Joule Thief

[protonmom]

Jeanna, Bill....et al....

Jeanna, didn't you mention once that you got the neon to light on the fuji?  Tonight I got mine to light...it is still lit.  It is running off a rechargeable 1.2V ni-Cd, 350mAh.... on a modified fuji camera circuit.  I am not sure if it is a good thing, or bad.  Doesn't it mean there must be a lot of power coming off the transformer for the neon to light?  I think I know how I got it going, but I am not positive.  Regardless, it is the first neon I have lit off a AA battery, so it is a little exciting for me, although probably old school for all of you.  If you have already talked about the neon somewhere please just direct me to that thread.  Thanks.  By the way, what can I do with it now-- that I would not have done without the neon?


Edit   ONE MORE THING
Among other things, I also have a cfl running off an AA!!!

[Pirate88179]

Jeanna, Bill....et al....

Jeanna, didn't you mention once that you got the neon to light on the fuji?  Tonight I got mine to light...it is still lit.  It is running off a rechargeable 1.2V ni-Cd, 350mAh.... on a modified fuji camera circuit.  I am not sure if it is a good thing, or bad.  Doesn't it mean there must be a lot of power coming off the transformer for the neon to light?  I think I know how I got it going, but I am not positive.  Regardless, it is the first neon I have lit off a AA battery, so it is a little exciting for me, although probably old school for all of you.  If you have already talked about the neon somewhere please just direct me to that thread.  Thanks.  By the way, what can I do with it now-- that I would not have done without the neon?


Edit   ONE MORE THING
Among other things, I also have a cfl running off an AA!!!

I have never tried to light a neon form a JT circuit.  Nice job.  I have lit neons from all of my Bedini motors, one of which was powered by my 2 volts earth battery.  I am not sure if it takes power, or just volts at high freqs to light a neon.  Or maybe both?  I do not really know.

I am currently working on a very small modified Fuji that will fit into a micro cassette case to run my 5 gallon bottle led light.  Nothing really new here except the smaller size is all.

Nice job on lighting the cfl from an AA.  I never had much luck in doing that.  If you can light a cfl, I am very sure you can light up a long 48" tube which will give you more light.

Bill

[resonanceman]

Jeanna, Bill....et al....

Jeanna, didn't you mention once that you got the neon to light on the fuji?  Tonight I got mine to light...it is still lit.  It is running off a rechargeable 1.2V ni-Cd, 350mAh.... on a modified fuji camera circuit.  I am not sure if it is a good thing, or bad.  Doesn't it mean there must be a lot of power coming off the transformer for the neon to light?  I think I know how I got it going, but I am not positive.  Regardless, it is the first neon I have lit off a AA battery, so it is a little exciting for me, although probably old school for all of you.  If you have already talked about the neon somewhere please just direct me to that thread.  Thanks.  By the way, what can I do with it now-- that I would not have done without the neon?

Protomom

Sorry I dont think that there is any particular place for information about lighting neons..... the information is scattered all through the thread.
In general it is a landmark more than anything else....... Being  able to light a neon means you have over 90V to work with.
One interesting thing about neons...... they have 2 little bars inside them......if the bars are equally lit  you have AC .......if one bar is dark you have mostly DC

Have you tried  a string of LED christmas tree lights?
If you have over 90V working voltage you should  get some light out of at least one string of lights.
Some people tear the string of lights apart and remove the resistors.....I keep it simple......I just use alligator clips and clip them to the prongs of the plug
If  you have mostly DC one way will work much better than the other.

gary

[protonmom]

Thanks Bill.
The cfl is a 10W.  I plan on trying a larger one soon.  One of these days I might even get caught up with the rest of you.  I have lit small....very small fluorescent tubes, but they were too small for any good use.  I do have pictures of my cfl and other lights I have made.  I will try to get them resized and posted, maybe tomorrow.

I have found that no matter how tired I am, once I get started on this stuff, I cannot quit.  Too much to do, too little time.

[protonmom]

Gary, yes, I do have Christmas tree lights, which I do plan to try as soon as possible. 
Now, I am speaking of that red neon in the camera circuit...just to clarify things.  That is the neon I lit up.  Would that take 90V too?  I have some larger neons I plan to check out later tonight.


These are just baby steps for me, but we all have to start somewhere.  I think I have done pretty darn good, though.  I am definitely a lot smarter today than I was back when I first joined this group.