Joulethief SEC exciter and variants

[Jiffycoil]

I didn't see a continuous plasma jet until I ran the setup at 12v (I'm using the basic transistor resistor setup). I ordered some of the variable capacitors and I'm anxious to see how they work with the setup and its tuning. I found a similar phone charger on Ebay, but they come from China (long wait) and I don't know what the quality is from the listing.

[seth]

I didn't see a continuous plasma jet until I ran the setup at 12v (I'm using the basic transistor resistor setup). I ordered some of the variable capacitors and I'm anxious to see how they work with the setup and its tuning. I found a similar phone charger on Ebay, but they come from China (long wait) and I don't know what the quality is from the listing.

Its a shame - i'm down to my last transistor.....ive blown three TIP31C and four MJE 13009thanks to using 12 or 6V batteries, so i wont be trying the plasma jet until i find some more robust transistors. Nonetheless, im happy playing with AA batteries. Here is another video showing almost 30cm wireless transmission to a big CFL on 1AA battery. It lights neons placed near the battery terminals also.

Im amazed i can get these effects on 1AA battery. Hope i can find an emergency phone charger soon....i think it will improve my output.

YouTube - 1.5V wireless exciter.flv

[xee2]

Hope i can find an emergency phone charger soon

You can buy them from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Motorola Micro USB AA battery Powered Emergency Cell Phone Travel Charger / Re-Charger in high grade Brushed Aluminum housing!: Electronics

[Magneticitist]

i was playing with darlington arrangements and i was noticing some similarities between how it switched and how the SEC works..

with the darlington quadruplet the voltage needed to switch the base fully on is very very small. im talking the electrostatic charge from your body from across the room is enough to trigger it.

im thinking maybe this is how the SEC works too, and possibly using more of a darlington config could amplify it greatly..

from what i can see the transistor on the SEC is using one of the antennas as a way of amplifying the base voltage in, then stepping the battery voltage up with the HV transformer, and using your body as a conductive route to get it oscillating.

heres a little vid i made showing how sensitive the circuit is and how well it drives a couple LED's.
YouTube - touch-activated LED driver, or close proximity activated.

from across the room lifting my foot from the carpet triggers it, and it will eventually oscillate on its own at low frequency with just the charge that has built up in the room.

i cant say its the same as the SEC because the SEC transfers its input wireless, and not the initial switching current, but there are some similarities.

i was hoping to get some thoughts on this or how this could be taken advantage of or how it could possibly shed some light on spacial coherence.

[dragon]

That's pretty cool Magneticitist ! Is this being powered by a AA battery ?
________
MOTORCYCLE TIRES

[seth]

You can buy them from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Motorola Micro USB AA battery Powered Emergency Cell Phone Travel Charger / Re-Charger in high grade Brushed Aluminum housing!: Electronics

Thanks Xee, but im living not so far from Moscow at the moment and the postal service is poor - its never guaranteed that you'll get stuff thats sent through the post - i only buy stuff from amazon when i go back to the UK and then bring it over. Im hoping ill find that gadget in a mobile phone shop out here, and the transistors and diodes ill have to find in the radio market.

@Magneticist - very interesting video. when i get some more transistors i absolutely have to try the darlington arrangement. I'm also curious - what kind of power source are you using? 1AA??

[xee2]

another tranasistor protection test

This test was with a transistor that has a higher Veb max than the MPSA06. The transistor gets hot slowly at 12 volts - needs a better heat sink. This circuit will light fluorescent tube wirelessly with 33 mA from an AA battery cell phone charger.

Whoops ---- I had my LED backwards. I have replaced circuit diagram to show corrected circuit. 1N4007 diodes were removed since they were not doing anything. Sorry about the mistake. This is just about what Slayer has already posted.


circuit = http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4...circuit2n2.jpg

heat sink photo = http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5...tsinkphoto.jpg

coil photo 12 volts = http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/9...ilphoto12v.jpg

[Magneticitist]

im using an adapter in that video, 3.7V. what is necessary to normally light the LED's.

it can however work with a AA it just needs to be ran using a joule thief for those LEDs to light.

the power input is really of no concern, it has no bearing whatsoever on the receptiveness of the amplified Base, just how much current is being ran once the Base switches.

[xee2]

dual transistor circuit

Another test using transistor protection. Dual transistors with heat sinks do not get hot after 5 minutes at 12 volts. This seems to be a transistor safe circuit at 120 mA. Now I need to see if I can push the current up higher.

Whoops ---- I had my LED backwards. I have replaced circuit diagram to show corrected circuit. 1N4007 diodes were removed since they were not doing anything. Sorry about the mistake. This is just about what Slayer has already posted.

circuit = http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/9...circuitdua.jpg

heat sink photo = http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5...tsinkphoto.jpg

coil photo at 12 volts = http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9...ilphoto12v.jpg

[Jiffycoil]

Hi Xee2,
I've been running this setup and I have had very little heating of the transistor. I do have it on a regular finned heat sink. I run mine for 10-15 min at a time with no problem.

TIP31 transistor
1 M resistor


12v power from converted computer PS

L1 3.5" form, AWG 27 magnet wire, 962 turns, coil capacitance 6.2pF
coil inductance 17.1mH.

L2 Pancake coil 9 turns AWG 21 plastic coated solid wire

L3 3.5" form, AWG 27 magnet wire, 513 turns, coil capacitance 4.6pF
coil inductance 8.4mH.



Slayer-2 circuit by jiffycoil, on Flickr

[xee2]

correction

The last two circuit diagrams I posted were not correct. I have modified the posts to show the correct circuit. Sorry.

[xee2]

Hi Xee2,
I've been running this setup and I have had very little heating of the transistor. I do have it on a regular finned heat sink. I run mine for 10-15 min at a time with no problem.
[/url], on Flickr

Thanks for the details. I was unable to get the TIP31C to work with my coil but I will give it another try. I think it does not have much gain above 1 MHz and my small coil seems to self resonate over 1 MHz. I am begining to see that the big coils work with the power transistors because they have so much self capacitance that they produce a self resonant frequency in the KHz range where the power transistors have gain. At least that seems like a possibility. I may have to make a big coil to get more current.

[seth]

Thanks for the details. I was unable to get the TIP31C to work with my coil but I will give it another try. I think it does not have much gain above 1 MHz and my small coil seems to self resonate over 1 MHz. I am begining to see that the big coils work with the power transistors because they have so much self capacitance that they produce a self resonant frequency in the KHz range where the power transistors have gain. At least that seems like a possibility. I may have to make a big coil to get more current.

I couldnt get my TIP31C to work on a smaller coil either.

[Jiffycoil]

It must have something to do with the secondary coil size. I tried a smaller coil and had heat issues with the transistor. I'm going to experiment changing around the primary size on my setup. I'm going to give it a helical coil covering 1/3 of the secondary and see what happens.

[seth]

It must have something to do with the secondary coil size. I tried a smaller coil and had heat issues with the transistor. I'm going to experiment changing around the primary size on my setup. I'm going to give it a helical coil covering 1/3 of the secondary and see what happens.

My first prototype of the exciter was with a helical primary (4-5 turns) covering the whole of the secondary - and it worked very well.

Good luck!