Joule Thief

[xee2]

@ jeanna

I do not think I understand just what you did. If you put a switch across the little traces on each side of hole then you do not need to short them out (the switch should do that). If you have those traces shorted, then there should be about 700 volts AC between the cathode of diode (side with line) and the negative battery clip. CAUTION - many DVM can be damaged by 700 volts, so check carefully before testing.

[xee2]

@ jeanna

When I put a 100 ohm resistor in place of the tube, I measure 0.27 volts AC across it. But this is not an accurate measurement since the AC is not a pure sine wave. CAUTION - if you try this be sure not to get the 700 volts into your meter unless it can take it.

[jeanna]

I just got zapped. good sign.

I will try again.

thanks

jeanna

[Pirate88179]

@ Xee2:

Ah ha!  That is good information.  The label you posted is the same as on Jeanna's and my AAA board cameras.  As I said before, the first one I got had an oval label with the same wording but, it seems you are right in that it is still the luck of the draw.  Good news and bad I guess.  It is good news because all of the cameras at the store that I have seen have this new label, maybe this means some of them are the AA board. (I hope)

@ AbbaRue:

I did your experiment.  I took one string of leds (100) still mounted on my tree and placed a jumper between the two prongs on the male plug.  I took another jumper from ONE of my outputs on the AA board and attached that to one prong of the male plug.  When I touched the battery casing....the LEDs lit up brightly.  I don't know what this means but it worked like you said.

Bill

[jeanna]

@xee2,

I checked with my meter and I am indeed getting a number as high as 1400v/ It goes up and down when connected to those points you mentioned.

I just changed the tip on my soldering iron and killed it. I suppose it must have a fuse? oh well I guess I will buy a new one - unless someone knows what likely happened. I just took one off and replaced it with the other. same pkg as original- a spark at the wall happened. That has never happened with this 45watt thing. Oh well sparks in the wrong place...

So, I clipped 2 long aligator leads. One from the soldered lead to the diode spot. The other clipped to the neg of the battery near /over the switch. The light did not go on.

I am willing to cut the diode now. If that is all I need.

Bill, did you get nothing until you clipped the fiode? I think I remember it was on but not very bright.

The light is a 15 watt fluoro tube. 18" long.

I am clipping to the opposite ends of the tube and on the same side. Is that right? (I did try every combination, but no light yet.)


jeanna
===============
WOAH
I just got the neon to start.
I went looking for the past pages to see what people told Bill, and I ran across jesus' statement on page 26 http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=6123.250 where he uses the big cap leads and...

I just did a little and the neon is flashing - the long copper end of the upper flash activating terminals make a spark when I touch them with a plastic tip. but still the light stays off.

@jesus You say to remove the resistor. There are 3 resistors... all of them?

jeanna