Joule Thief

[electricme]

@Altrez,

@all
Just explained the setup to a friend and he said that it was not working like I think? He is an EE and was in the Air Force for 30 years. He basically said the JT is simply a transformer and that a DC - DC converter is far more efficient then a JT when converting to DC?

Not sure about all that but I do trust him. He also said that I was not really charging the battery's at all? And that the voltage was empty?

Can anyone explain that?

Thanks!

-Altrez

Al, the best advice I can give is to believe what you see occurs with your own experiments, and what your instruments tell you. Then double check all again to be certain, so if someone debunks you, well, you know and he/she dosent.

DC to DC converters generally start from an input of 12vDC and convert this to a higher voltage or reduce it to a lower voltage. They have current limitations on their outputs and they need amperage to perform, their losses are high to get their results, just see if they put out heat as the indicator for that.

Had this person actually made a joule thief, and ran tests on it?

Remember, this forum is seeking several ways in it's usage, some are trying to see how much voltage they can achieve, others are finding out what and different devices they can run off it.
Others here are trying to see if they can help by theory, sometimes I fall into this group when I'm not experimenting.

I have told several people in person what we all are doing here, only one person (an old school chum I met last weekend at a school class reunion) showed any real understanding at all.

jim

[electricme]

@wilbyInebriated,
Well said, spot on Wilby.

sounds like a knee jerk reaction. you can test the 'empty' voltage and see how 'empty' it is.

Testing "empty" voltage, now that is a new one to me, mabe he meant there is no amperage, ha I had my ase kicked real good last week, with "empty" voltage, LOL

jim

[electricme]

@Jeanna,

The amount of energy we are using that is unrecovered should only be the amount that is ACTUALLY dissipated by the load. The rest should be able to be returned to the battery.

jeanna

I fully agree, actually this single statement above sums up the goal of the forum as I see it.

jim

[Pirate88179]

@ Jim:

I agree 100%!  I have lit 100 leds, a 48" tube and then 200 leds from the EB using "empty" voltage.  I am taking quite a ribbing on youtube with some of the comments.  One guy said... (and this was on the video with the 48" tube) that the EB will NEVER put out more than .0001 volts and less than .00001 mA's and I will never be able to do ANYTHING with that little power.  Remember, this was on the video where I am lighting a long tube.  Go figure.

Bill

[electricme]

@Altrez
@stprue
@all
Yes, just 10 minutes ago I made a WenyTinyVideo which shows my experiment I made running a electric motor, powered by the earth energy.
 

Yes I am powering a small motor right now from a Bridge. And I believe Jim is as well. Nice work with SC!

-Altrez

I charged my 22F 2.5v super cap by my earth battery to just under a 1/3 of a volt, then connected my small dc electric motor which has a tiny propeller mounted on its shaft.

This ran for about 7 minutes, from energy that I used from my earth battery, out in the back yard..
The power is taken stright from the earth electrodes, no diodes to rectify, it slowly fills into my 22F Super Capacitor.