cfl fun

[arKzeRo]

Hiya guys!

Hope you are all well.
today i plucked up the courage to play around with some flybacks from old tvs.
I chose to drive them from a small cfl circuit (240v- 20watts, Osram)

I was real pleased with myself when i got little plasma snakes around 2cm long but quickly got bored zapping stuff,so i thought what else could i get up too?

well i have a small starter coil from a cheap chinese 2 stroke generator (similar to this one Generator Parts Ignition Coil products, buy Generator Parts Ignition Coil products from alibaba.com) so i connected the two wires from the cfl to the two spade connections on the starter coil and hey presto i can get small cfl bulbs to light up when placed somewhere near the starter coil. Other things i tried was getting the bulbs to light with one wire touching the output of the starter coil and it works
Another strange thing i get is my multimeters reading 50vdc - 1000+ vdc negative (fluctuating) from a jug of tap water sitting nearby.
I can see a purple glow round on the coils black plastic case if i touch it with metallic items also.
touching or stroking the flourecent bulbs moves the light around within the glass tube and there seems to be a red glow internally wherever i place my finger on the tubes.I can see purple glow inside them in some areas
the tubes get brighter when i touch them too.

So some questions if you don't mind guys!

1. am i getting the same effect as you guys get with Doctor sticklers creations, when i get the lights to work without wires? or is that some normal effect? like static?

2. the readings i get on my little multimeter with both probes in a jug of water, are they real readings? is there really energy collecting in the jug (readings show zero when coil is disconnected) or some form of interference?

3. What is the red glow inside the tubes where my fingers are placed? (lol it looks like its pulling some of me in there)

sorry if this post is dumb to some of you guys,i am just learning, but i would really appreciate some help to understand things that i am observing

I was not in a position to film or photograph anything today but i will get something organized for the near future.

sending love,light and best wishes from Scotland
Jay

[arKzeRo]

Oh sorry for the double post mods i don't know how i did that!

Very sorry

jay

[xee2]

Hi arKzeRo

You seem to have accomplished a lot. I do not recommend using anything connected to the grid because the potential current available is enough to kill you. The CFL driver generates high voltage AC output at frequency around 1 MHz. At this frequency the energy passes over you instead of through you and thus usually will not kill you. But beware of touching high voltage DC or low frequency AC as these will go through your body and may kill you.

The CFL lights with one wire, or no wires, because the AC will capacitively couple energy through the air to the tube at frequencies around 1 MHz. There is in effect a small virtual capacitor between the HV terminal and the tube (and anything else close by).

If you are interested, you can build a battery powered replacement for the CFL driver circuit that will be safer to use or you can build a flybac circuit that will work from a battery. Check the "Joulethief SEC exciter and variants" thread for more info.

I hope you will post a video as this is an easy (but dangerous) way to generate high voltage.

[seth]

Hiya guys!

Hope you are all well.
today i plucked up the courage to play around with some flybacks from old tvs.
I chose to drive them from a small cfl circuit (240v- 20watts, Osram)

I was real pleased with myself when i got little plasma snakes around 2cm long but quickly got bored zapping stuff,so i thought what else could i get up too?

well i have a small starter coil from a cheap chinese 2 stroke generator (similar to this one Generator Parts Ignition Coil products, buy Generator Parts Ignition Coil products from alibaba.com) so i connected the two wires from the cfl to the two spade connections on the starter coil and hey presto i can get small cfl bulbs to light up when placed somewhere near the starter coil. Other things i tried was getting the bulbs to light with one wire touching the output of the starter coil and it works
Another strange thing i get is my multimeters reading 50vdc - 1000+ vdc negative (fluctuating) from a jug of tap water sitting nearby.
I can see a purple glow round on the coils black plastic case if i touch it with metallic items also.
touching or stroking the flourecent bulbs moves the light around within the glass tube and there seems to be a red glow internally wherever i place my finger on the tubes.I can see purple glow inside them in some areas
the tubes get brighter when i touch them too.

So some questions if you don't mind guys!

1. am i getting the same effect as you guys get with Doctor sticklers creations, when i get the lights to work without wires? or is that some normal effect? like static?

2. the readings i get on my little multimeter with both probes in a jug of water, are they real readings? is there really energy collecting in the jug (readings show zero when coil is disconnected) or some form of interference?

3. What is the red glow inside the tubes where my fingers are placed? (lol it looks like its pulling some of me in there)

sorry if this post is dumb to some of you guys,i am just learning, but i would really appreciate some help to understand things that i am observing

I was not in a position to film or photograph anything today but i will get something organized for the near future.

sending love,light and best wishes from Scotland
Jay

Hi Jay!

This post isnt dumb. It shows that youve been experimenting and trying to figure out stuff for yourself. Always a good thing

In regards to your first question, i'd like to ask if there is a spark gap in your circuit. The easiest way to light CFLs is just by having a spark gap connected to a coil. In my own experiments ive found that even tiny spark gaps will light CFLs wirelessly that are placed near the coil. You can use pretty much any HV source for the spark gap - TV flyback would be ideal, but AC transformers like neon sign transformers, will also work well.

Juts stick the positive end of your HV into a spark gap (use 2 bolts or nails with a small gap between them) which is then connected to a coil, and then into the ground (use a metal rod in your garden). The negative end can just go straight into the ground (again use the garden, but with another metal rod). Its almost the same as what i did in this video, the only difference is that the negative HV went through a metal rod in the middle of my coil, and then into the ground.

YouTube - Teslasecondary12-6V.flv

The doctor stiffler stuff seems a little different to me, as there is no spark gap - it uses a trasistor and 2 oscillating coils to get the high frequency which as xee2 explained, is necessary to light the CFLs.....

Good luck in in future experiments. I look forward to seeing them

[arKzeRo]

Hi guys!

thank you for the great replies to my post! Very very easy for a noob like me to understand with your explanation xee2 and i will take your safety advice on board and move to one of the battery driven circuits for my future experiments!
many thanks!

I plan to make a little video tomorrow on my experiments and will get that posted as soon as possible with the appropriate danger warnings

@Seth. Hi Seth! Yes mate, i tried both with a spark gap (very small) and without a spark gap and found the very same as you did in that the whole system worked better with the spark gap in lighting the cfl's wirelessly!

i will give your suggestion on the earth grounding the setup a good go tomorrow also! i live in a ground floor apartment so this will be no trouble to do. Also thank you both xee2 and seth for the encouragement to do more experimentation! I most certainly will, i have the bug now

sending love,light and best wishes from Scotland
Jay

[Aromaz]

Wecome to the world of gasious tubes!

We did quite a bit with that about two years ago. I made a series of videos and played with options. Never used mains, only 12Vdc batteries. You can find the videos on:
YouTube - Aromaz2012's Channel

and

YouTube - Inquorate's Channel

and

YouTube - Lidmotor's Channel

(Have to go back to Inquorate and Lidmotor videos around Nov/Dec 2008 and follow from there.)

enjoy and have fun!

[arKzeRo]

Oh thanks Aromaz!

I will go view these now and do some learning