Joule Thief

[crowclaw]

this is not correct. series connection of batteries will not decrease the current supplied or the current available. ie: one 1800mah AA battery has 1800mah. four 1800mah AA batteries in series is still 1800mah.

Spot on WilbyInebriated, if we are to help others in their quests with experimenting then please check the facts before replying or at least leave comments open for further thoughts. Identical cells in parallel will offer more current capacity_the voltage remains the same, while as cells are added in series the voltage increases_ but the same current passes through the cells and doesn't increase. If these camping light Led's are connected in parallel as Jeanna suggests, then each led shares the same available voltage but each draws it's own operating current. Example... 24 led's wired in parallel each require 20Ma's = total current of  480mA and if they are connected directly across 4 x AA batteries that's 6volts each. 

[gadgetmall]

this is not correct. series connection of batteries will not decrease the current supplied or the current available. ie: one 1800mah AA battery has 1800mah. four 1800mah AA batteries in series is still 1800mah.

Hi wilby and thanks for the correction . .what i ment was  the current does not increase the volts do in series so you actually dont get longer run current .I should have said in 4 batteries rather than a single . 6 volts in Jeanna's light is probably ran through a resistor rather than i diode i suspect as 6 volts is a lot for a 4 volt led. I think the blob you refer to is a resistor jeanna to at least limit the current .On mine it had a normal 1/4 watt resistor so thats what it is . Still I would jump on converting it cause there is lots of room in them for all sizes of ferrite .
gadget

[jeanna]

are there other components? any surface mount transistors? they would usually have 3 solder 'tabs'.

nice video!

Thanks,

I did not see anything else. There is a screw holding it down in 4 places but I checked that to see if it had a double use and I see nothing. These things are on each side of a bridged break.
It is sunny and perhaps I can take a hi res pic and crop it small for you to see.

jeanna
add:
Yes crowclaw and gadget,

Here is the reason I posted this.
I did use a very powerful secondary on these 24.
zebraK has over 80 turns and that makes it just under 100 volts, but the lights were a dull grey. I was a little afraid I would blow them since they are really only one led.
~~~

I saw this last year when I tried in vain to get the string o leds to light up.

I can't remember what it took, but it was over 240v to light only half of the string and they were this same grey. I took it apart which took a lot of doing because the plastic wires and light holders were formed around the lights.
I found 2 diodes at the plug ends of the 72 lights. So, one was for each half and my secondary could only turn on one half. Switching wires reversed the polarity and the other half of the lights went on.
But in either case they were a dull grey.

So, with this history, I looked closer at the ring holding the 24 leds and saw 8 of these tiny black square things.
They have the color and shine characteristics of a diode, but of course could be resistors.

I think a pic is in order.
Thanks for all the help.

[gadgetmall]

Thanks,

I did not see anything else. There is a screw holding it down in 4 places but I checked that to see if it had a double use and I see nothing. These things are on each side of a bridged break.
It is sunny and perhaps I can take a hi res pic and crop it small for you to see.

jeanna
add:
Yes crowclaw and gadget,

Here is the reason I posted this.
I did use a very powerful secondary on these 24.
zebraK has over 80 turns and that makes it just under 100 volts, but the lights were a dull grey. I was a little afraid I would blow them since they are really only one led.
~~~

I saw this last year when I tried in vain to get the string o leds to light up.

I can't remember what it took, but it was over 240v to light only half of the string and they were this same grey. I took it apart which took a lot of doing because the plastic wires and light holders were formed around the lights.
I found 2 diodes at the plug ends of the 72 lights. So, one was for each half and my secondary could only turn on one half. Switching wires reversed the polarity and the other half of the lights went on.
But in either case they were a dull grey.

So, with this history, I looked closer at the ring holding the 24 leds and saw 8 of these tiny black square things.
They have the color and shine characteristics of a diode, but of course could be resistors.

I think a pic is in order.
Thanks for all the help.

Well if you are using pure ac then you need to reverse the connection to the LEDS . one way is dull the other BRIGHT BRIGHT . At least these are the conclusions i came to on any Number of white leds also the resistors are butting you circuit on your Very powerful JT . Question . Does this very powerJt light 20 leds bright . then if yes jump the resistors on your new light ..be careful .

[WilbyInebriated]

hey gadget, i forgot to say good to see you again!
and any chance on hinting at the part number for the barium/germanium component?
i might be willing to trade a hint on how to get rid of the battery...

thanks crowclaw, you said it much clearer than i did.