Is this circuit good?

[Arkyan]

That looks like a screenshot from a video on youTube. (search for 'understanding bedini')  I used this schematic to build my first pulse motor about a week ago. I really need better equipment, I'm using toy magnets hot-glued to CD's and rechargable AA batteries as my charge and power sources. Only difference in my setup right now is an extra diode on the other side of the charging batteries just to play around, and a set of switches that allows me to quickly switch the power and charging batteries without actually having to physically change them.

I placed a 330v 120uf capacitor from an old camera in place of the charging batteries, but it only wants to hold a charge of around 1.6V. While the motor is spinning, it goes as high as 30V, but as soon as the motor is turned off, the cap drops in voltage back down to the 1.6V. I can discharge it and then charge it back up to 1.6V almost instantly, but it doesn't want to hold a charge any greater than that. What could be causing this effect?

[guruji]

Hi Sandy nice to hear that you were in Malta.Yes Mdina is spelled correctly.Did you visit prehistoric temples?
Ok ok about the neon bulbs how can one check if this is good?Are these bulbs 240v?
These days I am experimenting for car too to lower consumption.
Ok maybe one day we meet in Malta Sandy who knows.
Bye bye.

[NerzhDishual]

Hi Arkyan

Welcome to the 'OU' club!

IMHO, you camera's capacitor is dead!
If it does not hold his charge and quickly loose it when disconnected, It
behaves like a short circuited capacitor with a resistor.


Best

[Arkyan]

hmm, I was afraid of that. The poor Olympus camera has long been dead. I know the first time I dismantled it a couple years ago, the cap was alive and well because it gave me quite a shock even after being unused for a couple years even before that. I guess time finally wore down on it though. I've broken my magnet wheel....again....but this weekend I'll try to get some pictures up. I guess the pulse motor thread would be a better place for that sort of stuff though?

[nul-points]

hi Andrew

checking an unknown neon could be a bit difficult without a variable high voltage source - and i'm cautious about advising anyone how to use the mains supply to achieve it

if you have several of the same type of neon you could solder say 4 of them in series & then all in series with say a 470K resistor, carefully insulate all bare connecting leads & then connect the two ends of the whole string to the Live & Neutral terminals of a 230V mains plug (ELCB if you have one, or lowest Amp fuse) - re-assemble the plug with its cover!

230V mains is approx 330V peak, so if the neons glow when the plug is connected to a mains socket then their working voltage is at least 80V approx (for 4 neons)

repeat with additional of the same neons in series & then repeat with fewer

if the string of neons still glow, their working voltage is at least 330/(number neons in series)

if the string of neons no longer glows, their working voltage is greater than 330/(number neons in series)

only try this if you feel completely confident about working with mains voltages and have some previous experience of wiring up mains-powered equipment - you do this at your own risk !

ideally, to give maximum protection to the 2N3055, the neon working voltage should be as close as possible to approx 3x the battery voltage (say 36V?) but i think you'll find that the neons will probably need at least 60V approx - and could just possibly be as much as two or three times that

hope this helps


hi Arkyan

sounds like NerzhDishual is right - for once!  heheh  - you might just check that you had the capacitor connected reverse to the supply rail - ie. with the same polarity as if it was the battery to be charged - if it had been the wrong polarity then that could well have fried it

another possibility - if it is indeed dead - is that your battery-switching arrangement could have momentarily applied a reverse voltage or short across the cap - if you tried switching when using the cap   (depends on your actual switch configuration, of course)

it might be worth mentioning that 120uF is not a very high capacity - it wouldn't take much load to discharge it

have you tried charging it thro say a 470R resistor from a 9V battery for & then checking it with a reasonable quality DVM?  for reference, i just checked a 100uF cap and it self-discharged (with just the DVM load) from 9.3V to 8V in around a minute (it would have continued to discharge below that of course if i'd left it connected)

all the best guys
sandy
Doc Ringwood's Free Energy site  http://ringcomps.co.uk/doc