Big Joule Theif

[Tectalabyss]

JT Ringer

It will work with super caps it is just you need many in parallel to lower the higher internal resistance that the super caps have. LaserSaber said that it took three super caps in parallel before the circuit started to ring like just one of the electrolytic caps took to work the circuit. This makes the capacitance huge when using super caps but lowers the voltage capability of the circuit. With electrolytic caps you can have less of them and more voltage capability.

Hello All.

@Jbignes5 After watching the video a few time's and seeing him throw the super cap down on the work bench it sure lead me to believe that the super caps wouldn't work I am not saying you are wrong Just that's what the video lead me to believe Thanks for the info. Tec

@Vaporizer Like you I would like to see a schematic of the JT Ringer .I do like Plengo's Captret Tesla Switch circuit His voltage has been going up the last video he posted he now has two test's going interesting If you have the time take a look and let us know.

Happy New Year To All Tec

[Jbignes5]

Yes they will work...

They will work but you have to bring down the internal resistance that the super caps bring to the table. The only way to do that is to parallel them and halve the resistance much like you do with resistors. LaserSaber said that it took 3 super caps in parallel before the circuit started to work. So thats a 3 to one ratio...

What makes me wonder now is that super caps are much like batteries. What if paralleling batteries could also be used in this method? Or in fact if thats how batteries do work in parallel. This ringing is a powerful tool and we should learn to utilize this method to power our electronic equipment.

[Tectalabyss]

Yes they will work

They will work but you have to bring down the internal resistance that the super caps bring to the table. The only way to do that is to parallel them and halve the resistance much like you do with resistors. LaserSaber said that it took 3 super caps in parallel before the circuit started to work. So thats a 3 to one ratio...

What makes me wonder now is that super caps are much like batteries. What if paralleling batteries could also be used in this method? Or in fact if thats how batteries do work in parallel. This ringing is a powerful tool and we should learn to utilize this method to power our electronic equipment.

Hello All.

@Jbignes5
That sounds like something we should all look into.Do you know if Lasersaber ever posted any schematics of his build??Without them it would be like shooting in the dark If you know what I mean Wire size/ how many Toroid's/ .Your Ideal on the Super cap's sound's very interesting indeed.Thank you for sharing. Tec
Happy New Year To All. Tec

[Vaporizer]

Caps are unique in the fact that when discharging they have almost no internal resistance. So, they give it all up at once. I could be "throttled" with a resistor for a given current feed output. Feed what is needed and store the rest as its recharging. My problem with the vid is what it takes to run that light. If it stays on with a single cap, many should increase the storage potential if the circuit is putting excess back. Otherwise its drawing from them all equally as they are all partly being charged. That appears to be OU already. Heck if it just sustained for 1 min and ran down I'd be tickled pink.
Different type of batteries have different internal resistances. I've seen instances where alkalines will not work due to their high internal resistance and Li-Ions do fine. All outputting the same voltage.
He really needs to post the schematic & details so others can try it.
It doesnt matter if he can repeat it or not.

[NickZ]

Guys:
Since the Captret - Jt set up that I'm working on uses several caps (9), and the negative posts of some of the caps were not being used. I thought of feeding-back the unused caps negatives posts voltage back to the joule thief, or the battery. And it works better, so far, the single led lights up a bit stronger, as it was getting very dim at times. Yawn...
I don't know how it will affect the two or three 9 v batteries run times, yet, or rather their self recharge rate. But, there's a possible untapped potential there in the circuit caps negative posts, that do have some juice to offer also, (at least in my circuit), and that can be recycled back to source. Anybody tried that???
Using rechargeable 9 volt batteries instead of the regular ones also seams like the way to go, as the regular ones lose their standing charge, as well as their recharging ability over time, and that can affect the self recharge rate of the Captret - Jtc. My best cap is a 400 volt 82 mf. but I have about 10000 mf in parallel altogether.
Some caps are worthless for this purpose.

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, figured this was the best thread to put this in. I took apart an ignition coil for an automobile, like the one imhotep used in his relay fluoro light. The reason I was forced to take the coils out of the casing is because the case was made of metal and so just placing a feedback coil on the outside would not work for making a joule thief type oscillator. What I have found is that it is filled with oil as most know, though i'm not sure if it's just for cooling or for electrical insulation for arcing as well. Also, the inner secondary coil had a gap of about a 1/4" from the primary coil. The primary looks to be around 24 gauge at 1.8 ohms and the secondary is 11 Kohms. I will not be using the primary coil. I plan on wrapping the secondary with 18 gauge wire in bifilar configuration to make a joule thief oscillator and see how well the secondary outputs into a cfl.
Also, the high voltage positive output that came out of the top of the ignition coil is actually wired to the core, which i did not know they did it that way and that spring in the pic was used to link the core to the top electrical output wire.
I have no idea how it will work out, though i'm hoping it outputs well using 1 AA rechargeable or at most 2 AA cells. Here is a pic for anyone interested.
Let me know what you think of this.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
peace love light
Tyson

[Vaporizer]

There is really no reason it shouldn't work.
You are dead on abt the oil. It was used as a cooling agent and it has another unique characteristic. It is a "self healing" coil. With oil as a medium, if it should arc, there is no carbon trace left for it to continue to follow. Solid materials fail in this area as an arc will leave a weak area of carbon particles and it will continue to fail and follow the same path creating an easy carbon traced shorting path. Automotive coils were extremely reliable and long lasting for those very reasons.

Hope that answers some of you questions....

[NickZ]

@ All:
Thanks for reactivating this thread, I was starting to miss it.
@ Sky, I think that it may be time to make our own caps and batteries, as they are both expensive, and hard to find the right ones.
Any luck on your Adams set up?
I've been working on the Captret-Jt, now lighting 12 leds without discharging the batteries by more than a volt or two. Some versions have been running for a week lighting a single led, or several leds, and are still at it.
I'll soon be making an antenna battery set up for testing on the Captrets. More on that later...
So, guys, lets keep this thread alive!!!
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi vaporizer, thanks for that information, then i hope i'm fairly safe as far as arcing without having oil, since i don't think the coil will be outputting anything like what 12 volts input does. We'll see.
Hi NickZ, that's a nice setup you have there, what level brightness would you say the leds are at. As far as the Adams motor, I decided to revert that motor back to air-core, though i made the coil/cores more to adams specs, i still think there is something about the aircore motor with dual rotors enclosing the coils that has possibilities that others have not realized.
I found some cardboard wrapping paper tubing that fits perfectly over the ignition coil secondary and cut a few tube pieces, this way i can test different bifilar coil wire sizes and resistances and i can slide it back and forth on the secondary coil for a possible tuning method. I'll let you folks know how it goes.
peace love light
Tyson

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, I finished winding my first test bifilar coil that is wound on a wrapping paper cardboard tube and it slides easily, so maybe that could be useful for possible resonance tuning. First test bifilar coil is 18 gauge magnet wire and each coil strand is 600 milliohms. I will be testing this later today and see if it lights up a cfl or other type of fluorescent bulb. Here is a pic with the ignition coil secondary inserted into the primary bifilar coil tube.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
peace love light
Tyson

[SirFerret]

Thick Toroid from BGMicro

Has anyone tried the Thick Toroid from BGMicro yet? I received two of them yesterday but have not had the time to do any testing as yet. I'm wondering if the existing windings will be helpful or if I'll need to remove them and start from scratch?

EDIT: -- Tony
(Forgot to sign. *sigh*)

[Tectalabyss]

Tried them both ways

Has anyone tried the Thick Toroid from BGMicro yet? I received two of them yesterday but have not had the time to do any testing as yet. I'm wondering if the existing windings will be helpful or if I'll need to remove them and start from scratch?

Hello SirFerret.& All.
I Have tried them both ways.I've not had any luck with the windings already on them.They clean up real nice.They are already coated.I've gotten them to work with 1.2 volt AA's and even 12 volt using a mje3055t Transistor.Good Luck. Tec

[SirFerret]

Hello SirFerret.& All.
I Have tried them both ways.I've not had any luck with the windings already on them.They clean up real nice.They are already coated.I've gotten them to work with 1.2 volt AA's and even 12 volt using a mje3055t Transistor.Good Luck. Tec

Thanks for the info Tec. I'll give a go with maybe 10 windings and see what kind of output I get before I strip it. Will have to wait though, maybe until the weekend...
How many wraps did you wind up putting on it before you could light a CFL?

Thanks in advance.

Tony

PS-Sorry I forgot to sign original post.

[Tectalabyss]

Sorry for the delay

Thanks for the info Tec. I'll give a go with maybe 10 windings and see what kind of output I get before I strip it. Will have to wait though, maybe until the weekend...
How many wraps did you wind up putting on it before you could light a CFL?

Thanks in advance.

Tony

PS-Sorry I forgot to sign original post.

Hello SirFerret & All.
@SirFerret.
Sorry for the delay Haven't been feeling well.I have not tried the CFL I mostly work with led's and lower voltage's due to my grand kid's.I hope you had good luck with your projects.and again sorry for the delay I will include a picture of one of my coils. Tec

[SirFerret]

Hello SirFerret & All.
@SirFerret.
Sorry for the delay Haven't been feeling well.I have not tried the CFL I mostly work with led's and lower voltage's due to my grand kid's.I hope you had good luck with your projects.and again sorry for the delay I will include a picture of one of my coils. Tec

@Tectalabyss

No worries, I've been busy feeling like I've been run over and trying to keep my almost 6 month old happy. This is no simple task, I assure you.

Anyway, I haven't had time to try either of them out, though I did strip one down already. I'm hoping to get some tests done with it sometime today. Looking to try out my 2N3904 and 2N3906's before I change over to the trusty Tip120 Darlington. (Uses a bit more power, but I don't have to worry about burning them up.)

I figure I'll start off with my 26g wire and go with 4 wraps base, 10 trigger and see what I can get out of 10 turns on the secondary. I wish those LED's I bought off of EBay would hurry up and get here from China, that way I'd have something fun to play with and wouldn't have to worry about the extreme voltages needed to light a CFL.

@All

For anyone interested, I had a DeWalt 18v battery charger I recently pulled apart. This thing has about 8 2N3904's and a couple 2N3906's in it, along with a load of 4007 diodes and a couple of really huge diodes as well. If you have any friends with fried chargers or can find them at garage sales, I'd recommend grabbing them up. Plenty of transistors and diodes in them to make it worthwhile.

Later all,

Tony

EDIT: Had the wrong number on those transistors, 3094/6 == 3904/6.