Joule Thief

[Artic_Knight]

simple test of a tesla bifiliar coil take 2 nails and 2 equal lengths of wire use one to just wind a regular coil the other fold in half and do a bifiliar. the bifiliar has more magnetism. also its picking up REALLY well in the JT curcuits! i dont think ill be using regular coils ever again!

also heres a link of something you guys might like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt3DMyanfWc

cheers

[Pirate88179]

Jim

It looks like you  will be having some fun with your new toys




About   your  carbon rods


I would not  crush them up .
In my opinion   if you  crush them   as you  described   you  will end up  with  a  carbon / stainless steel   battery .

The galvanic   process is  very localized , any time you have to  dissimilar conductors  and an electrolite  you will have a battery .

If I  was   making a big  carbon electrode I would   get some  carbon fiber  cloth ....... some  companys that sell it  will sometimes  send  a sample piece to  prospective customers .
I would  use silicone  rubber ......I would saturate a small section of the  carbon fiber  cloth   with the silicone  rubber ..........then I would   use  cable ties  to   fasten  the saturated  part of the cloth  to  a  nice heavy  copper wire ........  I would make sure that I  covered  all  the uninsulated   part of the copper  wire ....... 
Any  carbon fiber  cloth  that  is  held in   tight  contact  with the  copper  will conduct  well . .......and it will be waterproof . .......so the  copper  will not  be involved in the  galvanic  process .   
Now ..this   carbon electrode could  be  put in a bag of  charcoal   to make it  work much longer .

for  your current  project   I would suggest   stripping  a couple inches  of insulation off some copper wire . 
Wrap  the bare copper around  the carbon rods from your  batterys
wrap  them  a bit loose .
Cover  the  copper  around  the  rods with  silicone  rubber .
Wiggle  the wires   around a little  so that the  silicone  rubber gets  under  the  wires .
Twist  the  wires  tight so that they  have good mechanical  contact with the  carbon . 
Make  sure that ALL  the uninsulated  copper is  covered with silicone  rubber so  that it  does not  get involved in the galvanic  process .
Doing it this way  will not provide  a perfect seal ......there will be some  reaction  between the  carbon and  the copper because of water  seeping into the carbon .........but it  should  be  very limited   if you get the silicone  rubber  worked  under the wire .



gary 



Edit

After thnking about  it   ........for small   carbon rods I think I would use  hot glue  instead of  sillicone  rubber . ....
Just  work  quick ..... you would have to  tighten the  wire  while  the hot glue  was still  nice and hot  .......

Gary:

I have to disagree on this.  If Jim puts anything around the wire like silicone or hot glue, it will insulate the copper and give either a very poor connection, or no connection.  All I did was strip the copper wire and tin it with solder in a ring shape that fits tightly over the carbon rods.  This has been hooked up this way for almost 2 years through all of my experiments and there is no sign of any reaction between the solder and the carbon.  If the hot glue gets between the wire and the carbon rod, and you do a continuity test I believe you will see little to no connection.

I am basing this on my personal experience here.  If you have done it this way and it works, my guess would be you would obtain better results with a more solid connection.

Bill

[resonanceman]

Hi Gary,
I really don't know that I was getting ou. I am not looking at that part of things.

The reason I suggested to use the same size jt for the second tier was this.
I think it is possible to get matches with others, but you know you have a chance at keeping the vibes at about the same frequency when you have the same toroid on the second tier.

Take a look at my 2 tier stuff and see if you don't see the same thing, well similar.

I didn't use a diode but I did because I used the light emitting kind.
I found 3 or maybe 4 distinct places where there was significant light and where the draw did not increase or the light diminish when I added more.

The loop of current was amazing.

See if I didn't get what you are seeing.

jeanna

Jeanna

I have not  been able to get  your 2 tier JT working

I am sure that what  you got is not what I am getting .

3 times now I have set  it up and   BOTH  battery voltage   and output voltage went up and stayed up ........I am talking about hours
The  current from the battery stayed  steady .

I have 2 coils that work MUCH  better than the others .  I am guessing that they  go into resonance .        One reason  I think this is the problem I am having .   The  band where the  LED array will light is very narrow .......when it  drifts out of this  band  the battery  doesn;t last long.


gary

[jeanna]

To those who have Earth Battery experience, I need you input about this idea I have.
I am having a difficult time getting big carbon rods here, but I have about 30 odd carbon electrodes from 1.5v batteries, if I crush these rods up, put the crushed carbon in a sock with a stainless steel electrode, would this work OK?

jim

Hi jim,
I had some carbon rods  a welder's rod, but not with the grooves like Bills. I found soldering a few of them together helped a little. (I left the copper on the tops of the rods but removed it from the rest.)

But, I think I had my best results using carbon from a used water filter.
I wrapped a piece of unprinted newspaper around a piece of copper pipe and taped it and made it look like an electrode. (I pulled out the pipe which was just a form.)

When that went into the ground it was a better (more positive) electrode than the simple carbon rods were.

I am just not convinced I am really using this as EB, because wrapping it in paper may separate it too much from the earth microbes and minerals that could resupply electrons - if that is what is happening.

I also made an electrode from cement with carbon filter granules in it. That worked well and I am sure that is EB.

These are things I will experiment with more as I finish up with the joule thief part 1 in a few weeks.  (that is when I light a cfl with my 1.2v battery inside the house.)

jeanna

@xee,
thanks for the confirmation.

[resonanceman]

Gary:

I have to disagree on this.  If Jim puts anything around the wire like silicone or hot glue, it will insulate the copper and give either a very poor connection, or no connection.  All I did was strip the copper wire and tin it with solder in a ring shape that fits tightly over the carbon rods.  This has been hooked up this way for almost 2 years through all of my experiments and there is no sign of any reaction between the solder and the carbon.  If the hot glue gets between the wire and the carbon rod, and you do a continuity test I believe you will see little to no connection.

I am basing this on my personal experience here.  If you have done it this way and it works, my guess would be you would obtain better results with a more solid connection.

Bill

Bill

I am a little  surprised  by your  reply .

To be honest  it looks to  me like   you need to take off your professor had and put on your expermenters hat .     





I was a bit surprised because  I have always known you as an experimenter.

What I wrote was based on my experience .
The key is getting the connection tight enough while the  glue is  wet .
If you look any solid  with a strong microscope you will see that it is not smooth ....not even close to smooth
The  valleys  will not  conduct  anyway .
It is only where  the  tips  of the  high  spots  on one  material  contact the other material  that  a good connection  will be made .

The pressure on  the  high spots    will  be enough to squeeze  the glue out  of the way ......leaving the  valleys filled 
That is why I  said that  he would have to be fast . Once  the  glue  gets to thick  it  WILL  form  a layer  that  will insulate the tops of the  peaks .

Again ......this is from my experience  this is  a very good way to make a long lasting  weather proof connection .........I have been  doing it for years ....


gary