Solar Joule Thief Circuits

[NickZ]

Solar joule thief

@SkyWatcher:
I'm going through a similar process. I'm also trying to figure the best way to wire the 1" toroid and also the 3/4" size, to their maximum efficiency for the use in the Solar JT circuits.
Later on I'll also build one big solar JT with many secondaries, each secondary lighting separate multi-Led lights set.
I'm working towards a 12 solar Jt that will light many Leds throughout my house.
Thanks for posting your results. Now that I have been able to post on this forum (after a couple of year of just read-only), I'll be keeping in touch.
NickZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi NickZ, thanks for your thoughts. I took that 20 led christmas string and took out the leds and put them in parallel on my breadboard to use in the typical JT collector/emitter output position and am getting much better light output, I'm making duration tests now and going to try various coils and toroid sizes, etc. Using the secondary for output is good, though I notice it's much more finicky to get good duration.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

SkyWatcher:
I just finished another one inch toroid with 25 turns bifilar insulated braded telephone wire (thin insides wires). I left some room between each wire wrap. More tests tomorrow...
I'm glad you're into doing all those coil tests, that is what it takes to get this right.
I'd like to try for at least a 2 inch toroid size, just to be able to get more secondaries wound on it, if I can get my hands on one. I heard that the old Tvs come with one that is about 3 inches? I'll look for one like that also.
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi NickZ, Thanks for sharing what your working on, any pictures. I am still making duration tests, well many tests to be done in fact and these warm white straw hat christmas leds are really spreading the light out nicely, i put the plastic covers and it helps diffuse the light a little more. In the pic are five of them in parallel right now and are burning brighter and lighting up the bathroom better than with the full string of 20 and so far, even though this particular time test is still going it's exceeding the series led test with secondary. Maybe with the proper ratios of coils and led arrangement, a secondary configuration might be just as good, though so far, the normal JT emitter/collector output with leds in parallel is doing a much better job.
peace love light
Tyson


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[NickZ]

@Seumas:
I removed the small solar panel from a Casio calculator to use with my Jt circuit. It put outs about 2 volts in full sun, but will not run my JT.
So, I made another 1 inch torroid coil last night which does light up a 7 white Leds bulb with only one 1 1/2 volt battery. I'll try that Jt connected to the solar panel next. It is important for the Jt to be able work on only one battery's voltage (1.5 volts) or less. If it can't, then something needs improving, since the device is not working like it should. My 2 volt panel should be able to charge a single AA 1.5 volt battery, and that should make the Jt work like it should. We'll see. If I can get my newest coil to work on the 2 volt solar panel now, I'll let you know.
Your button cell is probably higher voltage than just one or two volts, probably 3 or 4 volts.
NickZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi NickZ, thanks for sharing what your doing. That casio calculator solar panel is probably too small, since it is only meant to output very low current compared to say a solar garden light photovoltaic panel. calculators use tiny amounts of current to run. I would at the least, try and get a garden light solar panel. I plan on trying to rewire that 12 led lantern, i showed a pic of, so that all leds are in parallel, since right now they are wired in parallel/series, which doesnt work as well since the normal JT output is lacking in the voltage to run at 6 volts, 3 volts is perfect for regular JT output. Also, my longest test run with any secondary JT configuration with the series christmas led string has been 6.5 hours using the AA 1.2 volt rechargeable and the longest run time so far with the same warm white leds in parallel has been 11.5 hours giving equal or greater light output. I have a test running right now with the same warm white leds using the 1/2" diameter toroid with 24 gauge bifilar and it has already exceeded that time duration. I will be making 24 gauge bifilar tonight and filling a 1" toroid to see the difference compared to the smaller 1/2" toroid. Then I will test the large ferrite bead with 24 gauge to compare duration as well. Then, once I get the best configuration for output and duration, I will make a light design to hold the leds and then build a separate dedicated solar charger using mulitple garden light solar panels to charge multiple AA 1.2volt rechargeables, then try and incorporate some kind of joule thief circuit that will also charge in the moonlight. Though the moonlight charger may have to be a capacitor dump design. We will see.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

@Seumas, SkyWatcher and All:
I made a new 3/4 inch toroid today, and I was able to get the small 1/2 by 2 inch calculator solar panel to light my Jt directly, even off of the light from a lamp. But this last coil (3/4 inch toroid) made with insulated tinned copper wire, won't light off of only one AA, it needs two. I have another one inch toroid that will light leds from only one AA but will not light from the solar panel. So, interesting results so far. I'll try to send a picture or two tomorrow.
I wonder what a 2" bifilar air core would do on the Jt. I'll try that as soon as I get more wire. I made a coil using a thin 2 inch round magnet, similar to the kind used in speakers, but did not get good results, maybe due to poor permeability.
Since I can't obtain any 2 or 3 inch toroids. I'll have to look for an old monitor or crt Tv. to pull one out of.
I also have another Jt that is lighting one Led or more, from two AAs batteries, while it's also charging two more AAs. The 4 batteries are needing to be swapped back and forth several times a day to keep all of them all charged up and lighting the leds, but it has been lighting and charging very well, untill the batteries finally gave out after a couple of weeks. I was using regular non rechargeable batteries, which are all I can get here.
I have not had any luck with secondaries yet, I think it's that there is not enough inductance from my coils yet, but I'll get to that soon.
I love the way my newest Jt lights up from the tiny solar panel, with no batteries. I'll try hooking up a charge capacitor to it soon to see what it will do. It would be nice if it can charge during the day from sunlight next to a window , then light the Leds all night long.
Good luck with your tests...
NickZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi NickZ, glad that calculator panel will have some use for you, will be interesting to see if it can charge something. The one test finished with the 1/2" toroid w/ 24 gauge JTC and the 6 christmas leds, It ran for 14.5 hours, though I think I can stretch that to 16 hours or so with a few tweaks. I also made a JTC with the 1" toroid using 24 gauge and the frequency was too low as I could hear the annoying high pitched sound, so that will not do, and if I put thicker gauge wire on it as shown in the original version of my lantern, the run time was only 4 hours. So it seems more tests need to be done to try and get the larger toroids to perform better and not be audible, which I'm not sure is possible till I try some different things. Though so far, the best combination for a fairly usable light with good duration, is the 1/2" toroid with 24 gauge bifilar which is now running the modified lantern w/ the 1 AA rechargeable. Maybe the compromise would be if one wanted more light, would be to use multiple smaller toroids to maintain the higher frequency which gives better efficiency and run them all off the same AA of course with each toroid having its own transistor. Here is a pic of the lantern modified again with 6 of those warm white christmas leds in parallel. I used one of those plastic connector strips to mount the leds and replace the other unit that slid inside the plastic tube diffuser.
peace love light
Tyson


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[NickZ]

SkyW and All:
I think that it's important that any of the toroid coils and wire combinations are able to light off of a single AA, if not we're just pissing in the wind.
I think that with the right solar panel and the right JT circuits ,a solar panel can run many JTs circuits, at night and recharge itself (capacitors) during the day. That is what I'm working towards, for now.
My tiny 2 volt solar panel is charging a capacitor now. So far it is all working like it should on about 1 1/2 volts and can even go down to less than 1/2 volt and the Led is still on, even with 7 leds (dim).
More tests will be done on it today to see how long it will last at night just from the charge in the capacitor.
Although I don't have super caps, I do have a handfull of capacitors that come out of Pc power supplies, etz... Maybe someone can recommend which mF and voltage caps can be used best. I feel like soldering all the caps together to see what they'll charge to. No, Yes?
Your tests on the lantern are looking real promising. Check the link to the warm whites leds from Ebay, (below).
I have a 16 light Led Emergency Back-up light that I'll be doing something similar with, also. It charges a capacitor and last about 3 hours now as is, but hopefull I can install a Jt into the circuit and make it last a whole night, running off the capacitor that it has. It recharges the cap back, off of the grid.

Check out these warm white 140degree Leds:
20 PC 0.5 Watt StrawHat 8mm 140° WARM White LED 90Kmcd - eBay (item 250448852092 end time Oct-13-10 16:47:29 PDT)

[SkyWatcher]

Hi NickZ, thanks for the info. on your calculator panel tests, sounds good so far. That link you posted to those warm white higher output leds looks good, though a little pricey compared to the 3 bucks for 20 christmas led string. Oh, i forget to mention that the lantern I modified twice now, had a resistor stuffed inside that square tube led assembly for each led, so there was 12 resistors each 540 ohms that were limiting the light output of the lantern, since now without all those resistors and the new leds, it is twice the brightness for around the same duration, still testing that particular circuit in the lantern right now. Going to try and get the frequency higher on the 1" toroid, so that it might be usable without the noise.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

Solar joule thief

@SkyW:
The 0.5 watt bulbs are more expensive buy, but in an effort to light ones house, they can be built into any 20 (or more) empty Led Panels, and alot of light can can be obtained. There are already many different multi Led light bulbs being made now, ready to go.
I was also thinking how a combination of different color Leds can be placed into the ready made empty printed circuit panels, and the desired color factor is able to be obtained. As I still don't particularly like the light emited by regular white Leds, but it is much more acceptable when the lights are dimmed down, or inside of lamps. I have not seen the warm whites leds here yet.
Thanks for the pics of the lantern, looks like a nicer color tone Led (straw hat) I'll send one of the tiny solar Jt that I just made, just let me know WHERE to attach the picture. I can't find that.
I also can't find a spelling checker, if there is any.
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi nick, theres different ways to post pics, one is use energeticforums attachments feature which has a paperclip by it, or use an image hosting site like what i use, image shack. Yes those leds your looking at are probably much brighter, if your looking to replace something like 40 or 60 watt regular light bulbs, though even the 20 led string i showed in the pic isn't too bad. I bundled one of the led strings into a cluster and mounted it into a cfl base and installed in light socket and I'd say it's equivalent to a 15 to 20 watt incandescent bulb, while this led string draws around 2.4 watts. That last test with the 6 warm white leds in parallel finished, it's about the same maximum I had using the other leds, about 17 hours of light good enough to do all the normal things in a bathroom except maybe put on makeup for women. Though the output could be raised or use multiple toroids with more leds in parallel and it would be even better. The lantern I modified has to be doing better than most low light lanterns as far as output and run time. I have a few luxeon flashlights that I'm curious how well this JT circuit can run them.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

SkyW:
Here is a picture of my little solar panel lighting the Led bulb. It can charge capacitors also, I imagine a battery or two also, I'll soon know more
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi Nick, thanks for the pic, I like visuals. That's a nice bumblebee wire color scheme, though are you sure that's a ferrite toroid, looks good though. I am rewinding one of my 1" ferrite toroids like the gadgetmall layout to run a 1watt led and see what I can charge or run on the regular JT output.
peace love light
Tyson


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[Jenn Meredith]

Does anyone know about private solar rebates?

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about getting solar power for my home in New Jersey. I was originally thinking about doing a state rebate, which would be about $5,000 off. I also saw this thing in the news about this solar company doing a $6,000 rebate, but it is a private rebate that is not involved with the state government.

GeoPeak Energy Launches NJ Solar Rebate Program for New Jersey Homeowners

On other instances, I also heard about this rebate from Renewable Energy World--http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/09/cant-get-solar-rebates-create-your-own-

Have any of you gotten any of these private rebates? Do you really get your money back, and when will you get it? Are there any other companies in New Jersey that are giving these rebates?

Thanks,
Jenn
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