Joule Thief

[jeanna]

@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

Empty probably means no amps.
You know, things like lightning that are only volts but not amps have no real power?

I agree with most of the other comments, but I won't repeat them.

It is however AC. If I cannot catch it in a cap without a diode then it must be AC and besides I can SEE the waves looking a whole lot like sinewaves. What I can see and others here cannot is that the x axis is right in the middle of the curves making it a sinewave. (with a limp) not dc. It is much more than a dc to dc converter.

I suspect your friend just put it into a well educated box. He didn't really see in his mind, what you are describing.

The joulethief is both an inverter and a transformer. I do not know how many times I need to repeat this.

Keep your friend. He just doesn't know everything, yet.

a DC - DC converter is far more efficient then a JT when converting to DC?

Now, this part might be true. I have not spent much time with this in
DC mode. As soon as it is inverted to AC I do my best to keep it there. It makes some of my results look puny but it doesn't matter to me. They stay AC.

jeanna

[resonanceman]

Battery voltage is not a good indicator of energy stored in battery. You should talk to your friend more.

I  agree in part 
Simply  looking at the  voltage  is not  a very  good  indicator  of  how much energy is available  in a battery .
Batterys   store the energy in chemical form ....   so the interaction is  complex

As I see it  if your  battery has less  ability  to power  a  load   with each  charge cycle  of your circuit   then   the volts are indeed  empty .
If  the  battery  lasts   as long  in  later tests as it did in  earlier  tests then   it   is  charged with real voltage .

gary

Edit
I have read that the Bedini SG  does not  really charge the  batterys as it seems to ........It is said that each cycle  the battery holds less .

I do not believe it .

A skeptic  only needs to win one argument  to win.
No matter how   good   your idea  is ....... you  won't  take the time to  get it going  if you no longer  believe it will work
This  forum has lost  alot of great ideas to this  little fact .

A  common tactic  is to attack one fact  as if it was the whole project .
If they can  prove a point about that one fact ...... the whole project is usually  dropped .

[xee2]

@Altrez
When you can show your friend that you are able to light a fluorescent tube from an AAA battery with a circuit you made yourself he will probably be impressed.

[jeanna]

I just want to add,

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.

All the rest.

We are so accustomed to using so much extra and slopping it all over the place that we have no idea how much we waste.

IMO you have just shown a little indication of just how much we spill out of our bucket. (I think that was MK1's metaphor.)

@xee, the voltage in the battery may not be a good indication of what was used, but if after a recharge, the chemistry is ready and able to "do it again" who cares?

jeanna

[resonanceman]

@Altrez
When you can show your friend that you are able to light a fluorescent tube from an AAA battery with a circuit you made yourself he will probably be impressed.

great idea



show him how long  you can run a CFL with an " empty " battery

gary