Joule Lamp

[conradelektro]

@Qwert: thank you for the link to the Joule Ringer thread, I could read it, but posting to it does strange things like the post is not visible but is listed on the home page.

I could wind the tapped primary of Coil-Zilla. But only two times 40 turns fitted on the paper which I have prepared on top of the secondary.

I still have to make some sort of stand or support for the coil which will also be the "frame" for the intended reading lamp. A bit over sized the whole thing, but strange things have to look strange otherwise nobody will believe in the strangeness.

Greetings, Conrad

[Lynxsteam]

Great looking coil.  It is strange looking and I am sure it will be a source of conversation.  It would be a shame if no one noticed it.

I uploaded part 3 of how to make the Joule Lamp.  For this forum the most interesting part will be about 2/3 of the way through.  I show multiple CFLs and little increase in amp draw.  An AV plug CFL running off one wire, and the effects of changing the primary on brightness, and amp draw.  Hopefully seeing this on video and the drawings will help others to replicate and improve it.  I need to try some LED bulbs on this circuit.

I also built this circuit on an actual board which greatly helps to show how simple it is.  Video link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_-6fyeGEaw

[JouleSeeker]

  Thanks for your innovative research on this, Lynxsteam.  Your vids are clear and very informative.  I'd like to try this.

Question -- on your part 3, you show one CFL lit up "before the AV plug".  I don't understand how this CFL is connected to output power -- can you clarify?
Also, would you recommend (based on your experience) using "warm" or "cool" CFL's?   

PS -- I found some 13W- 60W equivalent CFL's at a local store on sale for 50 cents each; bought a bunch; made by "Greenlite".
MUCH cheaper than 120V LED-bulbs! 
I'm very interested in emergency 12V lighting also.  I think we're gonna need it when the electrical grid goes out (for a reason such as EMP burst, for example...).

[Lynxsteam]

I like the whiter light, it seems brighter on these circuits.  But it is personal preference. 
These CFLs will light up if just one wire is attached similar to Tesla Coil output.  I tried a lot of things in that video.  The brightest output will be AV plug or connected across the two AC outputs. 
I think to use LED bulbs the primary turns need to be 10:1 ratio.  With 20:1 like I am using here the output voltage is too high for LEDs.  On closer inspection I count 680 turns on the secondary I am using.  I tried a 3watt LED bulb and it works with 50 turns but the amp draw was crazy high at 1.5 amps.  Maybe with 70 turns carefully placed on the primary the amp draw will drop to where it should be.  The E core Joule Ringer 2.0 draws .357 amps for this same LED bulb.

Here is the circuit diagram using the 2N3055 transistor for 12 volts and CFL bulbs.  It shows better just how simple this is.

[JouleSeeker]

Thanks for the reply and for the well-drawn schematic, Lynxsteam!

I wonder how much of the "Tesla coil" operation is due simply to air-core transformer effects, and how much is due to TESLA-COIL effects based on resonance?  I'm particularly interested in the latter...   How can we find out?

wiki:   A Tesla coil transformer operates in a significantly different fashion from a conventional (i.e., iron core) transformer. In a conventional transformer, the windings are very tightly coupled and voltage gain is determined by the ratio of the numbers of turns in the windings. This works well at normal voltages but, at high voltages, the insulation between the two sets of windings is easily broken down and this prevents iron cored transformers from running at extremely high voltages without damage.
With Tesla coils, unlike a conventional transformer (which may couple 97%+ of the fields between windings) a Tesla coil's windings are "loosely" coupled, with a large air gap, and thus the primary and secondary typically share only 10â€"20% of their respective magnetic fields. Instead of a tight coupling, the coil transfers energy (via loose coupling) from one oscillating resonant circuit (the primary) to the other (the secondary) over a number of RF cycles.
As the primary energy transfers to the secondary, the secondary's output voltage increases until all of the available primary energy has been transferred to the secondary (less losses). Even with significant spark gap losses, a well designed Tesla coil can transfer over 85% of the energy initially stored in the primary capacitor to the secondary circuit. The voltage achievable from a Tesla coil can be significantly greater than a conventional transformer, because the secondary winding is a long single layer solenoid widely separated from the surroundings and therefore well insulated, Also, the voltage per turn in any coil is higher because the rate of change of magnetic flux is high at high frequencies.
With the loose coupling the voltage gain is instead proportional to the square root of the ratio of secondary and primary inductances. Because the secondary winding is wound to be resonant at the same frequency as the primary, this voltage gain is also proportional to the square root of the ratio of the primary capacitor to the stray capacitance of the secondary.

Can you tell us --What are the voltage and frequency of your output signal?