Joule Thief

[freepow]

  whoo hoo !!!
great work on lighting the 4 watter, wish i could too, got to just keep experimenting !
the 240v i got is DC only by the way.

[Pirate88179]

whoo hoo !!!
great work on lighting the 4 watter, wish i could too, got to just keep experimenting !
the 240v i got is DC only by the way.

I hate to disagree here but, if you built any kind of joule thief circuit like those on this topic, there is no way you are getting dc out of it.  Most of mine use the 2N3904 or the 3055 but, whatever the transistor used will not give you dc on the output.  If you are using bifilar windings with no secondary you will get pulsed dc, which is part of the secret to these JT circuits.  Pulsed dc can not be measured accurately, if at all, on a dmm or even analog meter.  If you have wound any type of secondary, you will be getting ac on the output from the secondary.  Others can correct me if I am wrong but when using a transistor I think a dc output is just not possible.

As mentioned by others, you can rectify the output and obtain some measurements that way but, I did a lot of experiments with these circuits long before I got my scope.  I did it as Jeanna and others have suggested.  I just kept adding more leds and made changes and then, if I could light even more of them, I knew I was going in the right direction.  If less of them lit, well...you know.

I hope this helps.

Bill

[Pirate88179]

Here is a great video on how to use your pc as a scope for under $30.00:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAc2_1Tb-Xk&feature=sub

This guy is a very good experimenter.

Bill

[jeanna]

That is great...Slayer007, thanks.

Bill or slayer or really anyone who knows,
Where is my soundcard?
Is it the headphones?
the mic?
Do I need to go inside?
I am using an acer 5515 laptop running ubuntu,  now.

Dumb questions, but it sounds and looks good...

jeanna

[slayer007]

That is great...Slayer007, thanks.

Bill or slayer or really anyone who knows,
Where is my soundcard?
Is it the headphones?
the mic?
Do I need to go inside?
I am using an acer 5515 laptop running ubuntu,  now.

Dumb questions, but it sounds and looks good...

jeanna

Jeanna no need to open your computer.
It will just plug in were your mic is.
Or It can also be setup for the differant ports in your sound card.

The software I'm using is visual analyzer it's a free program.