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Author Topic: Anyone try this for a JT?  (Read 11992 times)

Legalizeshemp420

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Anyone try this for a JT?
« on: October 02, 2013, 04:29:34 AM »
I think I found a pretty nice transistor for a JT but I am still new at this so you tell me if you have tried it or if it is pretty good for one based on its datasheet.

http://www.diodes.com/datasheets/ZTX1048A.pdf

Pirate88179

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2013, 05:43:17 AM »
http://www.overunity.com/13175/25mv-joule-thief-powered-by-peltier-merely-using-our-body-heat-free-energy-247/msg350688/#msg350688

It was discussed a bit in this topic link above starting with the post in the link.

I have been playing with these of late:

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=4aVxpR%2fL9VKG%252bXivuPIp9Q%3d%3d&utm_source=findchips&utm_medium=aggregator&utm_campaign=512-FJD5553TM&utm_term=FJD5553

 "Fairchild High Voltage Fast Switching Transistors  Fairchild's high voltage fast switching transistors are bipolar junction transistors that provide ultra-fast switching speeds and low saturation voltage. The FJD5555 offers saturation voltage as low as 0.5V and the FJD5553 as low as 0.23V. The energy-efficient transistors feature a high breakdown voltage of 1050V and are packed in space-conserving 64mm2 DPAK packaging. The devices are ideal for electronic ballast, power supply, and industrial designs."

If I can ever get my circuit to work I think these are the best I have seen so far.  Down to .23 volts operation (probably lower) and can handle high voltage.  It is the smd package but there are workarounds for that.  I am always in constant search for the "perfect" joule thief.  I have about 20 of the 5553's.

Bill

Legalizeshemp420

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2013, 06:00:24 AM »
MAN OH MAN!!!

I don't do SMT so when you said there are workarounds for that my eyes grew large....HOW?  The only thing I saw was a way where they soldered a wire across the terminals and cut the wire between them but that doesn't help me.

I was reading this about the right transistors for the JT
Quote
The JT transistor must also have a low Vce(sat) (collector to emitter saturation voltage) at high currents. I look at the graph and see if the transistor’s collector saturation voltage is 1/4 volt or less at currents of at least 250 mA, but hopefully at closer to a half amp.  The BC337 (Vishay) shows the Vce(sat) rising above 0.25V when the collector current gets up to more than a half amp.  Every BC337 that I have used can handle current better than a PN2222A or 2N4401, so I recommend it for JT use.  The same Motorola datasheet for the 2N3904 shows that the Vce(sat) rises above 0.25V when the collector current is about 75 mA, and at 200 mA it is over a half volt, and that is very bad, because it is wasted power heating the transistor and not lighting the LED.
That is from Acmefixer on his blog and the graph I was looking at on that SMT looked bad.  What did I overlook?

TinselKoala

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2013, 06:10:41 AM »
You can get adapter boards for the devices, but mounting the device to the adapter board can be tricky, unless you use solder paste and hot air or an oven.
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/index.php?cPath=2200&gclid=CJWSr-Gi97kCFepZ7AodVzwAiA
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/icsoldering.php

Pirate88179

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2013, 06:15:28 AM »
Well, you can see the transistor in the photo.  It just happened to line up with the copper ringed holes in this proto board.  Before I found this board, I simply soldered 22 ga. wire to each of the transistor terminals and then soldered that to an existing circuit board in place of a regular npn transitor.  Since my circuit does not work (yet) I can not offer anything about the performance of this transistor in a JT circuit.

I will keep everyone posted about this in the JT thread.

Bill

Legalizeshemp420

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2013, 06:18:04 AM »
You can get adapter boards for the devices, but mounting the device to the adapter board can be tricky, unless you use solder paste and hot air or an oven.
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/index.php?cPath=2200&gclid=CJWSr-Gi97kCFepZ7AodVzwAiA
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/icsoldering.php
A long time ago, when SMT just came out, I swear I saw an adapter that would turn SMT into through hole.  Some where with a door type mechanism like you see on a CPU that clamps it down and on the other side were the pins.  I just wish they still made those since no soldering is needed and you could easily remove and try another at your leisure.

I don't have the space, patience, hot air machine, or the magnifier scope needed to do SMT else I would be using them for most applications.

Pirate88179

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2013, 06:44:36 AM »
I use a regular soldering iron.  This surface mount transistor is not really all that small like all the other smt devices I have seen. (or tried to see)  I do use a magnifying lamp to solder with but that is because my eyes are not that good anymore and my last pair of glasses I got 20 years ago are not doing the job these days.  Using a small heat sink, it is easy to solder 22ga. wire to this trans. for through hole mounting.  I would post a photo of one with that but it is late and I work in the a.m.

Try your transistor and see what it does.  Not everyone here has the same goals for a JT. My goals are to have a lot of light on a single "dead" AA and have it run down as low as possible.  I have been doing pretty good at this using high voltage/high frequency and can light 400 leds drawing 250 mA's.  I can also light a 60 watt equiv. Cree LED bulb (gutted) at about 210 mA's.  It is a work in progress for me but I have had many failures of late.  Oh well, failure is when we learn right?

Bill

Legalizeshemp420

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2013, 06:58:49 AM »
I use a regular soldering iron.  This surface mount transistor is not really all that small like all the other smt devices I have seen. (or tried to see)  I do use a magnifying lamp to solder with but that is because my eyes are not that good anymore and my last pair of glasses I got 20 years ago are not doing the job these days.  Using a small heat sink, it is easy to solder 22ga. wire to this trans. for through hole mounting.  I would post a photo of one with that but it is late and I work in the a.m.

Try your transistor and see what it does.  Not everyone here has the same goals for a JT. My goals are to have a lot of light on a single "dead" AA and have it run down as low as possible.  I have been doing pretty good at this using high voltage/high frequency and can light 400 leds drawing 250 mA's.  I can also light a 60 watt equiv. Cree LED bulb (gutted) at about 210 mA's.  It is a work in progress for me but I have had many failures of late.  Oh well, failure is when we learn right?

Bill
That is my goal as well but my goal is diverging for the last few days after I made the mods to Lidmotor's Penny circuit.

My eyes started to go about 2 or 3 years ago and before that I had 20/12 vision (what people could see at 20 feet I could at 12).

I use a pair of 3.0 glasses from the dollar tree to see with when working with the parts as it frees my hands for soldering.

e2matrix

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2013, 07:20:34 PM »
Not sure anyone answered your question about the transistor in the OP but it seems to me it might have too low of voltage capabilities, i.e. it would likely be easy to fry it in a JT.   I'm no expert on reading datasheets but that's what I got out of looking at it as I think the JT can create some high spikes.     

crowclaw

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Re: Anyone try this for a JT?
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2013, 08:52:53 PM »
Just a quick word regarding SMT devices to any one likely to be put off using them within their projects. It's really down to practice, using a narrow pencil bit and liquid flux and you can quickly master removal and replacement. Copper strip board (Veroboard) is easy to mount SMT's directly onto the strips or even the perf board that Pirate uses for his work. A real of solder wick is useful for moping up excess solder or shorts. I also use a hot air propane gas pencil for removing certain parts, but most items including chips can be removed with just an iron with practice. There's plenty of scrap circuit boards assigned to dumps with a wealth of goodies for practicing on. So don't be put off guy's...most of my projects are now made up of a fare mix of SMT and conventional components. Furthermore circuitry becomes more compact, have fun. Crow