSG? Close. Same idea, simpler wiring, no transistor in the shot.

Will it charge another battery? The spikes are high enough. I didn’t in this video but the numbers say it can.

Related on this site

• How to Build a Pulse Motor: Complete Beginner's Guide
• Pulse Motor vs Bedini Motor: What's the Difference?
• Reading Oscilloscope Output on a Pulse Motor
• How to Wind Coils for a Pulse Motor (Step by Step)
• Understanding Back EMF in Pulse Motors

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