Joule Thief

[hazens1]

Got some test numbers on the new toroids I picked up. See my previous posts for details on the toroids..

10t-10t-50t     290ma input   265v output   (Not very good volts for input power  )

10t-10t-100t   250ma input   350v output   (Much better, doubling the pickup turns helped  )

Decided to drop the Base turns to increase volts. Amp draw went down a little too  .
9t-10t-100t   245ma input   380v output
8t-10t-100t   240ma input   410v output
7t-10t-100t   235ma input   440v output
6t-10t-100t   230ma input   470v output
5t-10t-100t   225ma input   500v output
4t-10t-100t   220ma input   525v output
3t-10t-100t   220ma input   530v output   (Best output so far  )
2t-10t-100t   220ma input   500v output

Decided to increase the Collector turns to see what happens.
3t-11t-100t   215ma input   550v output
3t-12t-100t   210ma input   560v output
3t-13t-100t   205ma input   580v output
3t-14t-100t   200ma input   590v output
3t-15t-100t   195ma input   600v output   (Best setup using 100 Pickup turns)
3t-16t-100t   195ma input   590v output

Using 3t-15t-100t turned out pretty good. I'll take some pics and try some lights tomorrow. I can fit up to 135 turns of 26ga if I take all 360° of the toroid. I plan on winding a 2 layer Pickup coil with about 220-240 turns. I should be able to break 1000v on this toroid. Doing rough math, the amp draw should drop to 100ma-150ma with an output of 1000v. Wish me luck 

[altrez]

@Pirate88179

I had a similar idea about a Stun Gun so I got a 900.000 Volt SG from a place here in town. And took it apart! It has a huge plastic block with two wires coming out for the StunGun part. And it has a smaller Transformer as well. I am not sure what it does.

I am going to try and get it to fire with 1 AA tomorrow after the kids go to there grandparents.

-Altrez

[Artic_Knight]

Hi AK,
You are pretty much at the keel over place for even a joule thief. My batteries are pronounced dead by most things at less than 1.2  With a joule thief I can only see the smallest speck of light at 0.85v. (I think, it has been so long since I have used the BJT place for the light...)

First, I would suggest that you take that joule thief and tonight overnight run a AAA battery completely down with it and measure what the battery voltage is in the morning or when the light is out. That should tell you the low end for your set up.

What is your transistor?  2N3904 and 2N2222, are fast but gadget has some germanium kind which turns on a 0.3V. The more switches the more the jt works so the quickest changer at the lowest input volts wins.

The uneven primary with usually 2-3 turns going to the base and 2-5 turns to the collector is often better than any more. (it depends on the ferrite toroid here)  This gives the transformer action of the secondary a greater advantage or a greater output voltage per secondary turn.

Are you using a cap in parallel with the EB leads? That is probably essential, at least where the EB volts are low. (remember Bill's picture of the led on the tree stump? that was with a supercap in parallel.


@xee,
Thank you for all that information. And-that interesting bit about the neon only glowing at one side.
I was playing around with it today and noticed that it will turn on with only one secondary lead under certain circumstances.

I am not sure of all of them, sometimes all I seem to need is to have the other lead pointing toward the neon and other times that does not work.

I can reliably get it to light with one lead if I am holding the other lead and touch my hand with the free lead. It must be using skin effect to connect.
The other time it lit was when I clipped the one lead and not the other lead but touched the lamp glass then either held the secondary near my hand that was touching the glass or when that wasn't enough touched that secondary lead to my skin.

One time and I think it was the last example, I thought both leads went on, but it is hard to see at some angles. I still have left the 33kohm resistor in there. It is amazing that this with the 33k ohm resistor lights fine, but the fuji cam neons don't.

@Altrez, welcome back.
Me either. I got 475volts today and no fluoro tube. I think Ms destructo needs to come over again and take apart a little cfl, maybe they are easier to start...

jeanna

jenna thanks for the words of wisdom for the joule thief. i can measure the ma it requires to use, the issue is either get better electrodes ( i wont do that as i chose these for a reason) or configure the joule thief for lower input. i vote for the latter. 

i still have some tricks left to use, you and some of the others have had good work with the different number of turns. and there are different capacitors i could use to get it done. im confident i can get the mah down to the requirements   ill just pull from the resources here.

thanks for the advice, i will use it and see what can be done

[jeanna]

@Hazens1,
Those are good and useful tests you did.

Thank you,

jeanna

[Artic_Knight]

@AK,
If what you say is true about the neons showing ac when both sides light then the hand held thing is ac. I just checked it and it lights both sides when I clip it and touch the glass.

Sometimes the light stays lit when I drop the wire and it seems I only need to touch my hand once and the charge will continue until I let go. How cool is this!

But I am not sure about the ac. I touched the glass on only one side and that one side lit then moved to the other and only that side lit.

@Gadget. I only get a notice from the site that an error has occurred when I poke your new acrylic tophat pics.

jeanna

im sure you have heard some about wireless transmission on this forum, that sounds like what your doing. sorry im a little out of my mind (drunk) at the moment, but from what i have seen in these neons electricity wants to flow in one direction for one part lit and flow in the other direction to light the other. if you can accomplish that (ac does and grounding could as well) then you would be able to light the entire neon.