Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

Jeanna:

Yes, they light much easier.  As a matter of fact, about a month ago I bought a small little floro tube loop light, I am not sure of the watts but I am guessing about 4 or so.  I am NOT able to light it with any of my Fuji circuits....not even a little bit.  I thought maybe I had fried a transistor or something, and got one of the 48" tubes out and....poof...instant light.  I have no explanation for this.

If you look at (and I know you have watched and commented on my videos, and I really appreciate that) my videos you can see I am basically replicating my Fuji AA battery experiments now with the EB.  Everything form the leds to the tube lights.
There was one time I was trying to light two 48" tubes and only one lit brightly and the other only halfway down.  I took a strong neo out and ran it over the halfway lit tube and poof, I found I could drag the light down the full length of the tube and it was then now fully lit.  Later, I found a loose connection on one of my Fuji leads and fixed it but, I made a mental note that, for whatever reason, I could drag the light on a tube using a neo.

Yes, the storms are gone, for now.  We had like 20 in a week and a half.  it is now 104 degrees F outside and has been for a few days. (Including the heat index)  Very humid and very, very hot when sitting in a car during surveillance. (No air conditioning)  but, at least I am still here, ha ha.

Bill

[jeanna]

...
a small little floro tube loop light, I am not sure of the watts but I am guessing about 4 or so.  I am NOT able to light it with any of my Fuji circuits....
... and got one of the 48" tubes out and....poof...instant light.  I have no explanation for this.

It might be worth finding out the reason for this.
It might give more good clues.
Or, Gadget's explanation stands as the best explanation for sure.

I would like to know the edges of this effect. you know... where it begins and ends.

... I could drag the light on a tube using a neo.

Yeah, thanks for doing that.
I will call it "Bill's mag-starter trick".

... but, at least I am still here, ha ha.

Good thing.

Ceep kool


jeanna

[resonanceman]

@Gadget
and anyone else who wants to to answer it,

Since we are not using watts to heat the fluoro tube, and we are stimulating the phosphorescence of the tube to react to the 450 volts at over ??kHz, then what is causing the difficulty in getting the longer ones to light up?

I am not saying it even is more difficult. I have only 2 tubes, a 7w and a 15w and if I can light the 7w I can also light the 15w.
Either one lights at less than full mains brilliance, and the bigger one casts more light than the smaller one. So the total light from the bigger one is more than from the smaller.

These are subjective observations, of course.

So, I guess, I should be asking this Q? first.
Is it true that it is harder to light a bigger tube than it is to light a smaller one?

The next Q? is ...what is the limit?

next Q? How much of what elements are needed to light the tube? (xee has said that 450volts is the minimum, and I think he is correct. Now, is there also a frequency minimum? and then, is there a combination minimum?

I decided to time the tube today, because I will be around later this evening to watch how long the AA can keep it on.

thank you,

jeanna

jeanna

As I understand it  the  reason the longer ones  are harder to light  because   you have to have enough  voltage to overcome the internal  resistance of the tube .
Once   it is lit  there  is an ionised  path for the current so  it can be ran  with less  voltage than it takes to start it .

The minimum  frequency  would  be the lowest  frequency  you can run it at without   loosing    the  plasma  path for the  current  .


gary

[resonanceman]

I have not had amy luck  hooking   the 2 MOTs  together .
The  big one did not  light up  the CFL any better than the  little one



I think it has  developed  a short .
it  started making   a buzzing  when the CFL  was lit .....then  the  buzzing got louder  then I could  not  get  the CFL  to light again .

I  put  some shellac  on  the  where the buzz seemed to be comming from .....it helped some ............so I put some more on .......I will wait till tomorrow  before I try it again .

When  it was running  and  I had the  HV  coills  connected  I checked  the voltage ....... 6.5 V  was all  that I could get .

I could not  get  any measurable  voltage off  either  of the  other winding of the second  MOT.

gary

[innovation_station]

hummmmmmm

intresting ...... 

what are you switching .... 

the original mot unit i have currently buit is positive swtched .... and compounds in the cap that feeds it ....

ill digg it out and shoot a video of it ...

peace

ist!

sorry i dont have a driveing cap on this unit...  lol ..  i have only a recovery cap ...

makeing silly video