Joule Thief

[xee2]

All of those components have losses that the original circuit did not have and it just seems to me that this will alter the true efficiency of the circuit that does not normally use them.

The resistor is consuming all of the power coming out of the pickup coil. Thus the circuit produces a total loss of power. The measurement determines how much power is being consumed by the resistor. The capacitor will remain at a constant voltage (about) once it is charged. The capacitor filters out the energy variations due to the pulsed output.

[jeanna]

If that exact circuit is published here then I might give it a try.

Paul,
Why don't you look at the ssjt thread. In the beginning of that thread he did post it (and I believe he also posted it here) and describe it to you and to some others. It opened up a long long bunch of stuff. I think you should go to the beginning of that thread and satisfy your curiosity about the schematic.
I have work to do and I would like to be able to work with the other folks here to arrive at some very cool solutions.
I agree with Bill. You are doing some good work but you already led the discussion on 1 if not 2 other threads. So, is that not enough? I read it. I made no comment, but I read it.

thank you,

jeanna

[xee2]

Some test results.

EDIT: I have had some second thoughts about this test because it can be dangerous. Please note the following.

NOTE - CAPACITORS CHARGED TO HIGH VOLTAGES ARE VERY DANGEROUS.
PUT CAPACITORS IN SERIES TO GET THE VOLTAGE RATING UP TO OVER THE OUTPUT VOLTAGE OF THE COIL. ALWAYS DISCHARGE CAPACITORS WITH AN INSULATED SCREWDDRIVER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT GETTING ACIDENTALLY ZAP. I DO NOT ADVISE DOING THIS TEST UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO WORK WITH HIGH VOLTAGES.

[PaulLowrance]

A side note, my observations on the long term NiMH 2000mAh battery is that the voltage drops immediately when loaded, as expected because of the batteries internal resistance. After that the battery voltage drops at a good rate. At this point we're in the high 1.2 volt range. This is followed by a slow decline in voltage till it gets to about a volt-- actually I don't recall the exact level at this last stage, but it's around 0.8V to 1V. During this stage the NiMH battery drops at a rate that seemed relatively constant to me. I should look at the data log to see for certain. After this stage it drops at a rapid rate.

That being said, I cannot possibly see a 2500mAh NiMH battery charge a 650 farad ultracap with only a few milli volts drop from the NiMH battery. That would be impressive, but I saw nothing of that sort during my JT circuit test.

[xee2]

@ PaulLowrance

Alkaline batteries have similar discharge. From Energizer alkaline handbook.