Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

Hi folks, Hi pirate, thanks for sharing the information and videos.
Do you know the amp draw of that setup or could you check, thanks, just curious.
Boxing up mine soon and replacing the other feit gutted bulb with the cree 6 watt (40 watt equivalent).
peace love light
tyson

Yes, I do.  Stefan asked me about that after seeing the video so I actually checked it.  It draws 210 mA's while driving the gutted Cree 60w equiv. from an AA battery.  I love these Crees.  I hope that more folks start experimenting with them.

Bill

[SkyWatcher123]

Hi pirate, thanks for the reply, finished boxing up this gutted cree version and it really puts out alot of useful light.
The amp draw can tweaked by adjusting the air gap of the ferrite TV flyback core.
At 280 miliamps, 1.28 volt AA nimh cell input or around 350 milliwatts, it gives very useful light.
A dead alkaline AA that shows 1.4 volts resting, when under load it drops to around 1.2 volts and gives good light for a few hours at least.
Wonder if experimenting with small capacitor placed in certain parts of circuit might enhance efficiency.
Will post a video later to show the light output using a 1.2 volt nimh rechargeable cell.
peace love light
tyson

[Rich SAS]

Bill ,, sent you a pm

Rich

[Pirate88179]

Hi pirate, thanks for the reply, finished boxing up this gutted cree version and it really puts out alot of useful light.
The amp draw can tweaked by adjusting the air gap of the ferrite TV flyback core.
At 280 miliamps, 1.28 volt AA nimh cell input or around 350 milliwatts, it gives very useful light.
A dead alkaline AA that shows 1.4 volts resting, when under load it drops to around 1.2 volts and gives good light for a few hours at least.
Wonder if experimenting with small capacitor placed in certain parts of circuit might enhance efficiency.
Will post a video later to show the light output using a 1.2 volt nimh rechargeable cell.
peace love light
tyson

Tyson:

I agree.  A buddy of mine stopped by tonight and I showed him the light output of the gutted Cree in a dark room.  He was impressed.  He has seen my videos but, as we all know, you can't really get a good feel for the amount of light due to the camera's autoexposure.

Gadgetmall pioneered the use of a small ceramic cap to the base of the transistor.  We would have to go back in the many posts and find what value he was using.  I have never tried that but, I will probably be experimenting with that idea soon.

Looking forward to seeing your video.  Nice work.

Bill

[Pirate88179]

Bill ,, sent you a pm

Rich

Rich:

Yes, thanks...I got it and replied.

Bill