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

[in3d]

Hi Jeanna,

   I know from reading that magnesium in water produces hydrogen ... which scared me when I first read it because I made a few cells and left them in my house ... makes me happy I don't have gas, but I talked to a friend who's an electrician and he said it wouldn't produce enough hydrogen to be dangerous. But I'd still be curious how much hydrogen would be made. Perhaps put a balloon over a water cell? Hmm.

   Anyway, so far, no explosions :-)

Shannon

[jeanna]

   Anyway, so far, no explosions :-)

Shannon

Good.. no explosions.
Mg ribbon is used as a fuse for fire-works because as a solid  it burns when lit like wood, only unlike wood it shoots sparks.
Do you remember sparklers?
I think they have a different composition now, but when I was a kid, they were made to burn magnesium.

OK, this is the overprotection of corporate lawyers. I am glad to think that.

I was working with the crystal cell for a while and regularly made H₂ bubbles because I was using Aluminum with sodium silicate in the mix and there were bubbles which I would pop with my kitchen igniter. (it was almost as much fun as snapping a spark from a camera capacitor  .)

OK, so I won't worry about this because while I am not a cautious person, I am not stupid and have zero wish to hurt myself.

jeanna

[jeanna]

OMG it works!
I feel like little Annekin
"IT'S WORKING! IT'S WORKING!
Here is a still pic.

jeanna

Thanks to Freepow for sharing that his earth battery required a zero resistor at the transistor base.
As soon as I shorted across the base resistance, the light went on.

BTW, this is my germanium transistor joule thief.
I have been using this to test the recharged batteries.
I guess I need a new joule thief! 

edit
More fiddling and it works just fine with 1k ohms!!

[Doug1]

Is that a beef roast for 1.99 a pound under that planter?

[ElectricGoose]

[quote A=Doug1 link=topic=8540.msg234848#msg234848 date=1269688336]
Is that a beef roast for 1.99 a pound under that planter?
[/quote]

OMG Doug...you must LOVE ur roast mate!    But serious, that's a awesome price on the Sunday Roast Tucker.  So I ask, wheres the beef?

Oh Jeanna, can you post a little schematic of what you are doing with the circuit?  Have you tried trusty silicon 2N2222a (or other), or was it necessary for you to go Germanium to drop the forward voltage tax?  If so what did you use (AC185-NPN)??

Thanks guys.

E-Goose