Joule Thief

[sirmikey1]

Oscar,
   Thank for the heads-up on Av Plug Diode type.   Modified the photo. 
Mikey

[xee2]

@ WilbyInebriated

it's not as bad as licking a plasma globe though...

Thanks for that valuable information. I will be sure NOT to try that.

iirc, it was a 0.33uF 600 some volts. i have it somewhere, if you want me to make sure, i can find it.

Thanks for the info. I do not think it is worth looking for it. I am surprised that it is only 600 volts when the circuit is putting out 1500 volts. Seems like the makers did not care if it worked very long. Maybe that is why they are only $2.99.

[WilbyInebriated]

i agree, it does seem a bit low...

i found it xee, 0.33uF and 630V.
it reads like this:
logo CBB21
334J 630V

i can't make out the manufacturers logo, sorry.

[electricme]

@all,

Joule Thief driving a BIGGGG gell cell array in series.

This morning I was helping a OU member out with something and I ended up doing something else entirely, which turned out to be a real surprise in itself.

I was foolin around with an old Joule Thief I had made called a Hazens JT, this thing puts out about 630volts, the key to it is the 80 turns one way then 80 turns back the way, you wound from, and the 2 diode and 2 cap arrangement.

It is powered by a 1.2volt D cell NiCad, I decided to give it a spin and hooked up a neon to the output. This thing is savage, it has a vicious spark when shorted, and it bites pokeing fingers hard.

I turned it on, the neon glowed very brightly, good oh I thought, the 2n3055 got hot, the toroid got hot also, then before I knew it, the green LED went out and I thought the 2N3055 had karked it.

I raided the fridge, and made myself a nice lime and bitters cordial, came back later, turned on the switch, and lo and behold, its working again.
I took out the neon, and had a think.

Heat in semis could mean 2 things, either the semi is tost, or there is grunt avaliable, so I hauled a few 12v gelcells (24v) batteries onto the table and I hooked it up to the JT's output in series with a 3 amp fast recovery diode in circuit.

Switched it on the JT, and after a minute the tranie is geting hot again, turn it off for a while, get a couple more 12v gellcells batteries and hook em up in series with the others, now its got 48 volts to play with, I then hook up my adjustable power supply to the 1.2v Nicad cell and trickle charge it at the same time, saves recharging the D cell and the experiment is ongoing. 

Turn the JT on and it's still working.
The temp is a little lower on the JT tranie, I go and get a few more gell cells, connect them in series with the other lot, and eventually, I have 15 gell cells of different sizes, making up a pritty big 180 volt series DC battery. Well I'm game, its only electrons.
By now my neon lights up just on DC itself without the JT running.

By the way, when making a big series DC battery, you need to be careful, set it up from either end so the final connections are in the center of the batteries, this means you are fiddling with half the voltage, not all of it at the output ends. I have a fuse setup in the middle also.

It gets better folks, I'm on a runner here, each time I hook up an extra battery, the transistor runs cooler, nice that, so in the end I have 21 gell cells hooked up in series, and the Joule Thief is driving energy into all these gell cells, but it's being driven just by 1 single D size 1.2volt Nicad battery.

I have more gellcells to whack into this battery array if I want to, hmmmm I like this even better.

I have a temp meter hooked to the 2N3055 to keep an eye on it
I have a DMM for the current output which is .31ma and gradually tuning it with the base transistor, I could get it to .39ma
The voltage of the gellcell series array is theritical at 252volts, if they were in good condition.
Mabbye the HZ will recondition the cells

But many of the gell cell themselves are faulty, I measured on my DMM a total of 177v DC before the test.
But when I began initially, the voltage rose from 177 volts to 209volts, 2 hours later the GC array rose to 211volts.
I havent taken the JT out of circuit, I will let this experiment run all night long and do this tomorrow morning.

Sorry everyone, I got photos but carnt post them as my ISP has a modem software problem disalowing this.

Bill thats the reason I couldn't send that file to you before.
Now, just how many cells can I hook up to this Joule Thief?


jim

[slayer007]

Here is another short video of another coil test.
I just wanted to document this coil test because it is working so well.
I didn't show it in the video but when you tutch the battery it extends the field even more making the lights brighter.
People be carefull this thing it bites I got a couple good rf burns off it.
It's not a shock but it's like someone tutched you with a lit cigarette.

Once my test are done I'll upload the circuit with all the specs.

Here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qppwoNAH6sQ