Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

@ bill
Cap-Z-ro has a good point, we think you have stumbled (by accident) on a way to get the tube to strike other than by normal means.
Put it aside for awhile for a think about it, and begin with another one.

I got an underwater disposable camera (Marina) the other day, and pulled it apart, dare r lots of tiny weeeeeney screws.
Next step is to see if it will work normally outa the case, then take it to bits, ha ha.

There is a biGGG capacitor, no value on it, has a blank can, so I betta watch where I put my pinkies

@all
Merry christmas to you all, and to all, happy juel thiefing

jim 

@ Jim:

Hey, that was no accident, I planned that the entire time. (ha ha)  It works fine now but I am going to try another one with just the one lead hooked up as this was essentially my problem.  I think it will work as mine did and you can control the tube brightness by moving your hand about. (Ok, so it was an accident)  Also, the cap in my Fuji was unmarked as well. I guess this happens when you order like 50 million of something, no need to label.

Merry Christmas to you and your family and to everyone else on here.  You all are a great group of fellows and I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

Bill

[WilbyInebriated]

no worries bill.
yeah maybe a sink out of copper tubing would work, or maybe a tube could be fashioned from aluminum foil? that way you could squeeze it around the transistor good with out worry of crushing it.
the tip3055 does have a heat sink mount. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062611

if you're careful this shouldn't give you any tingles. try running 3v into it and keep a finger on the transistor so you can shut it off when it gets too hot so you don't fry it. it gets pretty hot within 30 seconds or so.

edit: the pinouts on the tip3055 are BCE, i'm not sure if that is the same as what's original on the fuji.

[Pirate88179]

Quote from Wilby:

"if you're careful this shouldn't give you any tingles."

Hey, I'll bet I can easily find a way to get zapped without even thinking about it, ha ha.  Thanks.  I'll check out my Radio Shack for this one you mentioned.  ***EDIT***  Great idea with the foil.  Easy to make correct sized tube from it.

Merry Christmas!

Bill

[xee2]

@ Pirate88179

In answer to your question, "What do we do next"?  I am going to buy another camera and build a new board. But I think that trying to get higher output voltage will lead to most interesting results (such as lighting tube with only one connection). The voltage can be increased by driving with 3 volts. But that heats up transistor unless resistor is changed. Using 3 volt battery and changing 220 ohm resistor to 440 ohms should keep transistor from heating up and give higher output voltage (but same output power so tube will not be brighter). The higher voltage will allow circuit to be completed with smaller capacitive coupling to tube and make it easier to light tube with only a single wire. Actually transistor gain is not linear, so resistor value may need adjusting - but I hope you get the idea.

An advantage of the way I am modifying circuit is that it does not require any soldering - just cut some leads and make connections with ez-hooks.

Happy Holidays.

EDIT - You can not heat sink plastic transistor. You will need to replace it with metal case transistor or plastic transistor with metal heat sink built in.

[Pirate88179]

@ xee2:

Sounds good.  I had another thought....yes it happens.  Instead of upping the voltage, can we up the power by going with a C or D battery?  If nothing else, may not be brighter but would last longer correct? (maybe not)

As far as the one wire goes, I think that is what I already did with my cold solder joint right?  My next board will have just the wire soldered near the transformer which should allow it to light up when a hand or finger is near the battery.  That, I believe, is essentially what I accidentally had before with only an AA battery and my bad joint near the removed resistor location. Maybe for one wire operation without using our bodies to help the circuit we need a higher frequency?  and, possibly, the ability to tune it somehow?  Would an AV plug help us in this situation?  (for the one wire set-up)  I think I need a larger brain.

Merry Christmas.

Bill