Newman motor replica #3.
I still have some bugs to work out. I am not ready to make a video yet.
I added springs to hold the contacts to the commutator. (see picture) this was looking real good but then the copper contacts really gripped the electrical tape in between segments. This is causing alot of drag. I lightened the springs, and put fiberglass tape in between the segments. this helped but not enough. I only have 1 pound of copper wire on each frame, and according to Newman's theory, more wire will create a larger/stronger magnetic field. So I will strive to get more wire. I would like to see 5lbs of wire on each side. Unfortunately I can only afford about 2lbs of wire every 2 weeks. I am using the wire from my 1st motor to go on one side, so I will only need one more pound to start.
Oh the joy of experimenting on a shoestring budget.
Cheers!
Well, the bicycle wheel commutator will not work. Primarily due to the electrical tape. The copper contact seems to "grip" it. I believe that in order for the bicycle wheel commutator to work, I will need 5 to 10 pounds of wire on my coils.
In a mad dash, I put the previous 6 inch wooden commutator on. Took some work to change the contact points, but it actually turned. It turned slower than expected, but the rotor is heavier, and the coils not as condensed as those in my previous "pipe" coils.
I am not sure if I should make a video yet. I want it to work a bit better. But if you all want me to I will.
update: Here is a pic of motor #3 with the old wooded commutator. I took a 14sec. video and wanted to post it here, but its 1Mb in size. but here is a pic:
Good work, you may try a different approach to high voltage source though.
You have an absurd number of 9 volt batteries there... it looks like your source is 378 volts?
You may just try using a joule thief to supply the voltage and discharge via the motor circuit. Honestly, the switching on the commutator could be causing minimal current to flow...if the motor current usage is below 100ma, then this could easily be handled by a joule thief with a small capacitor rectified off the Collector to ground ..the motot circuit could go here.
Could you post a digram of the circuit you're using currently?
That many 9v batteries must be a budget constraint.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 16, 2010, 06:08:42 PM
Good work, you may try a different approach to high voltage source though.
You have an absurd number of 9 volt batteries there... it looks like your source is 378 volts?
You may just try using a joule thief to supply the voltage and discharge via the motor circuit. Honestly, the switching on the commutator could be causing minimal current to flow...if the motor current usage is below 100ma, then this could easily be handled by a joule thief with a small capacitor rectified off the Collector to ground ..the motot circuit could go here.
I am not familiar with a joule thief. I shall look into it, but if you have know of a web site that has this information, please post it here.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 16, 2010, 06:08:42 PM
Could you post a digram of the circuit you're using currently?
That many 9v batteries must be a budget constraint.
I shall draw something up. As for the batteries, yes that number was a budget constraint until yesterday. I found a dollar store that sells two packs for $1USD. There are lots of dollar stores around. So its not much of a budget issue anymore. I was thinking of going with 6v lantern batteries, but that takes up so much more space. One day I still might.
Today I bought a wooden plate. It looked round when I bought it. Drilled a hole in the center, and spun it. Nope. I will still try to use it.
Now to look into the joule thief.
Ok, here is a very basic schematic of how I have things wired.
There is a thread area in this forum specifically for the "Joule Thief" circuit. There are also numerous youtube videos on how to make one, and there are many variants as well.
I post this schematic to give you a basic idea. When the commutator is not in contact, then the circuit below activates and begins boosting voltage across the Cap bridging the source on the right. this voltage can be huge relative to the source.
When the commutator is in contact and a path is formed, the voltage discharges as well as current from the regular source. The diode keeps the built up voltage from returning to the positive terminal, and thus creates the illusion of a high voltage source which as much current as would normally flow through at normal voltage. You may also want to use a transistor which isn't small - something which can switch fast, but sink heat if needed - pay close attention to the resistance to base when using a 9V source.
Thee circuit is called a blocking oscillator - it will only work when the commutator is not in contact ( between switching ). This is when transformer action takes place, and the cap on the right charges to a high voltage. You can also test the circuit in stand alone mode.
Feel free to post any question on the joule thief thread ( the main one has like 12 thousand posts, so, asking all the relevant questions in one reply may have better results.
note: the use of a 'secondary' as your source will provide you with voltage, but almost no current, the schematic below is similar to but not the same as gadgetmall's 'over-unity' circuit he posted to charge ultra-caps. I would not reccomend attaching a secondary unless it is just one or two turns of wire attached to a LED for the purposes of determining if the circuit is on or not.
@jadaro2600:
I am looking into the joule-thief (jt) circuit. I am very interested. I am going to go a little off topic, but I also looked into the earth-battery. I just did a quick test in my back yard. I used a sheet of copper (6 5/8" x 3 1/2") and a 1 1/4" x 4" x 1/8" aluminium. I got up to over 1vdc. This was achieved by wiggling the aluminium strip. But if I left it alone, it would slowly drop in voltage. I am tearing apart an old burned up computer power supply to get a ferrite Toroid. I will be trying with 26awg, and 30awg enameled copper wire, hook it to the earth battery. Thanks for the new info.
Quote from: detrix42 on March 18, 2010, 06:55:25 PM
@jadaro2600:
I am looking into the joule-thief (jt) circuit. I am very interested. I am going to go a little off topic, but I also looked into the earth-battery. I just did a quick test in my back yard. I used a sheet of copper (6 5/8" x 3 1/2") and a 1 1/4" x 4" x 1/8" aluminium. I got up to over 1vdc. This was achieved by wiggling the aluminium strip. But if I left it alone, it would slowly drop in voltage. I am tearing apart an old burned up computer power supply to get a ferrite Toroid. I will be trying with 26awg, and 30awg enameled copper wire, hook it to the earth battery. Thanks for the new info.
No problem. The JTC circuit can use multiple sources, the 9v source is fairly cut and dry. The earth battery may work better if you pour water on the electrodes. The idea is basically using the alkalinity of the soil to your advantage.
Sorry that I haven't posted anything lately. The bicycle wheel did not work. so trying to find a good replacement, and also winding one more pound of wire on the coil to the right (as seen in the pictures). I hope this increases the magnetic field significantly. I should have had the wire wound today, but I am learning so much about the Joule Thief circuit, which has some extremely interesting potentials for a Newman motor!!!!
Ok, finished winding a second pound of wire on coil #1. It looks much better.
Well, with a quick and dirty setup, I used the old wooden commutator.
With 2lbs of copper on coil #1 and 1lb of copper on coil #2, total resistance of the wire is now 1155ohms.
I did 2 quick tests:
Test #1 @ 208v: Good and steady. about 60 - 100 RPMs.
Test #2 @ 344v: Better and faster. about 500 - 1000 RPMs
I only took a current reading for test #2. 75 - 85 mA
I am probably mistaken about the RPMs. I am not a good judgement on that. I will make a video soon.
To a small degree, this is proving a point. More wire, more windings, more resistance, the current went down, voltage only lower due to me depleting them, but 344v is not much of a reduction, and the torque increased enough to spin faster. The point I am trying to prove or disprove is whether or not voltage is responsible for atom alignment. Current teachings says the magnetic field comes from the flow of current through a conductor. Newman says it voltage that aligns atoms, and like a permanent magnet, the magnetic field comes from the alignment of atoms. Why would this be any different for other metals? Its not.
detrix42
Now I will start working on getting a joule thief to supply the voltage.
Update: I did a quick video to show those who are following me in this adventure. Motor #3 is not quite up to par just yet, but its working.
I am now working on making a Joule Thief that was suggested by jadaro2600. I am using a transformer from a dead computer power supply. Still trying to figure out the pins. I thought I had them figured out, but not getting the results I am looking for. With out an oscilloscope, I have no way of knowing if its osculating.
@ jarado2600:
I tried to build a JT (Joule Thief) circuit with one of the transformers I pulled out of the old power supply. Having some difficulties. A large part is due to not really knowing the pin out of the transformer. I think I have figured it out, but not 100% certain. One coil has 9.4 ohms, and the other has .4 ohms. I have to .4 ohms as the primary and the 9.4 ohm as the step up coil. I am trying to measure the voltage across the 1uF cap, and only getting the supplied voltage. I put an LED in place of the diode. when measuring voltage across the capacitor, with an analog meter, which just happened to be the one closest to me at the time, the LED lit up a little. If I short out the capacitor, the LED lites up bright. What am I missing??? if I have given enough info.
detrix42
@detrix
Ok first you said something about the resistance of those coil , that gives you two things first the resistance , the coil with the highest should be good for the output (pickup coil) , second thing is continuity , and that is really important , it will tell you the type of coil you have.
Make sure you know witch pin is connects to , one may be connected to more then one pin .
Then isolate two single coil or one with 3 pin to use for the joule thief.
I hope this helps !
Mark
I'll repost the schematic with some part numbers.
The first setup can be made using ceramic disk caps - this will ensure that you're no going over voltage, It's also quite possible that you're transformer doesn't have a good ratio.
You may be better off winding your own toroid for now. Also, you must connect the pinout anti-parallel. See setup 2. this just means that the windings of one must oppse that of the windings of the other... if two were co-wound, then you would have to take the beginning of one, opposite beginning of the other ..see the somewhat foolish representation in setup 2. :P
the resistor directly at the base can be bridged with a cap instead of like in setup 2 ...this MUST be a disk type capacitor or it will blow. ..something too big and it won't work, something too small and it won't work. try between 1000pF and 1uF.
The capacitor on the right needs to be able to handle the high voltage.
Use a 1.5 volt battery to test - then step up to a 9v source. All resistance value on the schematic below can be divided by 10 for the 1.5v source.
I will build one of these this weekend to test a 9V source, you may want to get one of those large transistors with a heat sink to be safe though.
I have an NTE210 as well as a number of others, the have a metal fin on top of them, this usually indicates that they can handle a larger base current than the 2n2222 version and not heat up.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 23, 2010, 11:27:14 PM
I'll repost the schematic with some part numbers.
The first setup can be made using ceramic disk caps - this will ensure that you're no going over voltage, It's also quite possible that you're transformer doesn't have a good ratio.
You may be better off winding your own toroid for now. Also, you must connect the pinout anti-parallel. See setup 2. this just means that the windings of one must oppse that of the windings of the other... if two were co-wound, then you would have to take the beginning of one, opposite beginning of the other ..see the somewhat foolish representation in setup 2. :P
the resistor directly at the base can be bridged with a cap instead of like in setup 2 ...this MUST be a disk type capacitor or it will blow. ..something too big and it won't work, something too small and it won't work. try between 1000pF and 1uF.
The capacitor on the right needs to be able to handle the high voltage.
Use a 1.5 volt battery to test - then step up to a 9v source. All resistance value on the schematic below can be divided by 10 for the 1.5v source.
I will build one of these this weekend to test a 9V source, you may want to get one of those large transistors with a heat sink to be safe though.
I have an NTE210 as well as a number of others, the have a metal fin on top of them, this usually indicates that they can handle a larger base current than the 2n2222 version and not heat up.
but the Joule Thief is not off the grid, it only takes induction from already induced electromagnetism that's already payed for, unless of course your a thief and steal from your neighbors at the same time and or some stray electric pole.
although you might get induction via high voltage you will not get very much amperage. this is usually always the case, to much voltage and clearly not enough amperes to do some serious work.
if you're using a 9v source, then the LED will light up even though the circuit isn't running ... it may even burn out. Using a 1.5v source you can place an LED where the cap is on the right and test the circuit for voltage boosts.
Warning. Considering the nature of collapse in the coils of a motor, it may be prudent to use ONLY ceramic disk capacitors as fly back from a collapsing magnetic field in one of the windings may cause a reverse in polarity and thus explode an electrolytic capacitor.
I should have though of this sooner.
You'll want to use a millifarad capacitor, a 450v .68mF ..or somethign to that effect.
Electrolytic may not be the best thing to use.
ranking: F, mF, uF, nF, pF ...
The smaller capacities will give you voltage faster, but may not be as effective, larger capacitors will take time to fill... there will need to be a middle ground: the osilation circuit will need to cycle several times between commutations.
I will try an experiment with a prefab motor in the future - I may make a maiden you tube post about it.
Quote from: onthecuttingedge2005 on March 23, 2010, 11:36:57 PM
but the Joule Thief is not off the grid, it only takes induction from already induced electromagnetism that's already payed for, unless of course your a thief and steal from your neighbors at the same time and or some stray electric pole.
although you might get induction via high voltage you will not get very much amperage. this is usually always the case, to much voltage and clearly not enough amperes to do some serious work.
Yes of course, the idea is tailored specifically to his commutation device. there is a period in which no current flows though his motor ( unless i'm seeing things wrong ) ..during this time the joule thief activates and, the cap gets a boost.
This is the principle idea. NOT that both are happening at the same time ... the joule thief works BETWEEN commutation, ..therefore it must also have a very high rate of oscillation.
When contact is made, the joule thief cuts off or becomes less effective, and current flows through the diode off the collector and through the windings of the motor.
it may require another diode pointing to ground off the ground lead of the 'motor source' to prevent a reverse of polarity on the capacitor.
Quote from: onthecuttingedge2005 on March 23, 2010, 11:36:57 PM
but the Joule Thief is not off the grid, it only takes induction from already induced electromagnetism that's already payed for, unless of course your a thief and steal from your neighbors at the same time and or some stray electric pole.
although you might get induction via high voltage you will not get very much amperage. this is usually always the case, to much voltage and clearly not enough amperes to do some serious work.
The concept that I am exploring, trying to prove or disprove, is generating a magnetic field in a coil using voltage, and very minimal current. The theory is, the more voltage (little current), more atom alignment, better/stronger magnetic field. A better/stronger magnetic field, more torque. I want to keep my motors wattage around 1 to 10 watts. So I think a joule thief circuit is capable of producing the high voltage with minimal current I want, with a small source.
@jarado2600:
Thank you so very much for all this help. I am using ceramic caps right now. I am trying different ones cause I don't think I have a 1uF cap. The one with out a value in your schematic, I have one which I believe to be a 40,000pF (it has been a long time since I have read cap labels, this one has 403, that should be 40,000pF right?). The one on the right side has a label of 683k. Is that 68000k pF, or just 68000 pF? I am using these because the are rated for 250v. I put two in series to be able to handle 500v. Are these values causing me problems?
@jarado2600:
I tried a different transformer from the same power supply. And it appears I figure out the pins/coils. with a very used 9v battery, only measure around 6 to 7v, the output across the "683k" cap got up to 20v. I have a potentiometer where you said to have 100k-300k. all I had to cover that range is a 5Megaohm pot. When I go down near zero, I get the 20V.
To get 21V, the pot is at 1260 ohms. Ok I am on the right track. Thanks for your help.
detrix42
Wow. check this out: see pictures below;
@jadaro2600: I used a 1k ohm resistor inplace of the pot.
I am loving this.
Nive, this is what the JTC is for.. I'm not real clear on how to read the disk cap lables either, I have an ammeter that reads capacitance for me, i just use that.
Check here for a potentiometer trick I like to use. you can bring your potentiometer down to a 0 - 1.25m potentiometer
http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=8793.0 (http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=8793.0)
what transistor are you using?
@Jarado2600:
it is a general purpose one I got a long time ago. the numbers on it are
6256
N720
I have not looked up the datasheet on it. Just went through the one I have, check that it was an NPN, put it in. Though I probably should look at the datasheet to see the maximum voltage it can handle.
Anyways I now need to modify your design a bit. The cap on the right needs to not discharge too fast in the beginning. Once the motor is rotating at higher speeds, then a quick discharge is acceptable. Though I only need the difference in potential (voltage) from the cap, but I need to be able to apply that voltage for about 2sec on startup of my motor.
Quote from: detrix42 on March 25, 2010, 11:32:23 AM
@Jarado2600:
it is a general purpose one I got a long time ago. the numbers on it are
6256
N720
I have not looked up the datasheet on it. Just went through the one I have, check that it was an NPN, put it in. Though I probably should look at the datasheet to see the maximum voltage it can handle.
Anyways I now need to modify your design a bit. The cap on the right needs to not discharge too fast in the beginning. Once the motor is rotating at higher speeds, then a quick discharge is acceptable. Though I only need the difference in potential (voltage) from the cap, but I need to be able to apply that voltage for about 2sec on startup of my motor.
This may not be the setup you end up with, but putting this extra diode on it will prevent polarity from reversing from the motor, you could probably safely get away with using an electrolytic on the right using the idea below.
@Jarado2600: Need some help. perhaps I should post this in the Joule Thief thread as well.
Below is a schematic of what I have now, and it is working great. With just 6.5v input, I am getting 100+v on the output. The next pic is a pin layout of a transformer I want to use. I hacked apart a printer/scanner. I want to hook up the joule thief's output to it. So far the things I have tried is not working. Again I am not much of an engineer...yet.
Yea, I will also post in the joule thief tread.
Diode appears backwards in the first schematic.
Do you have an ammeter that measure frequency of AC?
Your circuit may not be oscillating at high enough frequency to jump the voltage up between commutations.
maybe i'm rusty on the newman concept, ..does the commutator switch polatiry of the current through the windings between commutations. This may seem like a silly question this late in your postings...
but you may be able to use this to you advantage. collapse through one winding may give you a voltage boost just like the joule thief would. as it collapses, this back emf could possibly be translated to the other coils with diodes. I think this is what Newman was talking about when he said he uses diodes instead of his normal commutator.
Which makes perfect sense. ..a redirected magnetic field would cause greater efficient use of the energy in the system.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 26, 2010, 11:54:55 PM
Diode appears backwards in the first schematic.
Do you have an ammeter that measure frequency of AC?
Your circuit may not be oscillating at high enough frequency to jump the voltage up between commutations.
maybe i'm rusty on the newman concept, ..does the commutator switch polatiry of the current through the windings between commutations. This may seem like a silly question this late in your postings...
but you may be able to use this to you advantage. collapse through one winding may give you a voltage boost just like the joule thief would. as it collapses, this back emf could possibly be translated to the other coils with diodes. I think this is what Newman was talking about when he said he uses diodes instead of his normal commutator.
Which makes perfect sense. ..a redirected magnetic field would cause greater efficient use of the energy in the system.
ooops the diode is backward. Darn it. I did not even think to consider its polarity for the drawing. :)
Polarity is reversed every 180 degrees. Not between segments, though it is shorted out to collapse the field.
I have wondered if i could turn my coils into a JTC, or an auto-coil. I am seriously thinking about it.
You could make the JTC astable. I've done this, it is supposed to create AC on a secondary. You could look about 400-500 posts back on the JTC thread or check my profile page and show my posts to find it, it includes a schematic for a,multi-transistor version.
The switching would be independent from the speed of the motor, you would just need to create two independent DC sources and figure out how to commute them properly. This would require a few changes to your brush mechanism.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 27, 2010, 04:41:02 PM
You could make the JTC astable. I've done this, it is supposed to create AC on a secondary. You could look about 400-500 posts back on the JTC thread or check my profile page and show my posts to find it, it includes a schematic for a,multi-transistor version.
The switching would be independent from the speed of the motor, you would just need to create two independent DC sources and figure out how to commute them properly. This would require a few changes to your brush mechanism.
I did try my coils as a auto-coil. Worked until the polarity reverses. Oh well. I have gutted a few other old electronic devices, and have obtained several more coils and a 68uF 400v cap. to toy with. These will keep me busy figuring them out for a few days.
I posted this in the Joule Thief thread, but want to post it here as well. Pretty much so I can find it latter, easier.
@all: Here is something I am figuring out about the Joule Thief. With my current setup, it does not matter what the input voltage is, I still get 120v out. This is why a 1.5v battery drained to .5v can still power an LED. This is very interesting. So what do I have to do the get more voltage out. I would love to power my Newman motor with only 1.5v input. My guess is the number of windings in the larger side of the coil. So I will definitely want to try an automobile's ignition coil.
I believe you only need enough to bias the base-emitter junction of the transistor. And perhaps the speed at which the transistor can be switched on and off plays a factor in how much I can get out of a JTC. Hmmmm...............................
I have included a schematic of my setup, which seems to be the best efficiency (voltage wise, most bang per volt). I did not include a voltage value, because it seems to not matter.
I'm going to eventually build my own. Based upon the principle I witnessed as such.
I had a round magnet, and placed it vertically in a solenoid, it was roughly the same diameter is the inner coil ..so it rested at two points on the sides, and it very slowly would go vertical. I think it was generating a decent current in the coil as it did so.
But, I'm going to take a different route. I think your prime mover ( rotor ) assembly is too heavy, but I don't actually know what the weight is, or the prevailing math behind it for that matter.
What i would like to try is a similar setup, on a much smaller scale. I think the voltage through the coils, relative to the intensity of the magnetic field will give me good rotation. I want it to be voltage oriented, so I doubt it will produce any torque. ..I may attach a fan blade or something to it as a load.
The device may be AC oriented if I were to rotate it..
@Jarado2600: Yes, my rotor is a bit on the heavy side. I don't mind the weight that much since Newman was able to turn a 600lbs magnet with only 1 1/2 watts. He was able to do that because he had 4000lbs of copper atoms being aligned.
My second motor had the magnetic field kept to a 6 in. by 4 1/2 in. diameter area. My idea was that by making a bigger rotor, I would get more leverage, and then more torque, but this will require significantly more wire.
I just put a bi-directional LED in my JTC, across the collector-emitter, and it started out green, and then started being orange/yellow. So there is flow in both directions. hmmmmm...
After a little tinkering I have not been able to reproduce the bi-directional flow. hmmmmm
http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=6123.msg228146#msg228146 (http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=6123.msg228146#msg228146)
This is a link to the multi-transistor post I made some time ago, ...you could use this to produce pulsing DC, or combine it some way. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it only requires inductors, not a transformer.
I've been at a loss for time lately - things have been piling up around here.
Quote from: jadaro2600 on March 31, 2010, 11:33:10 PM
http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=6123.msg228146#msg228146 (http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=6123.msg228146#msg228146)
This is a link to the multi-transistor post I made some time ago, ...you could use this to produce pulsing DC, or combine it some way. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it only requires inductors, not a transformer.
I've been at a loss for time lately - things have been piling up around here.
I do truly understand. I have some slow days as well. I haven't looked at the link you suggested for me. I will tomorrow.
I may need some help here soon. I have acquired 3 disposable camera (used) and now have the circuits on my desk. The main question I have is: Do I remove the little transformer or leave it in, and just solder wires to the board? I will go back to the beginning of the joule thief thread were I believe I saw posts about those cameras. Second question: The capacitor in these circuits are not label as to how much voltage they can handle or the Farads.
I am looking forward to playing with these.
You power the circuit as you normally would with it in operating condition, and measure the voltage across it, it should be within speck for the circuit it's on alrady - this is the best way I would know how.
You can search the Joule Thief section for the words Fuji or Fuji mod..
there was a lot of material on these boards. Just as well, there are some boards recently posted, I acquired one from Goldmine electric, ..they were like 3 for a dollar or something.
@Jarado2600: I have successfully extracted the transformer and Capacitor, and wired it up and got over 350v from it. I am very happy. The pin out of these transformers were a bit different than the one schematic I looked at, but I figure it out. Now I need to find some way to limit the discharge. Starting up my motor requires about a 2-3 second discharge. Once the motor is going then, less than a second will be fine. I am almost ready to hook the joule thief up to the motor.
@all: Well, the results are not good. My commutator has to much drag from my contacts/brushes. I need a fast charge up time, and a slow discharge time. Not sure how yet.
Back to the drawing board....
hi detrix42
I'm re-building a Newman motor myself and found your thread a good read.
This video is about matching up your coil to your timing capacitor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgAF8MxS7Rg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgAF8MxS7Rg)
I include a photo of my reed switch repair-job, if you are replicating it, use something to spring the [nail] back down, as the more the Motor was run the more it stuck closed. I am also getting a build-up of carbon from the back-emf spark.
my post: http://www.overunity.com/12584/newman-motor-tinkering-and-teething-problems/ (http://www.overunity.com/12584/newman-motor-tinkering-and-teething-problems/)
Quote from: detrix42 on April 02, 2010, 04:15:57 PM
@all: Well, the results are not good. My commutator has to much drag from my contacts/brushes. I need a fast charge up time, and a slow discharge time. Not sure how yet.
Back to the drawing board....
Have you tried a capacitor placed in between your commutator and the main coils? Just an idea, it might absorb and discharge the voltage to the coil.
Also, after smoothing out the bumps in the commutator wheel, try replacing the brush with a small metal wheel?
You could probably mount the tiny axle on something springy.
Quote from: detrix42 on March 18, 2010, 06:55:25 PM
@jadaro2600:
I am looking into the joule-thief (jt) circuit. I am very interested. I am going to go a little off topic, but I also looked into the earth-battery. I just did a quick test in my back yard. I used a sheet of copper (6 5/8" x 3 1/2") and a 1 1/4" x 4" x 1/8" aluminium. I got up to over 1vdc. This was achieved by wiggling the aluminium strip. But if I left it alone, it would slowly drop in voltage. I am tearing apart an old burned up computer power supply to get a ferrite Toroid. I will be trying with 26awg, and 30awg enameled copper wire, hook it to the earth battery. Thanks for the new info.
Howdy, worked over a joule-thief circuit that can give you enough current and step up voltage for most needs. Some circuit changes were made, am able to run a small radioshack motor and charge another battery in series if needed from a 6 volt battery source, oscillation of coil and transistor is about 5.4 kHz, and can reach a 49% percent duty cycle with tweeking. Trying to figure out where current is getting lost at, the transistor runs cold, that got my attention, did find you must keep a good sized cap on the output or voltage will shatter the C to E connection in the transistor, shorting it out. Can send a picture of my circuit and have been working on a P box layout if you need to see a working model.
This is my first time sending anything out, just bear with me, I will watch this site, see what is needed to show how nice the circuit works.
I have just finished reading this thread and I would like to know if someone did used a JT to drive a Newman motor?
It's an interesting idea