Joule Thief

[Mk1]

@jeanna

The two area for improvement on the cfl time are as followed .

First the higher numbers of turns on the pickup coil also means more voltage therefore having a high enough voltage longer considering battery drop.

Also now that you know the good freq for the toroid , making that happen with a 1k base resistor would help , a tank circuit for toroid specific freq.


Mark

[jeanna]

@ jeanna

I do not understand why you want me to do this. But I will. However, since I do not like watching tubes, please make sure I understand what you want done. My understanding is you want me to run the following circuit using a fully charged AA battery and see how long it will run before the tube turns off. Is that correct?

Yes, exactly.
I also want to know what voltage is in the battery on start (fully charged) and voltage when the light goes off.

I put mine in a corner and made a note of when I connected it up. Then when the light was out I made a note of what time it was and how much voltage was still in the battery.

I don't think it matters if you miss a few minutes, but since the transistor will continue to drain the battery after the light goes out, I checked by glancing at the light every 15 minutes.

thank you,

jeanna

OK concisely:

1-measure fully charged AA battery.
2-Make note of the time.
3-Turn light on using 2T,10T,80T toroid in its circuit and put it out of the way but still within sight.
4-When light is off:
4a- make note of time
4b-measure voltage remaining in the battery.
5-report above information.

thank you.

[jeanna]

First the higher numbers of turns on the pickup coil also means more voltage therefore having a high enough voltage longer considering battery drop.

Also now that you know the good freq for the toroid , making that happen with a 1k base resistor would help , a tank circuit for toroid specific freq.

I am not completely sure so please let me repeat back to you what I think you are suggesting.

1- Are you suggesting that I rewind this adding more turns?
2- Are you suggesting that I try to achieve this using the same toroid and everything as it is, but change the base resistor and add a cap?

I was only able to get it to light by adding a cap at the base resistor, so I already did make a tank. So, you are suggesting that a different cap will let this circuit oscillate at the same 5.26KHz and 450v but with around 1k ohm instead of 90ohm ?

If that is true, I need some help to get close enough.
I am using 100pF and 90 ohm at 5.26KHz.
I have no clue how to move that to 1k ohm.
I have seen the equations, but I have no experience moving the pieces around.

Thanks,

jeanna

[electricme]

@the Big m in ok

                                                                                                  -

@electricme,
You're using the bolt heads as spark gaps, yes?
Questions,
1) They need to be tuned as to precise distance, right?  This will require an adjustable means to affect this.
2) The FCC, if you're an American; the local government communication authorities if you're not, will be all over you for transmitting harmonics to your antenna through back EMF up the line.  It'll cause static over wide stretches of the radio spectrum.  Might be a good idea to surround the spark gap with a Faraday cage, yes?

--Lee

@ Lee,
Take a look at the http address, I posted on P799  about midway down the page, this PDF will explain it to you better than I ever could.

Using Head bolts as spark gaps? YES, if you make them to move in and out horozontally, then you could have much finer control of the circuit.
Get a steel small bolt, round off the head in a grinder or a lathe.
Drill a hole  up in the middle of the bolt, threaded end. Glue a plastic rod about 6" long into the hole you just drilled.
Get 2 seperate brass nuts, screw them onto the bolt threads, then solder a thin shim plate to both nuts and drill mounting holes through the shim.
Screw the bolt n nut assembly to a piece of wood.
Nopw you can adjust the gap while it is running and not get zapped lol.

I'm in Australia, outback in nowhere, no FCC here lol but we got the equilivant mob to keep an eye on us.
You are right, make a faraday cage, put it over the lot, that fixes the problem.

Just spoke to Bill, "hi bill", we had a goood chat,  about the 7 videos, bounced a few ideas off each other.
One thing we havennt done with the JT is to "earth" one side of it, then see what occurs.
Another thing we spoke about, ther difficulty of fireing up the fluro tubes, what say someone put a battery accross the filliament in the fluro tube while the JT is running, then take the wire from the battery off the fluro and see what happens. Just an idea.

I gotta run away now, buy the last of the cheep petrol and get a ticket in the 90million $ lottery to be drawn tonight in this neck of the woods.

hooroo
jim

[resonanceman]

Here  is a circuit that I have set up now

This circuit  started  with a battery voltage of  1.246V   ( AA )
The  output   across the  LED array was 51.38V
This  is a 90 LED array  with the  electronics  intact  so it was running at about half  power .  ( The  package  said that this was  5 watts  and would replace a 45 watt flood light )


The  current from the battery was  .16A

After  running   for 2 hours   the  battery voltage was  1.243V
The  output  voltage was  51.40 V

In the drawing  the  coils  on the right  are  for flyback/feedback
The  green wires  are   for  the flyback  ( BEMF )
The purple  wires are for feedback.

The  top  2 coils  are  what I call splitters
They are  1 to 1 coils  each of these  coils  is  wound bifilar  with  2 full spools  of   #22 radio shack wire

The  bottom  coil  is  a LM1    So  far  the  primary  of the  LM1 is not  used but it could  be   connected  to the Jesus  Charger   in the same way as the other  2 coils

This circuit  seemed to go into   self charge mode when I lowered  the   battery  current to  .11A   I did not watch  it to make sure it kept  charging
With  2 or 3 more coils  this circuit should be self charging  at  .16A 

The  black cap   is  currently   16uF
The blue cap  is 10uF

The  Original JT coil  is  a LM1
The  transitor is 2n3055
The base  resistor  is a pot  with a switch on it
The  circuit  becomes a very nice  charger when  the  pot is  disconnected


Tomorow  I  am planning on  seeing what  this  circuit  can do with a MOT and  a CFL

gary