Joule Thief

[maw2432]

@ Pirate

Wow 200 LEDs!  Bill that is awesome.

I orded 1 of those CFL Driver boards from Electronic Goldmine for $3.50.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16565

It says it requires 5V.  I did not have a good way to connect my AA's so I used a 9V battery.   No problem lighting two 40Watt bulbs.  Plus this little circuit card plugs right into a breadboard.  No modifications are needed.  I will compare to Fuji Flash as soon as I finish the roll of film and do the circuit mod.

Anyway here are some pics.

Bill

[maw2432]

one more photo

[Pirate88179]

@ xee2:

Thanks.  I have a bunch of caps and resistors lying about, maybe I'll give that a try.  Wow, 700 peak to peak?  That is pretty high.

@ maw2432:

Thank you.  Yes, I saw that circuit in an electronics goldmine sales paper they sent me with my color organ kit.  I would guess that the transformer included with that one is much larger than out Fiji board's.  Nice pictures!  I would bet you can light a whole lot more with that driver circuit.  Thanks for posting your photos.  If you get a chance, can you post a close up of the driver circuit?  Thanks.

Bill

[maw2432]

@ Pirate

It is not very large.

Bill

[Pirate88179]

@ Bill:

Thanks for posting the close-up.  So, I take it that the square black and white component is the transformer?  That is a pretty good sized one if it is.  I also noticed there is a cap on there as well.  We removed our caps from the Fuji board per the instructions from Jose.  There is no telling what you can light with that rig.  9 volts is a lot more than our 1.5 volts and with that transformer, heck, maybe you can run your house? (just kidding)  I'll bet your unit would have fried my 200 leds on my tree.  you are making me think a lot now.......hmmmm......

Merry Christmas to you.  and, thanks again for responding so fast to my request for a close-up of the board.

Bill (The other Bill)