EER Joule Thief using an earth battery to start a joule thief.

[in3d]

Good question ... I haven't been able to find anything over 2" for online purchase here in the US. I just recently purchased (4) 2" toroids, but now 4 days into having a tracking code, the post office says the package hasn't shipped yet .... hmmm. Can't wait until they get here :-)

Shannon

[in3d]

Hi guys,

   I'm back and loading my videos onto my new YouTube channel (ID = eeresearcher). The first set of videos is a 6-part set where I made 1 EER battery in a 30" long planter (24" liner). I had all the video recorded, took readings with plans to get back to it in a couple days (we had some warm weather), but unfortunately my German Shepherd thought the planter was meant for him to play with :-( I went out on Sunday morning and found the entire planter completely destroyed :-(

   At first, I couldn't find even find the Philodendron plants .... Ooooo, I was so upset! As I dug to find the magnesium with the tangled mess of coconut liner, I found the plants upside down in the dirt. I managed to save the plants and a lot of the magnesium plus copper for other projects, so it wasn't so bad. I'm still very upset with my dog, but I shouldn't have left the plants outside in the first place for him to get to :p I put them in the front yard and it's around 50ºF tonight. This set of videos are being uploaded to YouTube as I type this.

   On Sunday, I found time to rebuild the planter, but this time with 2 round coconut liners. I wired both up with their own set of magnesium and copper. One liner has 2 plants ... the second has the 3rd plant. I will be uploading these videos most likely tomorrow.

   The first planter with the 24" liner, I received ~1.7 volts and ~6 milliamps. The second planter with 2 separate wirings in series resulted in around 3.3 volts and around 14 to 15 milliamps. I hooked a bright red LED and it was very bright. Again, I made videos of the second planter. I left the planter out overnight (moved it to the front of the house!!!) and over 24 hours later, the red LED is still VERY BRIGHT. Stay tuned to those videos :-)

   Oh, on the (4) 2" toroids I purchased on Ebay, I'm still waiting on them :-( I contacted the seller today and my tracking number comes back that USPS has only received the shipping information. The seller said he dropped them off at the post office, but they show that they haven't shipped yet. Hmm.

   I wired up many small magnesium and copper water cells last night and it doesn't take much at all to power a bright LED! (2) water batteries (similar to the size of C-cell batteries) can easily power an LED. I'll make videos with step-by-step instructions soon :-) I used to use the same concept with 1/2" zinc bolts, but I replaced the zinc with magnesium. However, the magnesium begins to tarnish (turns black) after 24 hours. I purchased a package of non ferrous corrosion resistent material today to see if I can control the tarnishing of the magnesium, but the way I'm putting these cells together, it's very easy to replace the magnesium and you don't need that much!

   That's all for now! I'll write again soon!

Shannon

[in3d]

Hi guys,

   I uploaded the first set of videos (6 parts), but YouTube is only showing the first 4, so I'll need to check tonight when I get home why the last 2 are not displayed. I'll work on uploading the second set of videos this evening. My outdoor EER planter with red LED is still brightly lit 2+ days later without any Joule Thief attached.

   Last night, I made a how-to video of 2 magnesium and copper water cells powering a bright blue LED without a Joule Thief. I had several built from mid last week and they're still powering the same LED. All I've been doing is topping it off with water each evening, but the magnesium is starting to tarnish (I believe that's the term for magnesium, which is a non ferrous metal). My package of anti-tarnishing material is enroute in the mail, so I hope it'll work as good as the zerust tabs did with my zinc bolt copper water cells to prevent the rust. I found out how to record longer videos on my cell phone, so the water cells are non-stop hand-held, so you can see project start to finish with results.

Shannon

[Pirate88179]

Shannon:

Please post a link or 2 to your videos here and then I will subscribe to your channel so I can see all of them.

Thanks,

Bill

[in3d]

Hi Bill,

   My YouTube channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/eeresearcher

   Sorry, I'm at a place where YouTube is blocked from the local network, so I cannot provide the exact URL to the videos, but here are the titles of my first 6 videos. Normally you can just type in the title in YouTube's search box. Their search algorithym functionality has improved over the last 6 months. I may need to reupload the last 2 tonight.

Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 1 of 6
Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 2 of 6
Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 3 of 6
Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 4 of 6
Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 5 of 6
Earth Battery in 24 inch planter - 6 of 6

Shannon