Joule Thief

[xee2]

@ altrez

I will see if a 12-12 will kick it up over 400 volts its 8-8 right now.

I would try 8-16.

[Pirate88179]

@ Jim:

Nice job on the new acquisitions. 

About the carbon rods.  Gadget is selling a 1/2" dia. x 12" long carbon rod and a similar sized magnesium rod on his website.  Shipping down under shouldn't be too bad.

Also, if you have 20 of the smaller rods, just use some plastic tiewraps (wire ties) and band them together.  I would not introduce a third metal (steel) into the mix.  If I remember correctly, those rods in the D cell bats are almost 1/2" diameter.  So, 30 of them banded together would be a pretty good sized mass of carbon....way bigger than my rods I am using.  I would place them in the ground vertically.  Man, I am guessing that would make a grouping about 6" in diameter or so.  I am confident this will work well.  If not, it is no problem to remove the plastic tiewraps but I am betting you won't need to.


Bill

[resonanceman]

@all,
Hi all, I'm playing catchup again, I'm on 607 so it's going to be a while before I have caught up.

Thought I might post a pic of my latest LED I bought this morning in Brisbane, its a CREE Ultra Bright LED, rated at 1Watt light output. I havent played with these before so I will need to do a bit of studying up about them. At $12.95 each, they are too expensive to destroy.

I also increased my instruments, bought a 0-30volt 0-2.5Amp adjustable volt and Current power supply, as soon as I got home I pulled the cover off it, (couldn't help myself, just had to know what was inside it lol).very nice unit has digital readouts, wacking big transformer, and the heatsink has 2 vacant predrilled holes to fitt another second set of power transistors, so in my book it's upgradeable for a higher output.
   
Also bought some Mosfets, 100 x 1N4007 1Amp diodes and 100x 1n4007 3Amp diodes and last of all 1 x 55 Farad 2.5v cap, all up I spent just over $200 australian on bits and pieces.
It was fun time.

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

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  .......

[mikem_2au]

@ WilbyInebriated
Thanks for for the added info on your
beer light, and that ccfl, lookin nice and bright.
I was hoping to get a good
result using 1 AA, but i have a couple cell
phone battery's so i may end up using them.

mike..

[stprue]

Voltage divider (not shown) used for measuring voltage.

EDIT: added data for second output capacitor value

The cap will add voltage but if you put an led before the cap it could blow.  I have killed 8 leds this way before I realized.