Joule Lamp

[MileHigh]

PhiChaser:

I am suggesting doing the bulb comparison because it works and it should be consistent from one builder to the next.  Measuring Lumens is fine to, but one experimenter's homemade measurement setup will be different from another person's so they can't really compare measurements.  Certainly when doing measurements on your own setup you will be able to see what your tweaking does to your light output.

The more I think about it, trying to replicate the brightness of an unmodified bulb you are working with when connected to standard 120 (or 240) VAC makes sense.  I think most people would agree that reading with a 40-watt old school light bulb is not comfortable but reading with a 60-watt bulb is.  So measuring very little power consumption where the bulb is too dim to be of practical use is not very useful.

MileHigh

[JouleSeeker]

PhiChaser:

  Measuring Lumens is fine to, but one experimenter's homemade measurement setup will be different from another person's so they can't really compare measurements. ...

MileHigh

This is not correct. Lux depends on the set-up, but when the lux-to-lumens calibration is done as I have described above, then one can really compare measurements, in LUMENS!  There is some calibration uncertainty/error (perhaps several percent), of course, but this can also be taken into account.

[Lynxsteam]

Very exciting progress Joule Seeker and great video!

I am glad you didn't give up on this.  Sometimes I think this is a waste of time, and then I get another idea to try.  I am glad you tried the ferrite rod.

I made the torroidal aircore.  It works but nothing thrilling.  Same amp draw as others, and less brightness.  However, I did use 1/2" butyl tubing, 2000 turns and 200 turns.

But back to LJL verison 3.0.  Tonight I brightly lit 4 Utilitech 7.5 watt bulbs on 800 ma at 12.3 volts, 22 Khz.  At 20 volts amp draw was 1.5 amps, at 14 Khz.  Super, super bright.  I would say I have these set up so that they run at 17 volts as you have found.  Can we figure out why and settle them down to a more user friendly voltage of 12 or 24?  12 would be the most common and economical.

I need to keep working with this one and find out what's special.   It is very different from what we all started with at the top of this thread.  The secondary is different, and the primary is full and looped back on itself 1/4 of the aircore.

[PhiChaser]

PhiChaser:

I am suggesting doing the bulb comparison because it works and it should be consistent from one builder to the next.  Measuring Lumens is fine to, but one experimenter's homemade measurement setup will be different from another person's so they can't really compare measurements.  Certainly when doing measurements on your own setup you will be able to see what your tweaking does to your light output.

The more I think about it, trying to replicate the brightness of an unmodified bulb you are working with when connected to standard 120 (or 240) VAC makes sense.  I think most people would agree that reading with a 40-watt old school light bulb is not comfortable but reading with a 60-watt bulb is.  So measuring very little power consumption where the bulb is too dim to be of practical use is not very useful.

MileHigh

@ MH: I agree the best way is to do side by side 'brightness' tests. What else would you measure besides power usage though? I agree that a certain level is too dim to bother with measuring but I wouldn't set the bar at a 40w incandescent bulb. That wattage actually used to be in my reading lamp on my nightstand and in multiples is plenty bright to light your home with. Say you need (hypothetical) one AA battery to run a 20w bulb, or two to run a 40w bulb, or three to run a 60w 'old school' bulb. Which is more efficient: Three 20w bulbs or one 60w bulb or two 40w bulbs running at 75% power/lumens? If the 'power usage' measured the same when you did the math, how would you know if you didn't measure the lumens which setup was actually better?
What about running a 100w bulb (with our hypothetical 5 AA batteries of course!) at 60% power/lumens? You see where I'm going here with this...
I didn't mean to imply that you NEED a lux meter to do lighting research, it IS just another measurement device. I agree that the setup is everything with that type of measuring...
I will happily settle for 'bright' myself... 
Our eyes work well enough to say if something is 'brighter' or 'dimmer' which works just fine for most folks most of the time. But if you want to measure 'light output', what else are you gonna use that will give you some kind of number?
Happy experimenting,
PC

[NickZ]

  It would be good to use 12v as a standard. As that is what both the solar panels, as well as the common 12 batteries use, or need.
The12v Lithium batteries would probably work the best for their size, like Lasersaber is using. It may not take a big battery, as he uses a small one to light 10 bulbs.
  I'm still wondering just how Hitman was able to light 10 AC 2 watt led bulbs, AND,  charge his laptop using only 6 small 3volt  solar garden light cells. So, I'm also trying to see how I can make that work, as I already have what it takes. But, Hitman used the 6 solar cells, to  charge a 6volt battery. And,  used only a single, 2n3055transistor,  a small capacitor, and a used 220v to 12v Halogen lamp transformer.  No other components to make this all work. But, what he has not mentioned is how long it runs for, at night.
  So, I'm going to be working on that replication, also. Only I just found that my garden light solar cells are 4v and 30 mA, but some of them are only 1.5 volt solar cells. And I have a 12 4.5 Ah battery instead of the 6 volts one that he uses. So, I need more solar cells to reach 18 volts. He probably has them in series, as 6 times 3 is 18 volts which would work for me, but he uses a 6 volt battery instead.
  I was thinking that led bulbs can also be placed on the same box, or container, in such a way that THEIR light would also keep charging the battery, through the same solar cells, while those leds are on, at NIGHT, also. Doesn't hurt, if it can be done, practically.

   In case you haven't seen this Hitmanmob1 video I uploaded a link.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pti_qpTg32o&feature=BFa&list=ULiHmT09MP_Ms