Joule Thief

[gadgetmall]

HEY YEAY YEAY,
I got the string o leds to respond.
These puppys are heavily protected. I think it is amazing they are soo bright when plugged into the wall.

Oh only half will light up at one time. If I reverse the aligator clips on the plug the other half will light. Both sides are lighting very dimly, so I am blaming a resistor.
I seems the base of 2 of the lights is very much bigger than the rest. It is the first of the group that lights or doesn't.
I need to be Ms. Destructo and open these 2 units up.

ooo hoo!!

The recipe for this success is this:

3T,4T,92T MK1
2N2222
220r base resistor
string o leds connected 1 plug prong to each secondary wire to light up half the string.
20.7mA

I also have a 47uF electrolytic cap across the battery leads. This adds a bit to the brightness but is not necessary. A second one in parallel there does not add to the brightness.

I think I will see if I can string these 47uF caps in series and add them to the rail and see what will happen.

2 days in a row!


jeanna

sSounds Good ! i think you could use a good pot(not the smokin kind) in the base and maybe try a few caps across the wiper of the cap . Justa Suggestion . you might hit a frequency the leds really like and more power transferred to the secondary .
Pirate . im 100% sure they will light and i am pretty sure 400 willl light as well . because your fugi wont know its powered by a battery or super cap . . When you get one of these big caps be careful if you charge them over 1.6 volts and run your fugi . I have a small circuit i can give ya to make and regulate the full 2.7v down to 1.5 for a fugi .

<span style="color: #CC33CC">Gadget</span>

[xee2]

The 51 ma circuit would not light a 20 watt tube. But this circuit can using 123 ma.

@ gadgetmall

Toroid is surplus with no info but it looks like it is for heavy duty power supply since it comes with 1/8" wires wrapped on it. I have tried TIP121 and it did not work in any of my circuits. Adding base inductor did not help either. Can you provide more info on your circuit? Does it always have the same battery drain or does it change with load and if so what is it with the different loads?

[gadgetmall]

The 51 ma circuit would not light a 20 watt tube. But this circuit can using 123 ma.

@ gadgetmall

Toroid is surplus with no info but it looks like it is for heavy duty power supply since it comes with 1/8" wires wrapped on it. I have tried TIP121 and it did not work in any of my circuits. Adding base inductor did not help either. Can you provide more info on your circuit? Does it always have the same battery drain or does it change with load and if so what is it with the different loads?

Hi . Its adjustable with the pot AND i use a 104 cap on the wiper . i run the darlington on 1.2 volts and when i adjust the frequency it will hit several spots where the voltage jumps high . I could make it draw 200 ma but i get good cold light with less than 70 . Its probably the torroid difference also and the windings . I never could get the hazen1 replication to do anything with tip 31 2n3055 or the tip121 .would not oscillate .. ALSO your Schematic need correction above . you have the 280 turns connection to the 2 and 20

Gadget

[xee2]

@ gadgetmall

ALSO your Schematic need correction above . you have the 280 turns connection to the 2 and 20

Schematic is correct. All coils are connected to positive of battery.

[jeanna]

Sounds Good ! i think you could use a good pot(not the smokin kind) in the base and maybe try a few caps across the wiper of the cap . Justa Suggestion . you might hit a frequency the leds really like and more power transferred to the secondary .

I have done exhaustive tests on this MK1. I had the precision pot from 20k to zilch and I got a beautiful graph and very useful amounts of info and usability from the toroid...(also the caps in that table were all using this toroid...)

... which is why I was so disappointed when I could neither light a neon nor a string o leds.

The neon is handled

Now, I have broken into this string (there is no way to repair this, they must mould the plastic around the parts because it cannot separate. Good thing I know how to solder the wires.)

So, the culprit is a diode. I broke it at the end but it is the 1N400x kind.
This light has 3 wires clearly so the diode can be put into line. I will just clean cut the wires and resolder the string and remove the other one and repair it the same way. This will be a good little string when I am finished.

Then on to the fluoro-tube...

thank you,

Ms. Destructo