Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

WOW, what a great thread!

It has taken me all day to read this and probably it's a good thing it is christmas eve, or more posts would have been made. I love this thread.

I am seeing 2 threads inside this one and I need some clarification, please.

I am confused (?) about where the bifilar torroid is in all these camera circuits. Is this just an incorporated element when in the flash ckt? I think I saw one in a pic somewhere, but I am missing them in most of the circuits.

@Bill,
I am so impressed that you are lighting 2 40w fluorescent tubes with one camera circuit. egads!!!

In fact Freezer and xee and nieves, and all the rest oh and IST ... cool!

I have one kodak one ready to go. I also have a 15 w growlight I got for experiments. This will be the experiment . tomorrow. So, please help with the choice of circuit.

I get that there are lots of ways to put this together.

I guess I'll need to reread the thread again tomorrow. I expect to try xee's latest explanation first. Is there a recommendation? ooo this is gonna be fun.

--------

About 4 years ago, I made what I called LED candles. I made them to learn how to make a plain circuit with a resistor etc. They had a little switch and a 47R resistor. I used amber because amber looked more like a candle and somehow it was OK that the light was so small. I found that a kind of paper called --- I forget, rolled into a tube made the light glow and look like a candle. I will remember the paper later.- a kind of fake parchment. (I love the clear marbles.- what about the 'strawberry' design being used on so many christmas lights?)

These amber candles would be bright from 2 AAA batteries for 2 weeks and not in need of recharging for another week, so they were good for 3 weeks.

I made a few using whites. Those candles, using the same set up would burn for 6 to 8 weeks. It isn't that they aren't using the batteries, it is just that they are so bright that even when almost gone, they are still light. - and yes, jim, the light is not as pleasant.

Also on the LED side of things, I have had a string of 35 LED's draped over my window for 2 full years now. They still work great. I never have unplugged them. They make the kitchen and living room bright enough to see. 2.4 watts... And these are a great source of ambient light. If I can get a few grow lights lit using a couple of c batteries and a joule thief for the winter, I will be really pleased.

As far as where next goes... My thought is to see how long  it can go on how little battery. Basically, what are the limits.

I am wondering also about the fact that at the same time the frequency is higher and goes quiet, and the circuit is powering more length of light. So, perhaps it is using for power what was being made as heat. Am I mistaken that the transistor was cool with the extra light and no sound??

OK for now (a bit scattered), I will check in tomorrow.

jeanna

@ Jeanna:

Merry Christmas!!

Yes, I too am really enjoying this topic.  I have learned a lot from the folks here.  I would recommend going with the Fuji board as I believe we all determined that the transformer is much bigger.  Plus, if you need help, I can tell you how to convert it.  (Now that I have learned)  They are only like $3.00 brand new, and you can save the roll of film out of it if you want. (35 mm) plus all of the other parts that you will remove from the board are still good for some other project. I think it is a very economical project.

I had a little trouble getting a good connection to the board on one of my leads but, that is my fault.  I wanted to be careful not to run the solder across another path on the board (they run very close together) and I didn't want to overheat it.  Once I used both my reading glasses and the magnifying glass on my helping hands, I had no problems.  (I can't see as good as I used to)

Since you have played with LEDs before, I was thinking that this circuit (the fuji) could be used to run a sh*tload of leds if we add the right resistors or put enough LEDs in the circuit to get the load right.  Hey, speaking of that, I have 2 strings of LED Christmas lights I bought this year for my tree.  When I take my tree down, I may try to see if I can light 100 LEDs from this board, if it does, then maybe try for 200.

Jeanna, whatever you do, don't listen to me as the other guys on here actually know what they are talking about. (Smile)
You might have to try to hook either the toroid type of the Fuji type to one of your NS coils.  Good to see you here.


@ Jesus:

Thanks for posting those circuits.  I am sure that will be helpful for others that are joining us here. Merry Christmas.

@ xee2:

Thanks for the bifilar/transformer explanation.  I figured it might be something like that but, now I know.  Merry Christmas.


Bill

[innovation_station]

lets ask a question ...

why do leds light    cuz there diodes... lol

why do the tubes light ... cuz they love re or rf still up in the air on that one 

this can be used both ways as we have seen .....

whats the diff 1 has a diode the other dont .... hummm

ist!

charge a cap with out a diode what is the result?

the big thing is the cores are feroite as it can release super fast opposed to steel or iron .......

[Pirate88179]

@ All:

I have a question.  I just attempted to hook my DMM up to the leads on the fuji circuit to see what the output might be.  I believe I read it is supposed to be about 300 volts.  I set the meter on the ac setting (600 volts) and all I got was first, 700 flashed, then 800 something, then "1.0.00.00."  Which appears to me to be some error message.  I tried the same thing on 600 on the dc side and got the same result.  Can the output not be tested on a DMM?  My meter still works so thankfully, I did not seem to fry anything.  The 600 setting is as high as this meter will go.  I have some other meters, 2 analog and one really good Omega but, I don't want to risk them unless/until I know I am testing this correctly.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

What I was going to do was to see what was coming off the leads and then compare that to what is available where the neon/led was. (other end of the board where I got a good zap by holding it there)  If there is decent power there I was thinking about running a single wire from that and trying the aluminum foil trick, (band wrapped around the third tube) to see if I can get three to light.

Thanks.

Bill

[Freezer]

@ All:

I have a question.  I just attempted to hook my DMM up to the leads on the fuji circuit to see what the output might be.  I believe I read it is supposed to be about 300 volts.  I set the meter on the ac setting (600 volts) and all I got was first, 700 flashed, then 800 something, then "1.0.00.00."  Which appears to me to be some error message.  I tried the same thing on 600 on the dc side and got the same result.  Can the output not be tested on a DMM?  My meter still works so thankfully, I did not seem to fry anything.  The 600 setting is as high as this meter will go.  I have some other meters, 2 analog and one really good Omega but, I don't want to risk them unless/until I know I am testing this correctly.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

What I was going to do was to see what was coming off the leads and then compare that to what is available where the neon/led was. (other end of the board where I got a good zap by holding it there)  If there is decent power there I was thinking about running a single wire from that and trying the aluminum foil trick, (band wrapped around the third tube) to see if I can get three to light.

Thanks.

Bill

Try a spark gap and your meter will go crazy lol.  Mine was flipping out at 1888, to -1.  The digital multimeters don't seem to read pulsed energy so well.  I don't think its accurate at all.  My analogue doesn't seem to read well either, giving mixed results depending on what setting.  The foil works well, just one connected to the lead, and one connected to the foil wrapped around the end of the tube, or even ground works.

[Pirate88179]

@ Freezer:

Thank you.  I thought it was me. (possibly because it usually is)  I just didn't want to keep trying a blow up what has been a pretty decent meter.  Since we are not using the trigger coil, is the output still high frequency due to the transistor and the crystal?  Something like 50kHz?  It just dawned on me that I know static can illuminate these tubes and that is very high voltage, almost non-existent power.  So, maybe the key to lighting more tubes at brighter levels would be high frequency and very high voltage.  I just read in a catalog that comes to me that I can buy a stun gun that outputs 1.2 million volts and does this from a single rechargeable battery.  I'll bet that would light a few tubes up, ha ha.  I am sure it is not meant for continuous service however.  It just got me thinking that maybe we can up the voltage output here and not worry about the power end of it.

Thanks.

Bill