Joule Thief

altrez · May 21, 2009, 02:31:33 PM

Quote from: xee2 on May 21, 2009, 01:51:48 PM

An AA battery is able to produce about 1 watt of energy. Watts = amps x volts. So if you had a 100% efficient converter you could convert the 1 watt from the battery into 1000 volts @ 1 ma, or convert it into 10 amps @ 0.1 volts, or any combination of amps and volts that equals 1 watt. The JT is a voltage converter.

Here is a very stupid question but I really would like to know. If you go over 1000v and 1ma on the JT circuit from one AA would it be over 100% efficient?

Thank you!

-Altrez

jeanna · May 21, 2009, 02:33:56 PM

Quote from: xee2

It takes about 400 volts to light the 4 watt tube. I suggest you test your circuits using the neon until you are able to get 400 volts.

Ah, I am close.
I just put a 33ohm resistor at the t-base and the scopr says I have
475 Volts at
14.5KHz

My tube is 7 volts. so I will see if my hardware store has any new 4 watt arrivals.

The other thing I just noticed is that the neon goes on only one side at a time. I have taken out all the diodes etc that would give the ckt a polarity and I guess it is down to the unbalanced primary.

thanks for your help.

QuoteNo. I meant that when the battery energy is tranformed to a higher voltage at the same time (or as a result) the current is reduced. Look at basic transformer theory.

QuoteAn AA battery is able to produce about 1 watt of energy.

I see. O.K.

jeanna

xee2 · May 21, 2009, 02:50:04 PM

@ jeanna

Quote from: jeanna on May 21, 2009, 02:33:56 PM
The other thing I just noticed is that the neon goes on only one side at a time. I have taken out all the diodes etc that would give the ckt a polarity and I guess it is down to the unbalanced primary.

I think only the positive side of the neon glows. Not sure, but they are used to check polarity of charge by which side lights up.

xee2 · May 21, 2009, 02:54:21 PM

@ altrez

Quote from: altrez on May 21, 2009, 02:31:33 PM
Here is a very stupid question but I really would like to know. If you go over 1000v and

It would only be more than 100% efficient if the output watts was larger than the input watts. You would need to measure the input watts and output watts to see how efficient the circuit was.

altrez · May 21, 2009, 03:06:13 PM

@xee2

Thank you for explaining that to me:)

@All

I am so very impressed with everyone's hard work. I have been focusing on lighting CFL's I have not accomplished this yet with my JT mod but I will soon. Would anyone happen to know how much voltage would be needed from a JT with a AA battery to light a CFL at full brightness?

I have a 25kV DC power supply that seems to do the trick but it runs off a 9volt battery.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Altrez