Joule Theif problems. Please help.

[joe]

Chrisburrows,

What you need is a fudji disposable camera with the red led (the led that tell the capacitor is full and ready to use) on top of it.

Some of those Fudji cameras have pale led on top of it. (different circuit than the one with the red led) They won't work.
Good luck!.

[Pirate88179]

On the CFL, I always removed the bulb and, you have 2 wires on each end of the tube, simply use one (either one) on each side and it will work.  I think you need to use a Fuji AA board as they have about 400 volts output when you cut the diode lead.  That will light a cfl decently, but not as bright as the 1,000 volt Jeanna circuit.

Bill

[Arnookie]

Hello,

I've been trying to make a joule thief to light a CFL globe from a AA battery but just can't seem to get it to work.

The globe lights up, but flashes instead of just staying constantly lit.

Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hl3vL0p8Sk

The circuit is from a no-name camera brand called Super Snaps. Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Chris.

I think you will find that your problem is with the circuit you are using. I would recommend you stick to the fuji circuits. Hope that helps you out. :O)

[sm0ky2]

@ chrisburrows

the bulb has 4 leads, because there are basically two wires running through it.
on either side one is + and the other is -
then the electricity goes back the other way by lighting up the other pair of end-connections
its designed to operate off our A/C wall socket.

There are basically two ways to do this,. some people argue over which is better, i prefer to stay indifferent at the moment. so i'll share both on equal ground.

1) use 1 wire from each end.
or 2) twist the ends together and use both feeds simultaneously.

single and double cathode operation

as for the circuit -- listen to Bill, hes one of the Most Thievenest.