i dont know how much knowledge of this topic is known to the people of the forum but the jule thief works because A. it ups the voltage through the coil and lowers the amps, (when voltage is raised this way the amps gets lowered) and B because it is pulsed. 

i like coils, for instance since i have .52 volt and need 1.7 roughly to operate my led i could take a coil and on the led side wrap 3.5 times the wire that i wrap for the battery input this will allow my led side with 3 times the wire have 3 times the volts that was put in, but then i will be left with .75 miliamp which means i will need to pulse it to power the led. i dont fully understand how to pulse but thats what the transistor is for. this curcuit could be more effecient i think with a cap but not certain of that.  for instance take the current and pipe it strait into a cap then take it out in pulses, this will only work if the cap is going to have the output voltage of 1.5 1.7 volts that i need not sure about that either if a cap can change the energy or not. 

what they are using is simply a step up transformer they could tap even more current if they add more windings and slow the pulses. then they could light the led after the power is seemingly gone.

Quote from: Artic_Knight on January 03, 2008, 08:20:15 PM
i dont know how much knowledge of this topic is known to the people of the forum but the jule thief works because A. it ups the voltage through the coil and lowers the amps, (when voltage is raised this way the amps gets lowered) and B because it is pulsed. 

Thanks Arctic Knight
I want to see. I sort of thought it was the pulses that made it use less but seem like more. But if it reduces the already almost non existent amperage of the earth battery, it won't work. but on the chance I will make one. If nothing else, I will be able to squeeze the juice out of dead batteries to run my LED 'candles'.

I am having trouble understanding what is happening with oscillating currents. I think it is important so I want get my hands on them. I think it is the only way.

jeanna

Quote from: Pirate88179 on January 03, 2008, 05:17:00 PM
@ Jeanna:

I just measured the volts on my circuit which has been sitting in the house since this weekend's experiments posted earlier. (led + lead not connected)  From the - side of the cap, which is also the - lead of the led to the pluse lead of the led I got 1.62vdc. 
Bill

I think if you connect the thing into a ring it will be what I am looking for??
jeanna

@ Jeanna:

Ring?  What do you mean by ring?  A frined of mine stopped by today (he is also a PI) and I turned off the lights and showed him my led circuit.  His direct quote was "Holly Crap!"  He said the led was very bright, as do I.  But, according to the numbers, as mramos said, this should be nowhere near full brightness, but, he shined it around my kitchen and said it was brighter than his keychain led that he also uses on surveillance.  That keychain light uses three, like mine, hearing aid type batteries.  So, this leads me to believe that possibly there is more power here than we are measuring.  I know this sounds like false hope, and I try not to do that, but, my led should not even begin to light until 1.7 vdc and I posted ( in response to your question) a voltage lower than that.  That is the voltage used when my friend viewed the light output.  "Very bright" he also said.  I realize that this is very subjective but, interesting non the less.  I also showed him how I can power three leds on the circuit, well, the original one and two flashing ones.  He was impressed.  I could have put this out for my Christmas lights but tried it too late. So, you are getting a carbon rod?

Bill

Quote from article -

[How to cheat!
There is a secret way to make a lemon-cell light up an incandescent bulb. You have to cheat. Buy yourself a "super capacitor" or "memory backup capacitor" via mail-order surplus. They cost a few dollars. You want a value between 0.1 farad and 0.5 farads. Try one of these suppliers:

    * All Electronics
    * Electronics Goldmine
    * Jameco Electronics

To light a bulb, first build a lemon battery and connect it to the terminals of the supercapacitor. (Me, I use alligator clip-leads bought from Radio Shack.) Wait for a few minutes. Now connect your flashlight bulb to the supercapacitor terminals and it should light brightly for a few seconds. (If not, then remove the bulb and try connecting your lemon cell to the capacitor for 15 minutes to make sure the capacitor gathers enough energy.) The capacitor slowly collects electrical energy from the lemon battery, then it dumps that energy into the flashlight bulb over a very short time. You can even use this trick to let your lemon battery run a low-voltage buzzer or turn a small motor (look for "solar cell motors" from various mail order suppliers or Radio Shack.) As with the bulb, you must charge up the capacitor for many minutes, then use it to run your bulb or motor for a few seconds.]

http://amasci.com/miscon/miscon4.html#lemon

I built 4 sets of 4 plate cells in series and tried them in water.  It gets about 4.2mA at around 3.2volts.  It lights one of my leds pretty bright, and some at medium brightness, which run at 4.5volts.  I used a 5.5v | .022f capacitor and it increases the power on only one of my lower power leds.  You notice a little increase in brightness, but It didn't work with other leds.