Joule Thief

[TinselKoala]

Y'all wouldn't be pulling this old Koala's leg, now would you?..... 

Just kidding. I'm not getting a recharge (yet?) but I'm getting all the other behaviour you are describing, so maybe I need to try the other type of Ge diodes (I too have 1n34a and 1n60) and vary the cap value. I have some pF range trimmers around here somewhere I think.... what I'd like to use is one or two of these 400 pF strontium titanate 30kV doorknobs I've got strewn about all over the place.... 

Meanwhile, I disconnected everything at 1043 this morning, and have been running along since then, making a nice green glow. The single AA cell is connected to the 2F cap and at 1043 the voltage had just dropped to 1.342 V on the Simpson DMM.
At 1401 it was 1.329 V and now at 1806 it is 1.323 V, a drop of 19 mV in a span of 7hr23min or about 0.7 microvolts per second. If I kept all the decimals in the right place.

This is astounding to me. I have got to find those trimcaps. I have one in front of me but it's a HV kind and its range is about 2-20 pF.

[TinselKoala]

SORRY OF OFF TOPIC...Sorry no link but it was on CNN.com and I clearly saw 2 Fedex trailers in a pic and commented when I saw that about how in my experience Fedex drivers seem to be less safe than UPS and some others.  I think they are under more pressure to get to their destinations than some other company drivers.   Not sure about Fedex but I've seen USPS parcels get routed a long way off course at times.  Hopefully it gets there for you eventually.
JUST FOUND ONE OF THE PICS:  http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/22/us/texas-highway-pileup/index.html?iref=allsearch
That's not the same pic I saw originally but you can clearly see the 2 Fedex trailers there.  And in case that page disappears before you get the chance here's a screen capture...

FedEx is having a rough time, they lost a small cargo plane and pilot Thanksgiving day too, and google returns so many hits for "fedex crash" that it isn't even funny.... it's scary.
In the above crash the aerial views show the FedEx trucks at or near the front of the  mess. I wonder if it was one of them that ran over the SUV that started the whole thing.

[NickZ]

  Although my D cell voltage was still at 0 volts, and the indicator led still dimly lighting, once the second diode and cap were disconnected from the circuit,  the voltage goes back up to over 1 volt again, and ferrite bead core is ringing again, and single led indicator is going stronger.
  So, the second diode/cap version did not work for me, as it just totally drained the input battery/cap.
So, I'm back to original LS cross over with just the single diode from secondary feeding back to primary as before. 
  Any ideas are welcome. 

[gadgetmall]

Tk . That is bad news . They are over worked ..



NickZ too much voltage drop on your diodes. need germaniums . anywho Im still in it . .

[NickZ]

  As most of us can't find or obtain those illusive little germanium diodes, I wish you the best.  We still have not even scratched the surface on this circuit. I have a feeling that we'll figure it out, one way or another though. Plengo, Lynxsteam, as well as myself have all seen the batteries get drained, to less than nothing, then somehow "bounce back".  My led indicator is still on, even after the battery was reading 0 volts, and came back to 1.1 volts. Now, over 24 hours later, it's still running...
  There is little useable output from this circuit, from what I've seen so far. But, hopefully that will change... I've got the water hose ready, just in case it tries to runaway. Ha!