Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

Robbie:

Great to see you back over here.  Cooking electronic components on the grill?  There ought to be a book deal in there somewhere.  It is great to have the inventor of the BWJT here once again.  That one really took all of us in another direction.  That is always what I have loved about this site....you never know who is going to post what, and which way the research will go.  I still think there is something in that, as well as the old JT and other related stuff as well.  It would be great to get a group of us working on it and see just how far we can take it this time.  Cooking components....hmmm......I will try anything if there is a chance it will make something work better.  I have one germanium transistor and a bunch of germanium diodes.

Bill

[kooler]

hey bill,
great to see you again.. the same guy that showed me how to cook stuff also showed me something weird once he took a Americium tube out of a smoke detector and cooked it for 10 mins and then threw it in the freezer for 20 mins and pulled it out and hooked a split steel tube to one side and a small light bulb to the other and it lit brighter than if he used battery  i said thats to dangerous for me to play with.. he said ah shit son it only alpha radiation.. i was like yeah only alpha radiation.. your crazy fool.. he said once you mod the the tube it doesn't emit radiation and it detects alot more than smoke too.. he was a good old guy he was 94 yrs old .. he died last year.. they called him my 2nd dad.. i don't know the temp he cooked it and i dont know how he wired it up so no one ask me or pm cause i won't say..
the link here may be similar to what he did.. http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/26/americium-power-source.html

i hope everyone is doing good..
robbie

[gadgetmall]

hey bill,
great to see you again.. the same guy that showed me how to cook stuff also showed me something weird once he took a Americium tube out of a smoke detector and cooked it for 10 mins and then threw it in the freezer for 20 mins and pulled it out and hooked a split steel tube to one side and a small light bulb to the other and it lit brighter than if he used battery  i said thats to dangerous for me to play with.. he said ah shit son it only alpha radiation.. i was like yeah only alpha radiation.. your crazy fool.. he said once you mod the the tube it doesn't emit radiation and it detects alot more than smoke too.. he was a good old guy he was 94 yrs old .. he died last year.. they called him my 2nd dad.. i don't know the temp he cooked it and i dont know how he wired it up so no one ask me or pm cause i won't say..
the link here may be similar to what he did.. http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/26/americium-power-source.html

i hope everyone is doing good..
robbie

Hey  Kooler . Wheew .Thought you were taking my lead on oven baked germanium xsistors on dope I didn't think you would call me old man even though i feel like  rigamortis in the morning That guy sounds like a fun guy to have known and learned from .
It's good to see you also . I know you got your hands full with the family and work. I really hope this winter we have some time to play . Mine is in 5th grade and i have a little time . I have no wife to rule my oven but if i did the same would happen .

hi Goat .nice you are here too! I think we got a gang again !

Nickz Thanks for sending out the Bat Signal !

BTW . I thought a Fuji Jellybean Jar Contest would be a cool thing for the new guys and to help get things in order . I know the member are dropping off from lack of interest and also from being bullied so maybe we can stir some interest and fun like we had before .

Ok just got the baby girl on the bus and coffee time .

Gadget 

[gadgetmall]

hey gadget,
good seeing you .. been awhile. it is real good seeing you folks still working on things.. when i was messing with the first jouleringer that run on a cap.. right before my scope blew i noticed that all it was happening was the transistor was being abused.. when the transistor cut off the bemf volts exceeded the transistors volts rating and blew pass it back to the cap but since the current was so low it took alot longer to kill the transistor..  and with the cap across the resistor to base of transistor we got two pulses for one..
i have been thinking lately of doing something with these ul listed led bulbs, all of mine have small step down transformers in them.. like pulsing the trans in the bulb rather than hitting it with HV .. but thats just thoughts.. i haven't done anything lately hoping to get me some energy so i can work on things like this again..

robbie

Yea see i could not get the dang transistors to hold up to the high voltage for longer than a few seconds and after blowing a dozen fugi and not seeing the effect it was discouraging then i thought of the delay line looking at his little circuit board clf running on that cap. I mean there is no bias resistor to protect the xistor only the coil and germaniums(first version replicated by LS) . Anyways i got a box  of them now and am winding different coils different cores (coax) to help them retain some capacitance and try again . I 'll keep you all posted if interest is greater than one . It would be nice for everyone to have a steady variable to repeat some of these experiments including mine with standard methods . . 
As far as batteries the alkaline especially are amazing but if anyone here ever tried recharging them time and time again ,with static kick volts they may have see what we did . Several times i was awoke in the early morn with loud pops only to fins a cooked battery splattered all over everything . They get hot and higher voltage than they were when they were fresh though with bemf volts . I found one brand of NIMH battery that exceeded them all . Yep the bunny battery really does keep going and going . all the other purple and green and off brands are not that dense as those .
one more thought . I already have cancer and cooking Americium sounds fun but i don't need that attention  BUT americium is free and all the smoke detectors from the day have it . The possibility of harnessing the electricity from that element mixed with other minerals and metals is something i ponder on . No i doubt i will post about any such experiment nor will i try it. This guy had no wife either apparently .Haha http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/swede-attempts-to-build-nuclear-reactor-in-his-house-gets-arrested-2011083/

[gadgetmall]

Speaking of radiation we are all at risk now that the Japan reactors are still in a meltdown condition . Notice how the News don't mention it anymore ? I want another better rad detector and kits are available at goldmine electronics . I really feel everyone should be given one in the us anyways . You would be surprised at the amount falling everywhere right now . Ever wonder why Salt is radioactive ? I have . Where does salt come from ? Salt flats in Nevada ? I am not taking this apart but you see the availability of Materials you can buy anywhere . This is an Americium reaction chamber in a first alert detector i need to vacuum  . I bought this at walmart two years ago.  and radium Marbles are very common on ebay too. Even Fiesta ware in orange is highly radioactive .