Captret - Perpetual Light with Dead Batteries

[rave154]

amp draw now @ 0.242 mA.....voltage still at 12.67V

definietely an AC component to this...bouncing back and forth between the "REAL" capacitor ( the normal + & - terminals)...and the psuedo capacitor ( the top of cap & either + or - )

weird how youre getting the same 3.2VAC across the LED as i am
???

very odd

[rave154]

ok, i put two LED's in series..both lit as bright as just 1 was ( at least as far as i can tell with my eyes ).....amp immediately went down to 0.119mA...and voltage on battery has gone UP to 12.68

DC volts across BOTH LEDS = 3.53V...equally split between them
VAC across both LEDS = 6.9VAC

[dragon]

I think you found another form of Dr. Stifflers Sgate. I've had a JT circuit running for about an hour now and the input requirement has been falling slowly. It started at 4.5ma and droped very quickly to 4ma then slowly over time to it's present 1.7ma. No noticable change in battery voltage up or down but with that low of power draw I wouldn't expect to see anything.

I did check it with a scope and other than the normal 60hz noise I didn't see anything that jumped out at me.

In another test using a 10v 10000uf cap I found you can light an LED to full bright and it only needs to be tapped with the ground on the case every 3-4 seconds to keep it going with only a 1.5ma "boost" on each tap.

Fun little gizmo ibpointless !
________
Motorcycle tires

[ibpointless2]

ok, i put two LED's in series..both lit as bright as just 1 was ( at least as far as i can tell with my eyes ).....amp immediately went down to 0.119mA...and voltage on battery has gone UP to 12.68

DC volts across BOTH LEDS = 3.53V...equally split between them
VAC across both LEDS = 6.9VAC

WOW! Putting the LED's in series did light up as bright as if it was one!

Thanks to everyone who is giving such great ideas for the captret!

[miki02131]

You might be able to tell for sure whether this captret effect is really an open system effect by measuring the resistance between the [O] lead and the [-] lead. If the resistance is infinite then you have discovered something big. If that resistance is in the megohms, then this circuit is simply equivalent to power up an LED through a few megohms resistor. In the latter case, there may not be too much hope in this effort.

Miki Out.

[rave154]

measured the resistance as asked.csame to just over 1Mohm

also..went back to only 1 LED after briefly trying 2.now drawing 0.113 mA...battewry at 12.68V

[broli]

You might be able to tell for sure whether this captret effect is really an open system effect by measuring the resistance between the [O] lead and the [-] lead. If the resistance is infinite then you have discovered something big. If that resistance is in the megohms, then this circuit is simply equivalent to power up an LED through a few megohms resistor. In the latter case, there may not be too much hope in this effort.

Miki Out.

This is one of the first things I measured. When measured stand alone it starts around 1M ohm and goes up in a few seconds out of range of the meter. If you let it rest for a bit it can start from 400k ohm and go out of range.

However when you have used it in the above mentioned circuit it starts out negative goes through zero and starts to rise and go out of range over quite a bit of time.

Also for a more accurate light intensity reading it's best to use a photodiode:
Measure Light Intensity using Photodiode : Low Cost USB DAQ

[ibpointless2]

This is one of the first things I measured. When measured stand alone it starts around 1M ohm and goes up in a few seconds out of range of the meter. If you let it rest for a bit it can start from 400k ohm and go out of range.

However when you have used it in the above mentioned circuit it starts out negative goes through zero and starts to rise and go out of range over quite a bit of time.

Also for a more accurate light intensity reading it's best to use a photodiode:
Measure Light Intensity using Photodiode : Low Cost USB DAQ

I think its more than just a resistor, there is some strange things happening; like how it starts negative and goes to zero and into out of range. It being a resistor wouldn't explain the increase in voltage when read in AC mode of the meter. A resistor would drain the battery but other like me have experienced the voltage go up on a battery. The captret is very unique and i think i may have something here.

[rave154]

ok,

decided to start again with a fresh new cap ( same value 10 uF )..same battery started at 12.63V

batt now at 12.65V..drawing 0.580mA and dropping

i was pondering, wether to also have the top of the cap.connected to a "ground" in the house?


also have attatched a scope shot... 100mV per div....4mS per div time scale..definitely 50Hz

[rave154]

batery at 12.67V now...amp draw 0.220 mA

tried the "earth" connection at al places on the circuit..no change

[ibpointless2]

I just tried using a super cap. The LED didn't turn on right away but slowly came on and is still getting brighter. The 9 volt battery is a new one that is slowly charging up while the the power inside the super cap builds up and as the super cap builds up the LED lights up more!

[Zooty]

Just ran the experiment and i am getting the same results. Can't say if the battery is charging or not because it might just be bounce back from the initial charging of the cap but it has gone up a couple of millivolts. Current draw from a 12v 2.3ah battery is 0.09ma and the voltage across a 3v blue led is 2.4v. The led is not really bright but its definitely lit. I am also getting the AC voltage in one direction across the led and cap top and the 50hz signal on the scope. Interesting experiment.

[Zooty]

I just tried using a super cap. The LED didn't turn on right away but slowly came on and is still getting brighter. The 9 volt battery is a new one that is slowly charging up while the the power inside the super cap builds up and as the super cap builds up the LED lights up more!

What spec is your supercap?

[ibpointless2]

I used 10F @ 2.3 volt super caps. It took about 30 minutes for the LED to show light, My LEDs turn on at about 1.5 volts across the + and - of the super cap.

[sseti]

Did anyone noticed the same effect when cap + is disconected from the circuit?