Joule Thief

[Pirate88179]

@ Jim:

First, I hope the fires are not getting closer to you.

Yes, I have been following John Bedini's work now for some time.  I started a Bedini motor about a year and a half ago but, never finished it for several reasons.  Mostly because I was involved in other projects but also because I could not find the components locally and was not sure what to order online anyway.  Now I have everything I need...well, except the neon which I also might have lying about.  I may have to buy more magnet wire on a larger spool as Radio Shack only sells the required gauges in small spools I which I have 3.  I have heard you can't solder the wire to make it longer as it messes up something in the bifilar coil arrangement.  So, when I get to the coil part, I may need to find a good online supplier of the two required gauges. (Unless someone tells me you can solder them, then I will just buy a few more smaller spools)

I'll bet your discovery is that, when you add multiple secondaries, the power draw goes up, but not proportionally?  Meaning, you can run a bunch of secondaries with leds, say 4, but your power draw only goes up like 1.5 from just the first one.  This is a total guess on my part.

Keep up your good work and keep your eye on the fires down there.  Be safe.

Bill

[WilbyInebriated]

hi bill, glad to hear you are going to complete the bedini sg. i thought i might pass this link on to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkLmRlHKJIY&feature=channel_page
lidmotor shows how to make a sg coil using 2 of the spools from the 3 spool mag wire kit @ radio shack. of course it's geared more towards charging smaller batteries, but a great intro to the bedini sg without having to spend $ on mag wire.

your question on neos was answered already, i thought i might add a bit more. as gadget said, the magnets are there to switch the transistor, so a weak magnet will do the job. the neos, being stronger will want to attract to the core which can cause a sort of 'drag' if your gap between the neo and the core is too close. so, as gadget said, design it so you can adjust that gap.

weak magnets/big coil with smaller gap
strong magnets/smaller coil with bigger gap

with a small coil and small neos from a dvd player, my small SG (four magnets on spindle and platter from old hdd) will charge a 24v battery bank on 20v input and run a 20 watt fluoro no problem. it was literally thrown together from parts laying around.

[electricme]

@all, especially those in the electronics and circuit makers

OK I got a fair bit of information, some pics, a circuit I need fixed up so it looks good, and a couple of surprises.
Al sure is sharp, he has picked up I got something here but not quite sure.

I found a inches ruler, my big torid is 4" in diameter, 1 1/4 inches high, with a centrol hole of 1 3/4 inches.

I have wound all my secondaries with the same size wire, (don't know wire size), see pic 0398.jpg

photo 0389.jpg = Reposting my Big Torid showing the Primary, and 1 secondary, consisting of 32 turns bifilar, both LEDs are lit up, see above 0398.jpg. Tiny 2 turn coil produces 1 surprise (later on).

0379.jpg = I have added a second coil next to the 1st coil, it is an identical coil to the first secondary, same components, LEDs lit up.

0400.jpg = I have added a 3rd secondary coil, wound the same as the 1st and 2nd secondaries, now all secondaries are identical, photo shows all LEDs are shining.


SURPRISE 1
OK here is where this gets interresting, if I short out the TINY 2 turn wire ends, (wound between the 3rd secondary coil and the JT primary coil) the LEDS,  "only" on the 3rd secondary coil go out, the 1st and 2nd secondaries still remail lit up.

SURPRISE 2
I blew up the last LED on the 1st secondary, it is soldered after the diodes. I replaced this LED and alls well.

SURPRISE 3
I can ROTATE the ENERGY at my WIM inside this torid.
It appears the magnetic field does indeed rotate, but I think it gos like this, (exciting stuff this is wow)

I have been under the belief that the JT sets up the flow of the magnetic field, and it does, but I thought the magnetic field went round and round either clockwise or anticlockwise, depending on the coil wound on the torid.

SURPRISE 4
I think, (but not sure) the magnetic field rotates clockwise, gets to the JT circuit and rotates anticlockwise, then it goes clockwise, then anticlockwise, over and over again and again.

How did I come to this conclusion?
Well it was the tiny 2 turn coil that gave me the clue, it stopped just the 3rd coil LEDs, not the others.

Then I began to adjust the resistor Wheel I have placed between Tr Base and Power supply (1.2v batt).
As I moved the resistor to a lower value, the current also rose (less resistance) and this was able to keep all LEDs on all 3 secondaries lit up brightly.

Rotating the resistor wheel to a higher value resister, lowered the current avaliable to the JT, this had the effect to begin to underpower the torid, the coil LEDs on secondary 3 got dim and turned off, then increasing the resistance further, the 2nd secondary  LEDs got dim then went out, then reducing the resistence further, the 1st secondary LEDS went out, the JT LED however stayed on.

I will make a TWV of this and post it for all to see.

jim


                         

[electricme]

@ all
Tiny Weny Video below

This shows the LEDs being turned off 1 by 1 as the power to the JT which powers the Torid, is slowly reduced.
The LEDs go out starting from secondary 3, then secondary 2 then secondary 1
Then each LED turns on as the JT is supplying more energy back into the torid.

[electricme]

@Bill,
Thanks for your concern about my location to the fires, no worries mate, I'm about 2000klm away from them. 

Glad to know all your new parts have arrived, whacko, I'm jealous, ha ha now we can expect some new designs here lol 

@ Jeanna,
A nice brand new cro will be something to crow about ha ha, I bet everything gets tested at full speed, we won't be able to stop you now, new discoveries comeing up soon everyone.
Go for it, get em.
PS take your time using this new machine Jeanna, they have safeguards built in, but they carn't think of every thing.
Read that manual, if you carn't understand something, ask, not me, I don't know about these new fangled hand held thingies, whatch a ma callits, or doo dads.

jim