Joule Thief

[Mk1]

@ Jenna the first switch is to charge the now removed big cap to about 150 volts then the second switch is to take that charge in to the second transformer to make it 2000 volts so that enough voltage is supplied to light the xeon bulb.

[jeanna]

@ Jenna the first switch is to charge the now removed big cap to about 150 volts then the second switch is to take that charge in to the second transformer to make it 2000 volts so that enough voltage is supplied to light the xeon bulb.

Thanks, mk1,

I don't understand why this switch has been disabled. Isn't it - aren't they both needed in this thing?

So far nothing is lighting up.

I do feel some warmth on the transformer, however.

BTW I did the connections as xee said on the top of the page. wow this thread moves fast, I missed this whole page a minute ago!!!

jeanna

[xee2]

@ jeanna

   It seems that you have same board as the new board Bill bought. Maybe you should wait until he figures it out.

[jeanna]

Yeah, It isn't hooked up right.
I just modified a 2bat holder to a 1bat holder. It works on a torroid jule thief right off this bat holder, but the leads I soldered on are not doing the job even with that jt.

I will try a new pic. If it is in focus, I'll post it.

jeanna

[Mk1]

@ jeanna

I had the same feeling about the second coil , but it is not needed to light a fluorescent,the first transformer is giving about 400 volt low amp ,usually stored in the big cap up to about 150 volt lower a result of low amp use and time factor, but for fluorescent 400v low amp is enough.I made some experiment with 3.4 volt dead cell phone battery and the same circuit gave me 1800 volts and definitely brighter result but it stops after a 20 seconds . The battery is a us03367v and has a charger circuit included in the battery very interesting for self charging battery system experiment, the charging circuit is fried now but the battery still works fine.