Storing Cookies (See : http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/basics/legal/cookies/index_en.htm ) help us to bring you our services at overunity.com . If you use this website and our services you declare yourself okay with using cookies .More Infos here:
https://overunity.com/5553/privacy-policy/
If you do not agree with storing cookies, please LEAVE this website now. From the 25th of May 2018, every existing user has to accept the GDPR agreement at first login. If a user is unwilling to accept the GDPR, he should email us and request to erase his account. Many thanks for your understanding

User Menu

Custom Search

Author Topic: Joule Thief  (Read 6276626 times)

Pirate88179

  • elite_member
  • Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 8366
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13275 on: April 05, 2010, 08:19:30 PM »
Jeanna:

Good point.

Here is a repost of a link to my video of running 400 leds from a "dead" AA battery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVvdCovYDY

I have to admit, I would hate to be a new person coming into this topic and having to read all of the previous posts.  I would do it, but it would take me a while to do so.

The above video was with the Fuji JT whereas Jeanna's was with her hand wound JT.  I made this video before I began winding the JT with secondaries in the MK1/Jeanna style.

Bill

ltseung888

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4363
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13276 on: April 05, 2010, 10:06:16 PM »
I don't want to be a pest, but maybe some folks who have recently arrived have not noticed this circuit from last year.

http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=7617.msg203334#msg203334

That is a direct link to a post with pictures and above it and below it are the relevant details.
Basically there are 30 blazing bright A running from a single AAA NiMH taking a couple of mA to run the basic circuit and all the lights are coming from the sedcondary which does not add to the draw a bit.

Why doesn't someone move this circuit forward instead of reworking how to make pulses?

In addition:
If making a few leds light from a AAA is considered ou because leds cannot run at all on a single AAA, then what pray tell is running 30 leds from a single AAA?

Please excuse this outburst.
 ;)

thank you,

jeanna

here is one pic of this:

Thank you, Jeanna.

My plan is to build a battery charger for the electric car batteries.  We know about the Bob Boyce Hex Controller Battery Charger.  The battery is automatically recharged from the circuit without connection to mains electricity.

I was hoping to do something similar with the Joule Thief.  Any suggestions?

tysb3

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 206
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13277 on: April 05, 2010, 10:26:20 PM »
@ All

My latest goal is get efficiency 1 or >1, - not lighting a LEDs. (corrected for Jeanna)
I think , I'm close to gadgetmalls idea. He was trying to charge another battery, I'll try to selfcharge running battery.
I don't want to do traffic on this tread.
I want to move to gadgetmalls Second Stage Joule Thief Circuits. If nobody against? , somebody is inerested in my works ?
If not, - I can be  quiet.
Now this tread is still.
I wish gadgetmall comeback.e
« Last Edit: April 05, 2010, 10:55:27 PM by tysb3 »

Cap-Z-ro

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3545
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13278 on: April 05, 2010, 10:31:12 PM »

jeanna quote:

" Whenever I remove the battery and the circuit is on 'drain' from the supercap, the 4 last lights first get brighter and then slowly dim to out. Ultimately, they outlast the rest. "


I believe there may be some value to that phenomenon which should be explored.

Regards...


jeanna

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3546
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13279 on: April 05, 2010, 10:42:26 PM »
Thank you, Jeanna.

My plan is to build a battery charger for the electric car batteries.  We know about the Bob Boyce Hex Controller Battery Charger.  The battery is automatically recharged from the circuit without connection to mains electricity.

I was hoping to do something similar with the Joule Thief.  Any suggestions?

The biggest point is to use the joule thief as a pulse generator to generate pulses from only the secondary or pickup coil, and to never use the C-E junction for a led.

I do not have any more specific suggestions beyond building one or two jt circuits and using them for experiments.
It takes patience, because you will only have ghost voltage at first, but just keep cycling the recharge.

My battery took less and less ghost charge for 6 cycles before it turned around. Now, it gets almost as much charge as with amps from a normal charger.

John Bedini says it takes 20-30 cycles for a battery to take a good charge from spikes.
I agree.


So, in short...
Do it!!
And please report.

jeanna

edit add:
@tysb3
what does
Quote
not A leeds.
mean?
Can you say it a different way?

jadaro2600

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1257
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13280 on: April 06, 2010, 03:56:33 AM »
@ All

My latest goal is get efficiency 1 or >1, - not lighting a LEDs. (corrected for Jeanna)
I think , I'm close to gadgetmalls idea. He was trying to charge another battery, I'll try to selfcharge running battery.
I don't want to do traffic on this tread.
I want to move to gadgetmalls Second Stage Joule Thief Circuits. If nobody against? , somebody is inerested in my works ?
If not, - I can be  quiet.
Now this tread is still.
I wish gadgetmall comeback.e

Keep in mind the notion that loading the circuit will create different operating conditions that not loading it, I've found that without a load, the circuit consumes more energy.

tysb3

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 206
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13281 on: April 06, 2010, 05:33:14 AM »
[quote A=jadaro2600 link=topic=6123.msg236456#msg236456 date=1270518993]
Keep in mind the notion that loading the circuit will create different operating conditions that not loading it, I've found that without a load, the circuit consumes more energy.
[/quote]

Thanks, jadaro2600,
I'm familar with  "2 connected cans" tricks.
Soon I'll finish first experiment of brake OU from first assault  :))))) and post some results.
It's nothing special but I'll withstand from it.
I still have tooooooo mach place for improve - 2 JTs !!!!!    :))))
seconds JTs  coil pull some amperage..... (that's for reserve)

Mk1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2068
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13282 on: April 11, 2010, 09:20:56 PM »

jadaro2600

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1257
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13283 on: April 13, 2010, 04:21:37 AM »
Things got quiet here,

Hopefully I'll have more time to work on some alternative circuits in May ..after all these finals get done with.

conradelektro

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1842
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13284 on: April 13, 2010, 07:16:57 PM »
To the Joule Thief Masters in this Forum!

I just built my first Joule Thief (and I know you moved way beyond that beginner level).

May be one of the experienced Joule Thief experimenters finds the time and has enough pity to give me some advice?

Attached find a cope shot and and some information about my Joule Thief.

I wounder whether the 15 KHz indicate that everything works well? I only get 2 Volts over the LED from a 1 Volt AAA battery. Chanell 1 is the measurement over the LED and Chanell 2 is the voltage over the battery. It does not work with a 0.5 Volt battery, but a 0.8 Volt battery is enough to light the LED.

The Joule Thief is now running about 4 hours and the transistor 2N3904 stays cool (AAA battery about 1 Volt).

-----------------
The big question:  Did I put too many or too few turns over the Toroid?
-----------------

Greetings, Conrad

gyulasun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4117
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13285 on: April 13, 2010, 08:38:32 PM »
Hi Conrad,

Please allow one notice with respect to the output voltage, for you sound as if you were expecting more output voltage?  (If you don't, than sorry  :) )

Red LEDs forward voltage drop range between 1.7-1.9V or so and they are very good in doubling as Zener diodes because they can nicely limit the voltage across their legs when they sense forward polarity. So no surprise you see a near 2Vpp across it, the LED keeps collector AC voltage at its forward voltage level, cannot do much else... 
Just place a similar red LED in series with the first one (also in forward direction of course) and you will find a near 4Vpp voltage across them with your nice scope.
And if you increase the number of turns at the output to get an up-transforming turns ratio, then you may connect more LEDs in series but you surely know this.

rgds,  Gyula

crowclaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 327
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13286 on: April 13, 2010, 08:49:49 PM »
To the Joule Thief Masters in this Forum!

I just built my first Joule Thief (and I know you moved way beyond that beginner level).


Greetings, Conrad
Hi Conrad and welcome, you'll find plenty of help and  support here for your project. Your circuit is fine... now try adding  another led(s) in series with the one you have!  and see how many more you can light! Spend some time going back through this thread to give you further inspiration for what you can do with this simple circuit. A single LED will light up to reach it's maximum working voltage after which point it's series current increases rapidly and the LED will then overheat and fail. The working voltage is generally up towards 3 volts depending on colour for standard LED's. Well done Kind Regards

conradelektro

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1842
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13287 on: April 13, 2010, 09:16:20 PM »
Hello gyulasun and crowclaw !

Thank you very much for your help, and it helps a lot. I overlooked the voltage drop and will try more LEDs as you suggested. I will also experiment with different numbers of turns.

---------     What also puzzles me is the frequency.   -------------

---------     15 KHz seems to be rather low. Is this the impedance of the Toroid? How could I get a higher frequency?    -------------

I went through many posts and much was helpful. And I started the winding of a big coil for a "Slayer exciter". I found the forum GBluer(Slayer) Exciter. I am fascinated by the videos posted by Slayer and Lidmotor and I think a lot about Slayers circuit. It is simpler than the Stiffler thing, which I do not understand at all.

I am also aware of the experiments with a secondary on the Toroid, as was discussed in this forum and elsewhere (I collected many hints from the posts). I want to try that too.

It will take me a while to catch up to the level of this forum. But I got most of the stuff now (transistors, diodes, LEDs, enameled wire, neons, ...).

Thank you again, Conrad

Pirate88179

  • elite_member
  • Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 8366
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13288 on: April 13, 2010, 10:29:12 PM »
To the Joule Thief Masters in this Forum!

I just built my first Joule Thief (and I know you moved way beyond that beginner level).

May be one of the experienced Joule Thief experimenters finds the time and has enough pity to give me some advice?

Attached find a cope shot and and some information about my Joule Thief.

I wounder whether the 15 KHz indicate that everything works well? I only get 2 Volts over the LED from a 1 Volt AAA battery. Chanell 1 is the measurement over the LED and Chanell 2 is the voltage over the battery. It does not work with a 0.5 Volt battery, but a 0.8 Volt battery is enough to light the LED.

The Joule Thief is now running about 4 hours and the transistor 2N3904 stays cool (AAA battery about 1 Volt).

-----------------
The big question:  Did I put too many or too few turns over the Toroid?
-----------------

Greetings, Conrad

Conrad:

I see a potential problem with your JT.  First, you used a powdered iron toroid not ferrite.  Some of these can work ok, but some do not seem to work at all or with lower output.  Even if you used a ferrite toroid of known properties, if it was much different that what we were using back then, you would need to tune your circuit to the toroid.

In other words, the 1k resistor only works under certain conditions.  Hook up a 5 k pot to the base with no other resistor.  Adjust the circuit until you get the best numbers of whatever you are looking for be it low amp draw or highest volts out.  measure the pot and use this a your resistor value and remove the pot.  Or you can leave it in if you want and just use that.

Otherwise, it looks like a nicely wound JT there.  Your freq. is in the correct range so I suspect that when you adjust your resistance to the base, you will see better results.  This toroid may work for you is what I am trying to say, once you tune the circuit to it.

I hope this helps.

Bill

jeanna

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3546
Re: Jule Thief
« Reply #13289 on: April 13, 2010, 11:13:26 PM »
Hi Conrad.
Yes, your jtc looks fine to me as well.
My guess on the 15Khz is it might be the toroid.
The elements of a joule thief circuit become complicated very quickly.

In my circuits I add another coil around the toroid and it is on that other wire that I can add many more leds in series.
In fact, I need to caution you about adding too many turns for one led.
I normally advise to limit the turns to 6 turns for the first led.
Then, add another and another until the led is bright.

Now, you can know how many turns you need to make for each led in series.
It is easy on most of the little toroids, like the one you used, to add enough turns to put 6-8 leds in series.

So, try adding a 6 turn pick up and see how well it does.
Oh remember that if the light does not turn on one way turn it around, because this secondary-pickup wire has a neg and pos side.

I assume you know that you must scrape off the varnish from the ends of the magnet wire before it will work.
(I am reminding all those others who are lurking and do not know to do this.)

jeanna

edit
I see many of us posted at the same time.
I agree with Bill, the blue toroid looks like a lower permeability toroid.
If it is giving 15KHz, you can try a secondary as I just described.
If it is low permeability you will need many more turns to get a dangerously high voltage, so give it a try.
j