Joule Ringer!

[Munetaka]

Laser Saber or anyone:

What function does the bifilar coil in the joule thief ringing circuit? could you explain to me please?

[Feynman]

That's a good question; I don't know.  Build one and try it out!

I think PhysicsProf's version of JouleRinger had a lower COP (0.60 or 0.70 or so), but I think it really depends on your setup.  There may be a COP>1 possibility.

[aaron5120]

my latest work has been in winding my own large E core transformer from scratch.  It's huge, took forever to wind and was worth every once of effort.  If anybody thought my last Joule Ringer videos were cool just wait until see the next update.
Lasersaber

Hi Lasersaber,
I had wound two transformers with the E core recommended by Lasersaber, bought from surplussales.com but neither of them worked.
The circuit just does not want to oscillate. Lasersaber if you are hanging around here please give us a hand!
How much turns and at what gauges should the primary, trigger and secondary coils be wounded? Should they be winded clockwise or counterclockwise?
I use 2N5551 and 2SC5525 to form a Darlington pair, tried also TIP3055, none of them worked with the E core transformer. Please just tell us the wire info, we can live without your DIY video at the moment!
Thanks!
aaron5120

[lanenal]

...
And it worked just as I have expected! Tomorrow I will see how long a cap will run that thingy. See below for a comparison of the traditional JT and this reversed JT.

Note that when the LED is on, the battery is getting recharged -- that's the major difference.

Well, I used a cap (1000uF, 16V) instead of a bat, and it does not seem to work -- the LED won't lit for any discernible moment.  This result is disappointing, which makes lasersaber's discovery even more interesting...looking forward to replicating his ringer.

I suspect that there is very high frequency oscillation between the bifiler (probably functioning as a tiny capacitor) and the high voltage coil.

@lasersaber: Could you use a multimeter to measure the capacitance of your bifiler (just disconnect the 4M pot and measure the two ends where you disconnected the pot)? That should be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

[poynt99]

Don't believe everything you read over at OUR.  Some of those guys over there do not understand the JT circuit at all.

Bill

That may be true Bill, and I may be one of them. Does anyone here understand the JT circuit and how it works?

At OUR, I've blown away the misconception that a JT functions by way of a saturated core, and I've spent a number of hours working on the problem of "how it actually works", but I've not yet come to a complete answer.

I'd be grateful if someone here could enlighten me.

Thanks,
.99