Joule Thief

[WilbyInebriated]

The transformer you find in a camera is called a trigger coil. any CFL have a inverter coil that may be used as a joule thief.

just to clarify, camera flash circuits have a transformer and a trigger coil. the transformer is the larger of the two. the trigger coil is smaller, sometimes round, and usually has a wire leading from it to the center of the xenon tube. it takes the 300-400 volts that are across the cap/xenon ends and bumps it up to couple thousand volts or so, to slap the xenon with to make it light.

cfl's usually have a couple inductors on ferrite cores. a high voltage transistor or two and a high voltage cap as well. lots of good parts in them, thanks for mentioning that!

[electricme]

Bad news, on 1st January I loose one of the 4 dumps I go to for goodies.
Boooo Hoooo, whale bigtime, bring out the hankies,  a free shop is closing, its a calamity, i in shock n horror.....
see 0104.jpg

2 weeks a go, for instance, someone chucked out a wind powered prop and hub, its way too big to fit in the car, so I hid it in long grass, hope they dont find it when they buldose the dump ha ha. hope to get to it in a few days to dismantle it.
see 0055.jpg Win prop and hub at dump as I found it.
see 0056.jpg close up of prop hub, if the screws wont move a cold chissle and hammer will do the trick.

I found a LCD monitor screen, front glass smashed, plugged it in to power and the backlight tubes still work, so tomorrow this will be my next job, to scavenge the backlight tubes and HV driver electronics, Ill keep you all posted.
see 0114.jpg this is what a working LCD screen looks like if you drop it face downwards with force.
see 0115.jpg close up of the center of the broken LCD screen, (still working mind you)


@ nievesoliveras,
did you manage to get more voltage out of your JT mabe there is enough room on the HV bobbin to wind on more turns to rase the HV.


jim

[electricme]

Opps posted the wrong jpg, that is the road to the dump, the dump is actually on fire, someone decided to fire it up.
Hopefully the jpg appearing below is the right one

[nievesoliveras]

@ nievesoliveras,
did you manage to get more voltage out of your JT mabe there is enough room on the HV bobbin to wind on more turns to rase the HV.

jim

No I have not goten more voltage from JT. I even used a boost circuit that doubles the voltage. But the CFL light does not burn bright.
With the circuit on the photo I could double the voltage of the camera circuit I have. It outputs 1260volts, but the light is still dim.

Jesus

[electricme]

@ Nievesoliveras

Hmmm tricky one this, If you have tried a voltage booster and it still won't get brighter suggests something else is wonky.
I'm no expert at this, but mabe the following suggestions may help.

If the HV unit works on a different JT, then try changing the tube itself, just mabe the tube is wonky or reached its end of life.
or, mabe the HV windings have a internal breakdown under load.

jim