Joule Ringer!

[skaght]

Some odd behaviors...

I've been playing with the J-ringer with max light output and finding some really odd behaviors. I'm running at 5 volts, using caps and resistors instead of bifilars and I've been increasing capacitance, while decreasing resistance to maximize light output. I'm running a larger current draw, around 200 mA continuous. The transistor does not heat up at all. You can get a CFL reasonably bright, but after it's been on for a couple minutes, the CFL turns off and current draw goes virtually to zero.

I thought I'd blown something at first, but it seems to be some sort of capacitance somewhere that slowly builds until it shuts down the circuit. If you leave it alone for long enough, the effect discharges and you can relight your CFL again for a couple minutes. It's just odd, so I thought I'd share it with the group to see if it sparks anyone's interest. I was trying to get the CFL full bright to see how much power it consumed.

The other strange behavior I noticed is that if I am within two feet of the circuit and try to use my laptop computer, the mouse track pad goes all wonky. After discovering the effect, I quickly moved my computer further from the circuit!

[John_Bedini]

Joule Ringer

Jbignes5,
I hate special transistors as their made for special applications I say this can be done without that transistor with some tricks to the circuit. I'm going to cut open a 2n5885 and build the oscillator right into the device with the coil mounted on top of the chip.

When I get pictures I will post it and the circuit. I must go back and look for LaserSabers original circuit. That CFL looks like a big Zener diode to the oscillator on start up. And the other thing here is the CFL in the base circuit anywhere cause this all makes a difference. But I'm going to give it a try dissecting a power transistor that will run at 30Khz.
John B

[Matthew Jones]

I tried the triple 4401 Darlington and it worked pretty good.
I added some resistance (7.5k ohms) to the base as well a diode and capacitor (With the ground of the cap on the base). It stopped the strobing and made the light illuminate at a constant rate.
Its a little dim still but the funny thing is when the circuit gets low (6v -) the light gets brighter. But when it hits 5.5 volt in the cap (Started with 12v +) it cuts out.
It ran about 20 minutes this way.

So if anybody blinking still try a little resistance on your base.

Cheers
Matt

[fusionchip]

Runaway Circuit

Anyone had a runaway condition where all of the sudden the cfl goes maximium brightness ,arcing all over the place and then smoked ? well i did using 1.2 volt c cell with two air core coilss(Bi) in series . bummer on xsistor . i need a couple dozen more . this mod i did to lasersabers circuit ran fine for about 40 hours on this battery (still waiting for caps)and i moved two air core coils close together(about 1/4 inch and it ranaway in like 10 seconds . all i saw was bright light ,blue sparks here and there and then smoke and darkness . It was something . .


Albert

[minoly]

capacitance

That is some very good results. What was total capacitance you were using?

that was with 2 of the 10,000 microfarad 10v caps in parallel.

[Muon]

End of day Report:
End of an almost wasted day, I officially hate floral wire. Spent the better part of the day getting another fuji transistor as these work best so far. We can get it to run w/ others but the best light and run times come from that transistor. Wound up a floral / copper coil 100ft floral 24 awg 120 feet copper 31 awg all on a small 3PM spool. 25 minutes decent light no flicker using 3 germaniums no additional coil 9 volt start up. It flickered for another 20 minutes after that.
Moved everything around to get it all looking pretty for the camera turned it up w/ 12 volts and poof – Hasta la vista trany. While moving things around, I some how caused a short in the newly wound coil.
The good news, I was getting ready to cannibalize (unwind) the main coil that comes w/ the 3PM kit and I decided to just put it on as is. one power winding and the trigger. Works almost as well as the floral wound coil. Of course I’ll have to pick up another fuji to be sure…

Impressive progress, Minoly! 25 minutes + 20 minutes flickering is awesome. And that from just TWO caps. I say hurray!

[yx630514]

This is the energy amplification?

Hello everybody:
Forgive me, my English is not good, only to feel the device is very interesting, this circuit is to amplify the energy of it?

XuYuan

[FRC]

Yes

Hello everybody:
Forgive me, my English is not good, only to feel the device is very interesting, this circuit is to amplify the energy of it?

XuYuan

Yes, but also to retain it and prolong it as much as possible with capacitors or
coils. Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

FRC

[ewizard]

Anyone had a runaway condition where all of the sudden the cfl goes maximium brightness ,arcing all over the place and then smoked ? well i did using 1.2 volt c cell with two air core coilss(Bi) in series . bummer on xsistor . i need a couple dozen more . this mod i did to lasersabers circuit ran fine for about 40 hours on this battery (still waiting for caps)and i moved two air core coils close together(about 1/4 inch and it ranaway in like 10 seconds . all i saw was bright light ,blue sparks here and there and then smoke and darkness . It was something . .


Albert

Was that from the schematic you had previously posted? Sounds like you got a surge of energy from somewhere. Maybe if the positioning of the coils was done very carefully you might get a self runner with excess energy. Maybe move them very very slowly together or find a way to limit the energy once they start (I assume you hit some resonance that looped). Sounds like an exciting find but maybe a kill switch will be good to have.

[whacky0]

@fusionchip I've seen the runaway condition when the cfl is disconnected from - rail, cfl goes bright, draw goes way up. I'm not sure if that's the same thing as what your talking about. This happened to me without any coils, just res and cap.
What's the brightness like on your 40 hour mod? That was using just a Hazens coil and led on secondary? or with a bi-filar as well?

[synchro]

Zener diode circuit breaker CFL effect.

The CFL gas filled flourescent bulb has an operating voltage range that it's confined to. John Bedini notes that the CFL behaves like a Zener diode when starting while the transformer is building to the minimum CFL gas illumination excitement voltage. After the threshold is achieved, the glowing gas conducts electricity.

The CFL acts as a circuit breaker at the upper limit when the voltage exceeds the voltage level needed to maintain molecular excitment, and the CFL goes out interupting the circuit. CFL's of different makes have different gas constituents and hence different minimum and maximum voltage operating ranges.

When the upward operating limit of the CFL exceeds the transister voltage limit, the CFL looses any value as a circuit breaker wired between the transformer and the transister base. These limits are published by the manufacturers. Correct matching can save alot of wasted money on burned out transisters.

[ewizard]

I noticed in a couple configurations that the bulb began to fade as the cap ran down, then it would get a bit brighter a couple seconds and then fade again and then in the last second or two got real bright before going out. That point was by far the brightest it ran the whole time. I played around with trying to lower the voltage to the tranny and a couple places but couldn't enhance the effect.

[Matthew Jones]

I noticed in a couple configurations that the bulb began to fade as the cap ran down, then it would get a bit brighter a couple seconds and then fade again and then in the last second or two got real bright before going out. That point was by far the brightest it ran the whole time. I played around with trying to lower the voltage to the tranny and a couple places but couldn't enhance the effect.

I get that same thing. I just can't figure out why.

Matt

[xee2]

I noticed in a couple configurations that the bulb began to fade as the cap ran down, then it would get a bit brighter a couple seconds and then fade again and then in the last second or two got real bright before going out. That point was by far the brightest it ran the whole time. I played around with trying to lower the voltage to the tranny and a couple places but couldn't enhance the effect.

I noticed that also. I think it is jumping to a higher frequency (looks brighter when it gets turned on more often). The reverse current may be too low to return the capacitor all the way to zero volts when collector current (and thus energy stored in magnetic field) gets low. So the capacitor does not need to gain as much voltage before it triggers transistor again. But I am not sure.

[fusionchip]

Was that from the schematic you had previously posted? Sounds like you got a surge of energy from somewhere. Maybe if the positioning of the coils was done very carefully you might get a self runner with excess energy. Maybe move them very very slowly together or find a way to limit the energy once they start (I assume you hit some resonance that looped). Sounds like an exciting find but maybe a kill switch will be good to have.

It was one of the first ones i posted using lasersabers and a hazens drawing except i put two air coils in series . the second one was a 3 pound coil and i hooked its input where the germaniums connect to the + . i am trying increase the output without running more than 1.3 volts and as low as the transistors i have . I have a BUNCH of vintage one and can run it very low but they are rare .The transistor i used was a fugi and all i have of it is a little piece so no number.. it was dang close and the battery still had a volt in it and i moved the coils close and i achieved somthing i did not expect . too much of somthing and POOF !

Albert