Joule Thief

[Groundloop]

Hi,

Here is my CFL battery powered light. Some time back I did buy a neon sign USB lamp.
This model was powered from the USB plug but also had a battery compartment
for 4 AAA batteries. I removed the neon sign and put a 24 Watt CFL on-top instead.

Groundloop.

[gadgetmall]

                     OO
                      ""         WOW ! It looks full lit !Nice light . You make some of the coolest things i have ever seen Alex. You mind tellin whats under the hood  ;  )


Gadget

[jeanna]

Hi guys recently I've build this toroid on a magnet speaker as Gilobob had build.

Any clue what happened?

Did you use a magnet for the toroid?

I did that for my first 2 jtc's.
The magnet makes the transistor stop working.
It is not permanent damage. I do not know how long it takes for the transistor to recover, but it is a temporary problem.
I think the explanation is that the doping moves all to one side and cannot recover until the magnet is removed.

12 volt...
Now, you could have burned it out with a 12 volt battery.
I have no experience or interest in using a 12 volt (except for gary's car dome light), so I cannot say anything except you might have burned it out with the too high volts and amps in the little dc circuit.
If you make a light circuit for a led, using 2 AAA batteries , or 2.4volts, you need a resistor to keep from burning out the diode. Imagine what is happening when you use 12 volts!

jeanna

[jeanna]

... My packing slip said these were made in Spain.  They came with a test spec. sheet, actually 3 pages of testing data that if Xee2 thinks might be valuable to other folks here, I can maybe put it up here somehow.

All I need now is a switch (on/off) that has a long enough reach to get through my wooden box side, and I am good to go.  Any toggle switch from the auto store will work fine.  I am starting on this after work tonight.  This will be fun!!!

Bill

Nice Bill,
Are these specs different from what is on that pdf?
I think you could post the specs, if they have meaning.
I am also getting one of each of 3 toroids.
So, I could post the specs of the J type along with the differences in results.
I am hoping to learn something we can all use.
I personally think the tor-23 which I love is like this and at 10 cents each from allelectronics, it is all most people will need for smaller projects.

@Jim,
Thank you.

@Gadget.
Very nice. and, thanks for those pix.
I am glad to hear this very simple circuit worked with your troublesome cfl.
That is a kind of breakthrough.

@Groundloop, don't you want to try this with a single AA instead of 4?

@All,
I have a few lights and videos to make...

jeanna

[Groundloop]

Gadget,

The original neon lamp has a boost converter that uses
approx 2 Watt from the AAA batteries. (Four of them).
So the light output is approx. 2 Watt.

Jeanna,

The original circuit inside the ready bought neon sign unit
already had a compartment for 4 AAA batteries and the
original circuit inside was designed to run on 5 to 6 Volt.
All I did was to remove the @ neon sign and replace it
with a CFL. (I did remove the socket on the CFL).
This I did to show people that one can make a CFL light
very fast by using such a unit.

Groundloop.