Big Joule Theif

[Tectalabyss]

@ cikljamas,
Sorry to hear abt your meter. So its my fault? Every thread I read in always mentions to be careful using a meter on JT's. Especially big ones. A good reason to read threads from the beginning?

Here is what is removed from a spiral cfl hidden in the base.
There is a video on youtube somewhere.
Gutting Old CLFs | Jim On Light

Hello Vaporizer and All.
@cikliamas...Almost all meter's are marked plainly what the voltage's they can safely read.And well if you take the time to read the forum's you would know that the bigger coil's go way over 600/1000 volt's.I am not being mean Just please don't blame others for not paying attention. Tec

[Tectalabyss]

Diode and 47mf cap

Hello all.
I have added a diode 1N4148 and a 47mf 25 volt radial in parallel from the base wire going to the variable resistor that goes to the transistor base this really seems to help on the battery drain. I will try and post picture's in the morning.
Tec

[cikljamas]

@ cikljamas,
Sorry to hear abt your meter. So its my fault? Every thread I read in always mentions to be careful using a meter on JT's. Especially big ones. A good reason to read threads from the beginning?

Here is what is removed from a spiral cfl hidden in the base.
There is a video on youtube somewhere.
Gutting Old CLFs | Jim On Light

Hello Vaporizer and All.
@cikliamas...Almost all meter's are marked plainly what they voltage's they can safely read.And well if you take the time to read the forum's you would know that the bigger coil's go way over 600/1000 volt's.I am not being mean Just please don't blame others for not paying attention. Tec

Hi guys, who said its anybodys fault but mine ?....
I would be very stupid if i thought it is Vaporizers or anyone elses fault...
Come on, do not make me laugh, but it was sympathetic to see how
Vaporizer put that question to me : so is it my fault ?
It would be more interesting if someone explain to me what does these
marks (TP and DP) on this diagram mean :
http://www.energeticforum.com/attach...-theif-sjt.jpg

Thanks and cheers !

[cikljamas]

Wow, it is not readable, i will attach this picture here :
And L1 , L2 = 4,5 ...what is that too, anybody knows ?

[Tectalabyss]

Update

Hello all.
I have added a diode 1N4148 and a 47mf 25 volt radial in parallel from the base wire going to the variable resistor that goes to the transistor base this really seems to help on the battery drain. I will try and post picture's in the morning.
Tec

Hi All.
This test setup has 4 & 33 wind's of 26 awg wire on the toroid with the above added parts this is using a 2N3904 Transistor.I've been running a setup with similar parts since the first of the month with good results I checked the volts this morning and it was 1.287 volts. Volts before start were 1.301. this battery had been sitting for a few months in a controller I had not been able to use.and I think rechargeable battery's lose volt's sitting. Here are some Picture's Tec

[cikljamas]

Forgot to thank Vaporizer for that link, it helped a lot...
Cfl mystery resolved !
Thanks a lot !

[pentiger]

@vaporizer and NickZ

Thank you for the support. I don't know just how to do it?

here is my circuit:



for the primaries I tried other ratios and there's no big difference so I left the last version 6,6,400.

Pentiger

[Tectalabyss]

@vaporizer and NickZ

Thank you for the support. I don't know just how to do it?

here is my circuit:



for the primaries I tried other ratios and there's no big difference so I left the last version 6,6,400.

Pentiger

Hi Pen Tiger and All.
What Gage wire are you using? If the JT is working correctly you should be able to use a 1.5 AA battery and get it to work.Try it with just a small 2N3904 or 2n2222 transistor .One variable resistor and one AA battery.The other's will have better Ideal's I am sure. So hang in there. Tec

[pentiger]

Hi Pen Tiger and All.
What Gage wire are you using? If the JT is working correctly you should be able to use a 1.5 AA battery and get it to work.Try it with just a small 2N3904 or 2n2222 transistor .One variable resistor and one AA battery.The other's will have better Ideal's I am sure. So hang in there. Tec

Hi Tec,

for the primary I used a green one 26 gauge from radioshack and for secondary I used the red 30 gauge.

The variable resistor at the battery lets me to limit voltage, so I believe that both of them are good choice for this.

It does work with 1.5V but not as bright as with 3V.

Maybe there is something else I am missing?

[Vaporizer]

@ Tec,
Looks pretty good. Yes, that's common with rechargeables. Off the charger they will be 1.3v. They are rated @ 1.25v so anything above is considered a surface charge. No real current to back it up. If left off the charger it will drop to 1.25v. I have had fully charged ones do that and without using, you can put them back in the charger and they will go back up to 1.3v. Car batteries are rated at 12v but are charged to 13.5v. Its the only way to get the battery to its full potential even @ 1.25v.
Hope that makes sense.

@ pent,
I think I see your problem. Actually you have 2. The 25 ohm resistor is holding current back from the whole circuit. A fixed 22 or 25ohm is commonly used on the Base of the transistor so you cant make the Base voltage to high by lowering the 1K pot when tuning. The battery + goes to the coil center(no resistor). Also, you need a LED across the E-C until you have the circuit running well and a secondary load working or it will damage the transistor. The transistor can be damaged and still work poorly. Tec is correct too, you would be safer with 1 1.5v battery till you get it working as it will make smaller spikes that might damage your transistor.
I can redraw your circuit if that would help you. The pic you have is Jenna's low power draw proposed circuit. It probably works, but until you have a stable running circuit I wouldn't do those changes.

@ cikljamas,
It's easy to misundersand sometimes what is said in type. Without a "j/k" I had to assume you were serious. I apologize for taking what you said wrong. I have seen many get mad and much drama over things like this. We don't need that here. All is good.
Glad the cfl mystery is over! The picture I posted of the 9w "U" bulb had a neon and cap in the plastic part between the pins. I cut the bottom off to remove them. All you want from a floro is the wires coming from the glass tube or it wont work. Sometimes you have to look with some style bulbs. The bigger "straight bulbs" seem to have nothing in the ends and can be used without removing anything.

[Vaporizer]

Just saw your post. The wire gauge is fine. I found the RS green wire coating very poor. It will come off very easily and it may be shorted to the core if it is not painted. It would be easy to remove it , put on a layer of thin tape and rewrap it to make sure. That would make a high current draw if it shorted there.
The 25ohm resistor will limit the current to the coil in that position and can reduce the output as its there to extend run times.

[pentiger]

Just saw your post. The wire gauge is fine. I found the RS green wire coating very poor. It will come off very easily and it may be shorted to the core if it is not painted. It would be easy to remove it , put on a layer of thin tape and rewrap it to make sure. That would make a high current draw if it shorted there.
The 25ohm resistor will limit the current to the coil in that position and can reduce the output as its there to extend run times.

Hi, the toroid is painted. I had to do it because it was shorting out before.

The 25ohm rheostat was Lidmotor's idea.

It should work.

I will try to add a LED and run it on one AA. I will let you know.

Thanks for all the help.

[Vaporizer]

Ok. Yes it should work. As I said, the resistor will limit the whole circuit current draw for extended run times, not just protect the Base from having the 1K to low. If the core is painted, I'd say the transistor is damaged from no LED on the E-C connections. It's probably been damaged and even though working, its not doing well. If it's hot, that means current is being used to create it. You have eliminated abt all but that. If you replace it without the LED, you'll likely damage the next one. My best suggestion at this point. If the transistor is damaged, adding the LED to it now won't prove much as the secondary seems to be putting out low from what you posted. It may light, but that doesnt confirm the condition of the transistor. Just that the circuit is working, but maybe not well from what you describe.

On my 1st 1 had issues like this and found it was just better to fall back to basics and then use a new transistor. That solved my problems and then as I substituted old parts back in a good circuit, the bad one was easily found.

[xee2]

@ pentiger

I think you must have picked a toroid with very low permeability. I suggest you try the following circuit. The toroids are 5 for 1$ at electronic goldmine.

[pentiger]

Hi and thanks. I was thinking the same, that the toroid has low permeability.

Anyway I tried what Vaporizer and Tec suggested. I added a LED inline with a 10k resistor, because I burned one with the resistor.

I am still running it with 3v and it looks promissing.

I will keep you updated.







Pentiger