Joule Thief

[sm0ky2]

i'll try to find some weaker cores. these i have here are made for very high frequency (Mhz range)

that may be my problem.  i know to some people transistors may seem complicated, but thats not my problem, i know how to hook them up, and its working just fine.

what NOT apparently working, is a fluxuating current through the base, which would turn it on and off. i suspect this collasping field is the cause for the inductance that raises yur 1.5v to 3+ to operate the LED.

im playing around with some steel rings but that may be too far in the other direction.   i'll dig through my crap tonight and try to find a ferrite core, i know i have some around here somewhere...

and yes, my wire is 2 different colors, i was very careful with the windings to make sure they didnt get crossed.
and ive tried both ways, parallel ( as in the mckinze video) and series (as the instructable says to do).

im just trying to figure out why some dingbat on YouTube can make one in 30 seconds, and here i am with 12 of these things on my desk that dont do what they're supposed to do...

[jeanna]

Thanks for the video, Ist.

It will help people to know it IS possible to break through the varnish on mag wire and be troubled by a spark.

Nice, even if it wasn't fun.

Thanks,

jeanna

[Pirate88179]

and Bill,, if you READ what i said, i said that im NOT saying its a hoax...

you are quick to jump down my throat, thats TWICE youve done that, please dont do it again. I'm just trying to make this thing  "work" so i can incorporate it into my earth battery, as YOU yourself suggested that i do...

Smokey:

I did READ what you said.  I also read the replies of good longtime members of this topic that appeared to take offense to what you wrote.  I also read their responses. (And PM's) I was just very politely asking you to refrain from doing that again, no matter if it was intentional or not.  As for jumping down your throat, I have now idea what you are talking about.  I don't know how I could have said this any nicer.

Bill

[innovation_station]

its all fun as long as we learn in the process..

im learning to figure it out ...  as i go

plus im used to winding coils ..  so it dont bother me ...

my chargers seam to work well even if i cant get the output to light a floro

easly they still rock the batteries .. 

the shift i could build if i ever get my hands on some super caps 

ist

im on another charger ...  now im chargeing a cell fone battery and burning a jumbo super bright led 10mm and every 15 - 20 min it drops from 4.28 to 4.27 its only a 3.7v but the darn charger recharged it a bit much lol


this is a diffrent charger coil configuration im useing .1uf 250 v non polar cap and a 4401 db107

its putting out 300 and something volts.. ill build this into a charger battery pack too

it sure is compact ... 

in watching this set up it apears to be more like 45 min or more b4 the battery drops .01 v lol 

it may be ballanceing and may not draw from the cell fone battery until the driveing battery goes week 

i did not mesure the consumption on the led but this is a big one ... the last time i did this same test it was a tiny one its probally drawing at least dubble the power from the battery last one was 3.7v at 32 miliamp 2 mm led ill check the miliamp on the led


odd i cant get a reading on the draw  the led sure is bright .. tho ..messing around for 15 min with out being charged it only droped .01 v

i just changed the aa in this unit its now up to 10.96vdc last one was dead ..

just topped 11 v 

and the other thing powering the 10mm led has not droped below 4.26 v yet  its been 2 plus hours ....

[sm0ky2]

Smokey:

I did READ what you said.  I also read the replies of good longtime members of this topic that appeared to take offense to what you wrote.  I also read their responses. (And PM's) I was just very politely asking you to refrain from doing that again, no matter if it was intentional or not.  As for jumping down your throat, I have now idea what you are talking about.  I don't know how I could have said this any nicer.

Bill

Bill,.. regardless of wether or not i ever get mine to work, i think a thread with 855 pages speaks for itself. its obvious you guys are doing something with this device.

if someone misconstrued what i was saying, and took offense to it, they have some issues that have nothing to do with wether or not this device works.

what i was trying to say was, that MINE isnt working.. i never said that YOURS doesnt work, or that THEIRS doesnt work...
as if their LED lighting up wasnt proof enough for them that they need MY approval......

instead of arguing about a mute point, lets try to work together here.

i dont understand what im doing wrong here...  i can design a multicore procesor, but a 3 component joule thief gives me trouble.... (shrugs)

[EDIT::]  1K resistor was too much, i used a 500 Ohm resistor and it turned on right away....
possibly my red  LEDs have a lower resistance than the base circuit.     

YAY!! i got it to work!  - changed all the resistors, now i have 12 working joule thiefs, of varying core types. it works with cylinders, and even steel rings work with smaller wires and more turns.

i might try a simple Nail next....

oddly enough im reading only 1.3v across the diode.

.6v at the base resistor.

drawing 40ma