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Author Topic: Joule thief that could light the whole house  (Read 22918 times)

CG2016

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Joule thief that could light the whole house
« on: July 04, 2016, 10:50:43 PM »
So ive been making and tweeking for awhile. This unit will light many ( dimmable 120 vac led bulbs) on battery power from 2.4 vdc to 18 vdc.
Shown first is my original unit, then showen is my final unit. .it keeps the current constant no matter how many led bulbs you add ( ive only tested to 10).
I have these connected to my shed and basement lighting and the batteries are charge by my wind turbine.

http://youtu.be/1fp6mlCowsQ
http://youtu.be/zfnoQgN4vBI

AlienGrey

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2016, 01:33:05 AM »
So ive been making and tweeking for awhile. This unit will light many ( dimmable 120 vac led bulbs) on battery power from 2.4 vdc to 18 vdc.
Shown first is my original unit, then showen is my final unit. .it keeps the current constant no matter how many led bulbs you add ( ive only tested to 10).
I have these connected to my shed and basement lighting and the batteries are charge by my wind turbine.

http://youtu.be/1fp6mlCowsQ
http://youtu.be/zfnoQgN4vBI
Can anyone find the circuit details on the forum ;) ??????????????????????????
please send a pointer fanks

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2016, 01:54:02 AM »
Try New 2016 BJL_LED   in the electronics section

conradelektro

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2016, 03:35:50 PM »
It is a nice hobby to play with Joule Thief type circuits, but if you want decent light from a 12 V battery it is best to by a DC to AC converter, e.g.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150W-Car-DC-12V-to-AC-110V-220V-Power-Inverter-Charger-Converter-Boost-Board-/172124189007?hash=item281366b14f:g:FIgAAOSwu1VW3AUl    for about $ 10.--

This example of an DC AC converter allows you to hook up any sort of lamps (110 V or 220 V CFLs or LED-lamps) which consume up to 150 Watt to a 12 V battery.

You will see that the brightness of the lamps is much better than with a Joule Thief (for the same amount of input power).

The modern DC to AC converters have an efficiency of about 80%.

Most people over estimate the light output of lamps hooked up to a Joule Thief. Do a proper comparison (measurement) and you will see.

Here http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMPLETE-KIT-100-W-Watt-100W-Solar-Panel-1500W-Inverter-12V-RV-Boat-Off-Grid-/251401773662?hash=item3a88b6a25e:g:lyIAAOSw9r1WAcsq  you see a complete kit (you have to provide the 12 V batteries) that allows you to charge 12 V batteries with a 100 W solar panel and then you can have up to 1500 Watt 110 Volt AC (via the included DC AC converter).

I just gave you examples. Shop around and you will find better deals. A Joule Thief is a nice experiment, but not for proper lighting from 12 V batteries (in a camper or boat or little cabin).

Greetings, Conrad

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2016, 04:04:11 PM »
For some reason inverters have a problem with leds. The brightness of the leds was measured and is the same as when run on mains power. Plus this circuit is much cheaper and runs cooler than an inverter. Maybe you could build it and see. Can the inverter keep lighting the lamps on a dead battery like this can? ( Down to 2.4 volts). I doubt it.
Power supplied by the 12 v battery was measured at 6 watts , Pretty good I'd  say.

So try it. You'll like it. ;D

conradelektro

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2016, 07:22:56 PM »
For some reason inverters have a problem with leds. The brightness of the leds was measured and is the same as when run on mains power. Plus this circuit is much cheaper and runs cooler than an inverter. Maybe you could build it and see. Can the inverter keep lighting the lamps on a dead battery like this can? ( Down to 2.4 volts). I doubt it.
Power supplied by the 12 v battery was measured at 6 watts , Pretty good I'd  say.

So try it. You'll like it. ;D

Light brightness is not easy to measure. You need a light meter
http://www.ebay.com/itm/cmltzone-Digital-Light-Meter-Lumenmeter-200000-Lux-Illuminance-Tester-LCD-/252442663566?hash=item3ac6c15a8e:g:4VkAAOSweWVXc0l4
and a rigorous measuring protocol (best in a box, always the same distance between light meter and light bulb).

I played endlessly with many Joule Thief type circuits and once I got a lumen-meter and learned how to do the light measurements I saw the light. Eye sight is a poor judge of light brightness.

One should not exhaust a 12 V battery down to 2.4 Volts.

There a 12 V LED-lamps for campers, cars and boats, then you need no converter just connect them to the 12 V battery:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-12V-LED-T10-WHITE-LIGHT-Camper-Bulb-Globe-Garden-Wedge-5SMD-Car-Parker/111914619862?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D37254%26meid%3Df55b1b8ba4a34c19b6739ce38996c192%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D121597979142

But if you like your Joule Thief circuit, it is fine with me.

Greetings, Conrad

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2016, 08:56:46 PM »
Proper measurements were made, using the exact same criteria in both cases . It functions as advertised. And you can use the batteries you assumed were dead, to run it.
By the way there's something new called an ultra capacitor and it doesn't care much how low it goes etc. Hardly ever goes bad.

SkyWatcher123

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2016, 04:31:11 AM »
Hi cg2016, thanks for showing video, could you please post circuit drawing and build details, thanks.
peace love light

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2016, 01:10:01 PM »
Details of the build are mentioned on youtube video description or comments.
I will be making a new video of the updated unit in about a week or so
Here's  a video from a couple years ago of my first unit. The new one is an improved version of this one.
https://youtu.be/og81-4iDyHU

Cherryman

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2016, 02:39:37 PM »
Great sharing!


You know if there is a 220V version  also?

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #10 on: July 08, 2016, 02:58:26 PM »
If a resistor is removed from the circuit, I have measured up to 250 volts, but I'm  not sure it would light a Euro style lamp. I have no access to 220 volt ac led bulbs, so i couldn't test them.
Disclaimer is: Different manufacturers bulbs will light differently at different voltages and frequencies, also some will light on dc  as well as ac.
Internal circuitry of each style bulb is different designs due to manufacturers trying not to infringe on each others patent protections.

SkyWatcher123

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2016, 06:07:07 PM »
Hi folks, for anyone interested, i found his latest device circuit.
peace love light

AlienGrey

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2016, 01:04:46 AM »
Hi folks, for anyone interested, i found his latest device circuit.
peace love light
Hi ! If it needs a huge heat sink then it must be wasting energy I wonder if changing the transistor to a mosfet and using a mosfet driver would help ?

Just a thought.

AG

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2016, 01:29:20 AM »
That's just a left over note from a previous version that was never removed .
What's interesting about the comments is people are trashing and trying to find fault with circuit before they even try it.  Very interesting.
If works as described. I haven't seen one this small, do as much. You can add extra lamps and the current draw doesnt increase. Been tweeking this circuit for two years. I'm happy with its operation. 12 volts @ 0.500 A (6 watts)  makes a great camping, survival, lets go sledding at 12am gizmo, string a wire with 10 bulbs down the slope and go. Continuous usage with one bulb gave useable light for over 18 hours from 4 zinc carbon , dollar store dry cells.
I would imagine you could use a small 7AH sla battery intermittently like normal usage and you would get survival light for a long time. You just have to disconnect the battery when you turn off the light instead of disconnecting the lamp because the circuit still draws current even without a load, because the oscillator is still running.

CG2016

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Re: Joule thief lights whole house
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2016, 02:29:32 AM »
There are a couple of notables.
Only dimmable led bulbs should be used
40-60w equivalent types
Not all bulbs perform equaly
Ive found philips slimline and the EcoSmart bulbs from the home depot store work the best.
Some sylvania, NO DOLLAR STORE BULBS unless you use the hv spike output.
Some Cree, some Feit
No GE stick lights.
Non dimmable bulbs usually strobe on and off.
You just have to buy them and try them.
The 2SD2081 transistor is simlar to a TO220 but it is ALL plastic except the leads. So I don't know why they designed it that way.