Joule Ringer!

[Groundloop]

All,

I have now tested this circuit variant. The circuit is designed to not waste any power.
The base current is also going through the primary coil. The negative spikes from
the high turn coil is channeled back to the minus rail through the Germanium diode.
The circuit overall current usage has gone down compared to the former circuit.
I also noted that the best input voltage for this new circuit is approx. 1,5 Volt.

EDIT: I did a little drawing mistake in my circuit drawing. The bias is at the other side
of the high coil as shown in this corrected drawing.

GL.

[NickZ]

  Tinselkoala, Gadgetmall, and All:
   You suggested that I mount the Cfl (65 watt) inside of the ferrite yoke, well, here it is:
   
   

[TinselKoala]

@Groundloop: outstanding... the NTE109 is the germanium diode.... equivalent to 1n60, a little higher voltage than the venerable 1n34 of crystal set fame, right? Why did you choose germanium here, I am curious.  I think in motor pulse speed controllers a Schottky diode is used in the corresponding position.... 


@NickZ: Wowsers!! That is amazing, I didn't know it was so big....  very classy! 
I still can't get my CFL to light with both wires connected... it lights about half-way brilliance with only one wire, though.....


And I've made another video of the Joule Rattler running on 3 and 5 volts, charging an external capacitor while running the ring oscillator.... I'm exploring the high voltage capability, but I'm also able to run the ring oscillator for quite a while on two AAA batteries. And earlier today ..... a very weird thing happened to two D cells I was using to run it..... they started sizzling and leaking fluid bigtime but weren't even warm at all .......

http://youtu.be/_0SfDwyM7Kk   (Still uploading, sorry)

[Groundloop]

@Groundloop: outstanding... the NTE109 is the germanium diode.... equivalent to 1n60, a little higher voltage than the venerable 1n34 of crystal set fame, right? Why did you choose germanium here, I am curious.  I think in motor pulse speed controllers a Schottky diode is used in the corresponding position.... 


@NickZ: Wowsers!! That is amazing, I didn't know it was so big....  very classy! 
I still can't get my CFL to light with both wires connected... it lights about half-way brilliance with only one wire, though.....


And I've made another video of the Joule Rattler running on 3 and 5 volts, charging an external capacitor while running the ring oscillator.... I'm exploring the high voltage capability, but I'm also able to run the ring oscillator for quite a while on two AAA batteries. And earlier today ..... a very weird thing happened to two D cells I was using to run it..... they started sizzling and leaking fluid bigtime but weren't even warm at all .......

http://youtu.be/_0SfDwyM7Kk   (Still uploading, sorry)

TK,

I trying to figure out how low voltage I can run this circuit on and still light one single LED.

I'm using the NTE109 Germanium diode because I have a lot of them.
(Did make an error in the past when ordering, thought I clicked the 100 pcs. but did clik the 1000 pcs. :-)

I have tested this circuit to run and still light my normal green LED at a input
voltage of 0,35 Volt. But the circuit needs a voltage over 1 Volt to start oscillating.

I'm currently working on a new coil (smaller more compact = more turns for less copper used).

GL.

[NickZ]

  Tinselkoala:
   You might want to try to change the polarity of both the primary as well as the secondary wire connections, as it can make all the difference. Mine would not even start until I changed the polarity.
I also have the same problem of not being able to connect the bulb back to the transistor, without it ringing, or not even starting.  But the way I have it now it does not ring at all, but I still need to put my hand on the bulb to get it to light more brightly. So, I'm still working on that.  Any ideas are welcome.

   NickZ