Big Joule Theif

[jeanna]

Hi Tec,
I would really like to see what happens if you remove transistor #2 from the second circuit. When I did this all 5 leds I had at various places got bright.

I agree with blackchisel about your body ...

AND

I love to point out that tesla described with an ac (meaning pulsed dc or non steady) current, it was never necessary to close the circuit to the other side of the battery or generator, but a body to the ground was sufficient, and he actually suggested a piece of aluminum be stuck to the wall as a ground for a circuit of this type.

(All this business about ac going back to the battery or generator is really so we can be charged for the amps.)

So, please continue to try these things out. Our minds are closed and it takes a bit of prying to open them up. So, bring on the prybar!

@morpher44.

Thanks for the explanation.

I agree the joule thief sure does look like an armstrong oscillator.
Is that a thing from the world of radios?
I am intrigued by the variable resistor on one coil and variable cap on the other.

And, of course, my focus has been on using only the secondary and leaving the oscillator to use its tiny amount of energy.

btw, I was referring to a circuit lidmotor devised that had a center tap like a joule thief where maggie was magnetically coupled and making a light from the coil excited by the magnet circling inside the coil... like a regular alternator.

thank you,

jeanna
(oh, I am posting mybedini progress on the no rotor bedini thread started by jonnydavro.
and, there is a little video too.)

[morpher44]

Joule Thief with 2 5 inch basket weave aircoils

YouTube - Joule Thief - Experiments with Basketweave Air Coils

[kooler]

hello,

i got a transformer... i got wired up like the joule thief
i thought you folks might find it interesting...
one AA battery and a 1/2 inch sparks
just a strobe circuit
YouTube - hv 1.5

the transformer pulls 101 ma's
don't really know if it is usefull

[kooler]

small update to last video link

YouTube - hv 1.5 aa

[morpher44]

pretty cool

small update to last video link

YouTube - hv 1.5 aa

Could you post your schematic?
I'm curious how you hook up to the car ignition coil.

[Watson]

Hi Jeanna.
Here's a rough Schematic.of the circuit. I did it in a hurry sorry The number 2 cap is a dipped type I dont have any way of knowing for sure what its uF or pF is. Do you know just how low a Battery will get before it stop's working the joule thief ??.Thanks again. Tec

I'm guessing that you really meant the transistors to be 2N2222A, not 2N222A, which haven't been available since the 1950s. Or possibly you meant that they were actually PN2222, which is the plastic package version. The 2N2222A metal versions are expensive, difficult to get, and really are not needed. Another plastic package equivalent to the 2N2222 is the 2N4401, usually available at Radio Scrap.

The battery has to be 0.6 volts to start the JT, because silicon transistors have 0.6V drop across the emitter to base junction, which must be forward biased to conduct. It might start at a slightly lower voltage, and it will run down to well under 0.6V, depending on the transistor, temperature and other part values. But whatever the voltage, the lower the voltage, the less the light output, until it's barely visible.

I've been playing with some Fairchild KSD1273 (same as 2SD1273) NPN superbeta power transistors. These have a gain of over 1000, much like a Darlington, but without the drawback of the 1.2 volt emitter to base voltage drop. They act a lot like the transistors used in the flash units of disposable cameras. They come in a TO-220 plastic power package but the whole transistor is insulated so no insulator is needed when it's bolted to a heatsink I got them from Arrow, but Mouser and Fairchild also sell them.
More about them here in my blog.

[kooler]

hv from a double A battery

i've only played with electronics for a year now so i bet you guys can make this better

[Watson]

Schematic

Vtech thanks a lot man , do you have a better quality version? if so ill upload it into the document with your credits my friend thanks for doing this, please send to ashtweth@gmail.com

Would someone add a 0.1 uF bypass capacitor across the power and ground pins of the 555 chip? It really needs it.

Also, take a look at the Fahnestock clips that I have used in this blog. They hold wires together and can reduce the clutter of long clip leads.

[Lidmotor]

Replication

i've only played with electronics for a year now so i bet you guys can make this better

@Kooler &All
I replicated this circuit with what I had on hand and found it very interesting. It was not an exact replication but I did get some pretty big sparks flying out of the ignition coil. There were two things that I found note worthy:
1) You can use a center tap transformer in the Joule Thief circuit ( I used a 12v-0-12v / 117v) and get the secondary winding to produce the
HV.

2) You can use a neon triggered SCR to oscillate the HV through a cap into an ignition coil to make BIG HV!!!

This is a fun circuit.

Thanks Kooler.

Lidmotor

[Vortex]

@Kooler &All
I replicated this circuit with what I had on hand and found it very interesting. It was not an exact replication but I did get some pretty big sparks flying out of the ignition coil. There were two things that I found note worthy:
1) You can use a center tap transformer in the Joule Thief circuit ( I used a 12v-0-12v / 117v) and get the secondary winding to produce the
HV.

2) You can use a neon triggered SCR to oscillate the HV through a cap into an ignition coil to make BIG HV!!!

This is a fun circuit.

Thanks Kooler.

Lidmotor

Ok, lidmotor .. My wish-list: light the circular florescent bulb with a 1.5v circuit !!!!!
(or has that already been done?)

[Lidmotor]

HALO light on a AA ????

Ok, lidmotor .. My wish-list: light the circular florescent bulb with a 1.5v circuit !!!!!
(or has that already been done?)

No. I have not done that yet but I think that Slayer may have already --- with his big 2" toroid JT with a gazillion windings on the secondary.
I did get this circuit to "blink" a small FL but I could not get the brightness that I wanted and the rate was off. What I would like to see is a 60 hz rate and a full bright 8" round bulb. This circuit might be wrong for doing that.

Lidmotor

[kooler]

crazyiness from scope

it's interesting to make a big toroid with a 1:1 winding and run this circuit thur it...
it shows low voltage to 12 volts but lots of sparks hooking a load to it
my problem is that i can not get my held held scope near it
my scope of getting 2 feet close to it .. it shows a half sine wave of pos
and a feq of 5.31 and 80 volts ...
its like it gives off some crazy radio that messes with eletronics
but i have it in the high hz.. now but can't check it
could just be my cheap scope i bought
but if you run it thur a toroid rather than the car coil it sounds really kool
kind of like hv transformer in a sub station...hahaha

my toroid showed 5 volts thru a bridge and it blew 6 100ma 10mm leds
the 265000 mcd ones from goldmine
i had them linked together and boom there went 15.00 $
i wish i could use my scope on it

any suggestions
i am using a 0.1 mfd cap now with still nice sparks

[jeanna]

Ok, lidmotor .. My wish-list: light the circular florescent bulb with a 1.5v circuit !!!!!
(or has that already been done?)

Does a 18 inch 15 watt qualify?
(I never tried the circline because I didn't want to buy one.)

So, anyway, my 3 1/4 inch toroid wound with 240 turns secondary lit the 18 inch grow light with a single NiMH AA battery.
It took 5 1/4 hours to run too low for the light to stay on. (1.1v)

The quality of the light IS NOT the same as with the wall. It is like when the tube is getting old.
But still bright enough to read by.

I thought you did do this, lidmotor??
My mistake, I guess you were using a 12 volt?

jeanna

[Lidmotor]

Round bulb lighting on a AA

[QUOTE=jeanna;74151]Does a 18 inch 15 watt qualify?
(I never tried the circline because I didn't want to buy one.)

So, anyway, my 3 1/4 inch toroid wound with 240 turns secondary lit the 18 inch grow light with a single NiMH AA battery.
It took 5 1/4 hours to run too low for the light to stay on. (1.1v)

The quality of the light IS NOT the same as with the wall. It is like when the tube is getting old.
But still bright enough to read by.

I thought you did do this, lidmotor??
My mistake, I guess you were using a 12 volt?

jeanna[/QUOT

My thing that ended up in a box (the "Halo Light") runs on 12 volts with a variable voltage regulator that is adjusted to???? Probably 12 volts now because I run the light at full brightness all the time when I am using it. I may have gotten the bulb to start lighting at 1.5v but I can't remember. My toroid is 2". Where did you get the 3 1/2 inch? Is it ferrite? I would REALLY like to replicate your setup. A 5 1/2 hour run time lighting up an 18" FL (even at low light) on one AA is fantastic!
Please give me a few hints on how to build this.
Thanks Jeanna.

Lidmotor

[jeanna]

My thing that ended up in a box (the "Halo Light") runs on 12 volts ...

.... Where did you get the 3 1/2 inch? Is it ferrite? I would REALLY like to replicate your setup. A 5 1/2 hour run time lighting up an 18" FL (even at low light) on one AA is fantastic!
Please give me a few hints on how to build this.
Thanks Jeanna.

Lidmotor

Hi lidmotor,
It is a joule thief with secondary... my usual.

The ferrite toroid came from allelectronics and I believe is made by micrometals.
Allelectronics calls it a tor-60, I believe and it is 85 mm OD. $3.50
And it is really heavy!
I used a 2N3055
3T,11T,240T or something like that and I need to re check the order. It should be what I said but at the time I thought the order was reversed and now, I will re check that detail.
I also needed to have 2 50uF caps in parallel at the battery rail and one 100pF cap at the base resistor or it would not go.
The pot was set to around 90ohm, but that is an individual tuning thing.

It makes an appearance on my second video called radiant joule thief 3.
YouTube - Radiant Joule Thief -3

I need to take advantage of the little bit of sun right now. That ought to get you started.

jeanna