Joule Thief

[resonanceman]

Yes, those are the universal battery holders I came up with.  I had no idea they were available commercially at that time.  With those, I can use a AAA, or AA or C or D battery just by placing the magnets on the ends of the battery....they will hold there very well.

I made them out of some neos (very strong) that I had sitting around.  I simply soldered the magnets to the ends of the wires.  A word of caution here, neos are sensitive to heat and you can easily get higher than their Curie temperature and render them non-magnetic.  That is why I used 2 on each wire....  the first ones I soldered and they did become weak so I magnetically stick the second neo to it and it holds well. I have not seen any problems using magnets on a battery.  My Jeanna Light replication (The one in the wooden box) has been using them for over a year.  In my Pirate Light device (the one with the 15 watt tube) I even hold the battery to the container using several of these neos.  I did find that not all batteries are attracted to the neos on their sides, I am not sure why this is.  This makes it very easy to swap out any sized 1.5 volt battery.

I have not tried to place this in the base of a cfl although, I am sure it would fit.  I didn't have anything handy but a pen to show the size...it is not much larger than a quarter but, I didn't have one to photo, ha ha.

I am not sure if that cap is helping anything so I left it on the board.  It does not hurt anything so, better safe then sorry.

I will make a video once I mount this to the jug light....using magnets again so I can easily take it off any use on another device.  This design was to be portable between other devices which is why I used the clips on the output wires and the magnets on the battery inputs.

Thank you for your compliments, I appreciate it.  You did a great job with your cfl...you results are much better than I ever achieved with them.

Bill

I made a battery holder like that  a while back.
I did not like  the idea of soldering directly to the magnet ......I found something at electronic goldmine called wire glue......it works pretty good but  they recommend you paint it or something.....I coated it with hot glue.
The thing I wish I did different is I used #20 solid core wire......I wish I would have used stranded it would  have been more flexable.

gary

[Pirate88179]

Gary:

I have seen stuff possibly similar to that...conductive glue, which to me means glue with conductive particles in it.  My guess is it is not as good as a solder joint.  As I mentioned, I greatly depleted the neos I soldered to, even though I was very careful with the heat, but, the second neos I stuck to them hold very well and then also stick to the battery ends.  I guess this is sort of an idiot's work around.  I now have used these on several of my projects for about a year or so and thought I had come up with a brilliant idea....and then, I saw a Lidmotor video where he was using the same thing....and also JonnyDavro as well as a few others.  Oh well, it was still a good idea, ha ha.  I like it as it allows a variety of different batteries to be used and changed out in seconds.  I doubt that I will use a battery holder again...too limiting.

Bill

[nul-points]

As I mentioned, I greatly depleted the neos I soldered to, even though I was very careful with the heat, but, the second neos I stuck to them hold very well and then also stick to the battery ends.

Bill

hi folks

neat work with the camera boards, all !

v. impressed with protonM's art work on the clear cases, too

...just adding a (hopefully) useful tip here,  re: magnetic connections...

i bought several packets of magnetic battery connectors here in the UK a while back (magnet is encased in a metal 'shoe' which has a length of solderable lead from it)

but i just wanted the magnets for a small motor project, so i pulled all the cases off the magnets (destroying the cases in the process)

later i needed to make a circuit connection to swap between different AAA & AA batteries and i wished i hadn't destroyed ALL the mag connectors!! 

i didn't think i could solder to the magnet, so i used some flat circular solder tags (they look like a washer with a lug at one side) and soldered a wire to the lug

so i was able to get a good stable connection by sandwiching a circular tag between two of the original connector magnets and then the magnets would hold the tags and themselves  securely onto each end of the battery

hope this helps - keep up the good work!
np


http://docsfreelunch.blogspot.com

[Pirate88179]

@ All:

I finally made a video of the MiniFuji here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BawwvR5Htk4

I also made a cool Lights Of America light.

This is a cool little portable circuit.

Bill

***EDIT***

I made no mods to the LOA bulb and just used the Edison base directly.  It is really, really bright.  My video sucks and somehow, my software placed a watermark in the center during some shots even though I purchased it outright 3 years ago.  I have to look into that.

[Pirate88179]

I have been burning this light all night and I really love it.  It is darn bright!!

Bill