Joule Thief

[kooler]

gadget
thanks for the detailed instructions..
wish you were still here working with us.. or (playing)
cause it is getting slow around here.. i think people are just bored with it all..
but thank you for the pdf ..
best wishes for you and your little girl..
merry christmas


robbie

[resonanceman]

Hi,

I am new here. May i know how to build a joule thief with an input of 0.8V and 0.1mA ? I mean how many turn i need to put on toroid? Any tutorial or step by step instruction for me. I really noob in electronic stuff

KB

The JT is  a very simple circuit ........but it is not the kind of thing that has a set of magic numbers that always work.
How many windings  you need will depend on your other parts.......especially the toroid.

JT 101  is a thread that has quite a few of the basics for making JTs
I suggest reading it first
http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=8341.0


gary

[knabe]

Hi everyone here!

Did read all this thread, did some stuff, got some results. I am practical, so i have a very practical question. Did anyone made light from 1.2V, that you can recommend for reading? Not "i can recognise letters", not "you can read by it", but one you can give to your kid for everyday reading. Jeanna and Lasersaber made quite bright light, but from 2 batteries, not one. Maybe i miss something, but i do not remember a good and stable light. Can anyone show me way to go for it? How to get maximum lumens from 1.2V.

[gadgetmall]

Over the Coarse of several years in this thread we have lit over 500 White leds and 110 volt Cfls and blew up just as many . Yes its a lot of reading for sure but the first 300 pages are the heart of it all .As far as i know this thread Deals With JUST 1.2 volts lighting many leds,florecent, etc . . I personally from Knowledge that i learned here light our Christmas tree up with a rechargeable 1.2 volt AA battery for Christmas Holidays . it uses the above Disposable Camera Circuit which is a Jule Thief . We have replicated as many members have Done the same and more with Toroids and wire and a transistor . Just Ask Jeanna and Bill and Electricme and jesus  and mark and kooler . Kooler makes BIG ENERGY from that ole aa battery Have Fun and If i find the energy i'll contribute a bit more . There are 1000's of ways to do it and they are all here in these pages . Yes knabe i think you missed something Best go with Gary's suggestion in julethief 101 .  goodness it would take me 8 months to read this thread and download all the Schematics members have gave here . Happy Experimenting !

[resonanceman]

Hi everyone here!

Did read all this thread, did some stuff, got some results. I am practical, so i have a very practical question. Did anyone made light from 1.2V, that you can recommend for reading? Not "i can recognise letters", not "you can read by it", but one you can give to your kid for everyday reading. Jeanna and Lasersaber made quite bright light, but from 2 batteries, not one. Maybe i miss something, but i do not remember a good and stable light. Can anyone show me way to go for it? How to get maximum lumens from 1.2V.

knabe


If I remember right the original Jeanna light worked pretty well with just one battery, but she went with 2 to make it brighter and last longer.

I think  the brightest and smallest unit to light a CFL with only one AA battery  is Gadgetmalls fuji mod.  He posted a link with detailed directions for making  it a few posts back.

I have to ask a few questions about why  you wnt what you want.
Why only one battery?
Why specifically a CFL? If you want a good reading light LEDs are much easier to power with a JT.

one you can give to your kid for everyday reading.

From this I got a feeling that you are looking for a special gift for a child.
Although  a CFL lit by one battery is impressive .... it is not a good gift for a child in my opinion.
CFLs are fragile and they all have a little mercury in them
I would not intentionally allow a child to play with ANY CFL because of the mercury.

An older child that understands  how a CFL works will be impressed by a battery powered unit.......a smaller child  would be impressed more by the amount of light it makes........  you can get lots more light for the power with LEDs

If  you are  planning on giving a JT powered light to a child for reading......I would suggest that  you do a few experiments .......then put together a kit with parts for making some JTs then  throw in a few that  you have already made.
When  the gift  is opened  you will have to demonstrate what the JTs do.......and explain that you will help the child learn how to make other JTs  with the parts.
The part about helping the child learn  how to make  their own JTs is an important part of the gift.......but it turns out that part of the gift is as much  for you as for the child.
You can't spend to much time with a  young child.......once they reach the teens and start living their own life the time you can actually spend with them drops off dramatically .
Once it is gone....... you can't get it back.


If you decide to go ahead and make a Jeanna light that may  be used by a child.........please find a clear  bottle or something that can be placed over the CFL tube to make it tough enough to have at least a chance of surviving being dropped once or twice.......The bottle would  also contain  the glass fragments  and would allow the mercury vapor to dissipate slowly


gary