Joule Thief

[freepow]

@ All,  Hello,  please look as my simple circuit image ( its not a actual schematic )...

Switch  ( B ) is rated at  20 Amps.
Switch  ( A ) is just a small switch rated at approx 2-3 Amps.

I am charging a Cap with  5 Amps, through switch ( B ), then I switch ( B ) off, then I use the joulethief by switching ( A ) on,  and drawing only about 60-70 mA's from Cap...

Will switch ( A ) eventually be destroyed by charging up Cap with solar panel at  5 Amps, even though
switch ( A ) will be off

[crowclaw]

@ All,  Hello,  please look as my simple circuit image ( its not a actual schematic )...

Switch  ( B ) is rated at  20 Amps.
Switch  ( A ) is just a small switch rated at approx 2-3 Amps.

I am charging a Cap with  5 Amps, through switch ( B ), then I switch ( B ) off, then I use the joulethief by switching ( A ) on,  and drawing only about 60-70 mA's from Cap...

Will switch ( A ) eventually be destroyed by charging up Cap with solar panel at  5 Amps, even though
switch ( A ) will be off
o

Your JT circuit only draws 70Ma = 0.07A then switch A is fine and doesn't need a higher rating... in fact can be a far lower rating. Switch B need not have a
20 AMP rating as your charge current does  not exceed 5 AMPS. So again switch B could have a rating of 10 AMPS and it still will be fine. To sum up... as long as a circuit does not draw more current than the rating of the switch you will be fine.

[freepow]

@ crowclaw, thanks for the info & to anyone else also,

I will be soon posting photo's of my first  Homemade Solar Charging Joulethief powersupply Box, which will eventually have all the house lighted up with 240v LED (bulbs), but at the momement I will have our
main bedroom with 1x 240V LED (bulb) connected to the main indoor Box, which is charged by 10 wafer cells.

Will post photo's soon !

[Pirate88179]

Freepow:

I look forward to seeing that.  Great work.  Nice job putting these circuits to work.

Bill

[dasimpson]

solar can be a pain i have just been out side lined up the panel with a cumpass and potractor to magnetic south my magnetic inclanation is less then 5 degress so no need for true south i lined uo the panel 68 degresse latitude is 53 add the 15 for winter sun
with the 3 2,5v 25ma panels i got the full 75ma after 5 minutes this droped to 30 and basicly jumps up and down.

what i am trying to say is you wont always have high current only for about 3 hours a day will you get the highest output the rest of the time it is build up and droping down from that

when fitting solar panels i found it best to set it for winter and leave it fixed there as this is when you need the power the most in summer you will easy produce the winter output and some with the panels in this postition

another note is they is 2 ways to work out the angle from yout latitude one by adding 15 and another multiplying by 0.9 and then adding 29 i think it was i tend to do both of these then take the number in between
but i have to admit adding 15 to your lattitude seems to work best from my finding also maths are easyer lol