Joule Thief

[Eastov]

Anyone else watching the gotoluc self-runner resonate coil project? 
Heads Up!
He's now saying that mosfet's capacitance is critical to self-run (mosfet is mandatory). 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8BehANEVUo&feature=sub
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[detrix42]

@pirate, theObserver, and estov:  Thank you so very much.  I really appreciate all the help.  Now lets see if I make things work better.

[jeanna]

Thank you Estov, but I am having some difficulties. Its probably something I am not doing quite right.  I dont have any ferrite toroids that big available, so I am trying a speaker magnet about that size.  I tried the 2 windings and 10 windings (actually I did more like 20 windings), but this could not even light my LED.  I wanted to get the JTC part working before I added the 80 turns.  So I am not sure what I am doing wrong. hmmmm......

Hi dextrix42,
I want to add to what Bill has said.

My first joule thief was made on a ferrite magnet from radio shack. I did not know not to use a magnet and they came in a toroidal shape.
It worked with 2 batteries -3v- for a day, then stopped.
The transistor had stopped working because magnetism can blow a transistor.

I took it apart and after a month it worked again.

So, there are 2 things that can blow a transistor.
1- too much voltage
2- too much magnetism

I made a joule thief from a tiny toroid found in a 10w cfl bulb circuit.
The new cfl bulbs all have these circuits and they are a good source for electronic parts.
My video on that is here if you feel like looking into it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnNQrYy_Bw4
There is no sound and should work OK on dial-up too.

jeanna

[jeanna]

Here is my newest video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BER7FTW1FfA

thanks to lasersaber and Shannon for making this latest success possible!

jeanna

[Eastov]

Recommend movie "Zeitgeist" and also the "Addendum"? 
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=zeitgeist#