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Author Topic: Joule Thief 101  (Read 944275 times)

tinman

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1380 on: April 03, 2016, 04:22:48 AM »
Now we get into the meat of the matter.   ;)

When the 1K resistor across the LED is removed, the LED goes out.



Yes indeed.

Now,below is the next test.
Start off including just one diode in the circuit-D1.
Check current flow reverse peak(when LED is lit by the 3% reverse spike.
then move your FG red lead to include the next diode,so as you now have two diodes included in the circuit. You should see a higher value reverse current spike during the LED on time.
Then include the 3rd diode in the circuit. Once again,you should see an increase in the reverse current spike value.
So as you include another diode into the circuit,the reverse current spike should go up-not down.
This would seem to be the reverse of what we should see,as we decrease the capacitance value as we place more diodes in series.
The second thing that says we should see a decrease in reverse current flow through the LED and 1k resistor,is because we also increase the voltage drop across the diodes as we add more of them into the circuit.

It is also odd that if we reduce the V/in by way of the FG,the LED gets duller,and the reverse current spike becomes less. But if we decrease the voltage by way of diode voltage drop,the LED gets brighter,and the reverse current spike increases.

Quote
But when I replace the resistor with a 2.2 uH inductor (DC resistance about 0.8 ohm) , the LED comes back on.

I did exactly this,and first thought that maybe the resistor was also inductive. But further test have shown that not to be the case,nor can i read any sort of inductive value of the resistor with the meter.


Brad

tinman

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1381 on: April 03, 2016, 04:51:35 AM »
Anyway....

Was looking into the battery oscillation more.  With the new circuit a relatively fresh AA battery is ringing at about 15mhz. The voltage swings seem quite high, so I put a white led across the battery. Circuit is running without load leds. Only the led across the battery.

Mags

What polarity is the LED in relation to the battery Mag's ?.

At 15 mhz,and being a new battery,i would think the LED is lit due to skin effect.


Brad

TinselKoala

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1382 on: April 03, 2016, 04:56:02 AM »
How about them apples:

When I replace the 3 x 1n4007 diodes with 3 x 1n4148 diodes, and have the 1k resistor across the LED, the LED does _not_ light.

Now if I replace the 1k resistor with the 2.2 uH inductor the LED _does_ light (rather dimly). And as I increase the frequency from 10 kHz, the LED gets brighter and brighter, until brightness peaks at around 1.2 MHz and then begins to decrease.

With just the resistor, or nothing, across the LED, the LED stays off as I increase frequency from 10 kHz.

 :P

picowatt

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1383 on: April 03, 2016, 05:09:24 AM »
Your thinking is too recent and too modern.

I've been around a while...

All emissions control is "modern" (as is the whole ecology awareness movement).  You do realize that prior to the early 1970's, and most definitely prior to the 1960's, nobody considered or worried about auto emissions or fuel economy.  With 22 cents a gallon gasoline, nobody cared. 

Some techniques used for emissions control do have their beginnings with non-emission control related uses (as I inferred regarding EGR).  Some of the methods used for WWII aircraft being a good case in point.  But used as they are today for emission control, with the fuels used today, I'll stand by my previous statements.

If you want to talk different fuels (or believe 1987 is ancient history as per Gunnerman) that is a completely different subject.

Given the fuel available at the pump, and the methods used to control emissions in modern ICE engines, emission control comes at the cost of performance or fuel economy reduction. 

But this is likely more than enough off topic discussion on this JT thread...

PW

picowatt

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1384 on: April 03, 2016, 05:16:07 AM »
Yes indeed.

Now,below is the next test.
Start off including just one diode in the circuit-D1.
Check current flow reverse peak(when LED is lit by the 3% reverse spike.
then move your FG red lead to include the next diode,so as you now have two diodes included in the circuit. You should see a higher value reverse current spike during the LED on time.
Then include the 3rd diode in the circuit. Once again,you should see an increase in the reverse current spike value.
So as you include another diode into the circuit,the reverse current spike should go up-not down.
This would seem to be the reverse of what we should see,as we decrease the capacitance value as we place more diodes in series.

You are dealing more with turn off time than junction capacitance.  I suspect the 4007's are turning off one after another.  Is you positive going current pulse/spike also wider with all 3 diodes in the circuit as compared to just one?

picowatt

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1385 on: April 03, 2016, 05:26:00 AM »
How about them apples:

When I replace the 3 x 1n4007 diodes with 3 x 1n4148 diodes, and have the 1k resistor across the LED, the LED does _not_ light.

Now if I replace the 1k resistor with the 2.2 uH inductor the LED _does_ light (rather dimly). And as I increase the frequency from 10 kHz, the LED gets brighter and brighter, until brightness peaks at around 1.2 MHz and then begins to decrease.

With just the resistor, or nothing, across the LED, the LED stays off as I increase frequency from 10 kHz.

 :P

The 4148 switching diodes turn off much faster than the 4007's.

When using the inductor, the AC impedance across the LED is increased and there is less reverse current during the high frequencies of the rising edge to turn off the diodes, so there is likely a very narrow current spike that makes it thru as they turn off...

PW

Magluvin

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1386 on: April 03, 2016, 05:48:33 AM »
What polarity is the LED in relation to the battery Mag's ?.

At 15 mhz,and being a new battery,i would think the LED is lit due to skin effect.


Brad

Its the cathode to the - of the battery.

Mags

picowatt

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1387 on: April 03, 2016, 06:08:40 AM »
Anyway....

Was looking into the battery oscillation more.  With the new circuit a relatively fresh AA battery is ringing at about 15mhz. The voltage swings seem quite high, so I put a white led across the battery. Circuit is running without load leds. Only the led across the battery.

Mags

You have a significant amount of inductance in your battery lead wires...

What does the waveform look like if you scope directly across the battery?

PW

SeaMonkey

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1388 on: April 03, 2016, 07:00:59 AM »
Quote from: PicoWatt
...With 22 cents a gallon gasoline, nobody cared.

In today's money that 22 cents becomes $4.40 -
many of us cared.

SeaMonkey

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1389 on: April 03, 2016, 07:18:09 AM »
Quote from: TinKoa
Now if I replace the 1k resistor with the 2.2 uH inductor the LED _does_ light (rather dimly). And as I increase the frequency from 10 kHz, the LED gets brighter and brighter, until brightness peaks at around 1.2 MHz and then begins to decrease.

Seems you've constructed some sort of "resonant"
circuit there TK.  Evaluating this performance to
arrive at an explanation should be a most beneficial
exercise.  So far, well done!

Magluvin

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1390 on: April 03, 2016, 07:38:09 AM »
You have a significant amount of inductance in your battery lead wires...

What does the waveform look like if you scope directly across the battery?

PW

The blue trace is across the battery, in proper polarity.  Could it be that the sec winding is causing it through the off transistor? If so it would seem that the coils initial discharge is in the wrong direction to increase the voltage across the batt. Or the trigger winding through the transistor base?  The resistors is very low at the time, not 0ohm as the circuit stops oscillation, in this config anyway.  But we see the wave in the yel trace also. Thats why Im questioning it myself. But if I put disk caps across the batt the oscillating freq drops.

I will shorten the leads and see if there is a change in freq.  The shot of the single wave would show the freq of 15mhz on the blue trace if I lower the v/div 1 step, but i wanted to have the yel trace to be the same and lowering both, yel peaked above the screen and the measurements would be off. But it was a steady 15.14 mhz or so. Seems to change a bit as the battery gets used.

Mags

MileHigh

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1391 on: April 03, 2016, 07:39:35 AM »
Seems you've constructed some sort of "resonant"
circuit there TK.  Evaluating this performance to
arrive at an explanation should be a most beneficial
exercise.  So far, well done!

Yes, in the real world we would call that a filter.  You have an excitation that passes through some kind of filter which is based on your circuit, and then you get a response in the load.

tinman

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1392 on: April 03, 2016, 07:42:56 AM »
You are dealing more with turn off time than junction capacitance.    Is you positive going current pulse/spike also wider with all 3 diodes in the circuit as compared to just one?

By reverse current spike across the CVR,i guess i mean the same as what you call the positive going current pulse--the 3% duty cycle part that go's against the diodes,but through the LED?.

Quote
I suspect the 4007's are turning off one after another.

How can one turn off after another,as once one has turned off,then no current will be flowing through the others.


Brad

picowatt

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1393 on: April 03, 2016, 08:21:07 AM »
By reverse current spike across the CVR,i guess i mean the same as what you call the positive going current pulse--the 3% duty cycle part that go's against the diodes,but through the LED?.

How can one turn off after another,as once one has turned off,then no current will be flowing through the others.


Brad

Good point...  possible brain fade...

So does the 4007 reverse current spike (the LED forward current) get wider as you include all three diodes or just increase in amplitude?

PW

tinman

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Re: Joule Thief 101
« Reply #1394 on: April 03, 2016, 12:13:01 PM »
Good point...  possible brain fade...

So does the 4007 reverse current spike (the LED forward current) get wider as you include all three diodes or just increase in amplitude?

PW

As far as i can tell,it only increases in amplitude.

Tried some uf4007 diodes,and result's are as TK's-to a point. If i drop the 1k resistor down to a 100 ohm resistor,i get the reverse current spike back across the CVR,but not enough to light the LED.

I tried a few of those little inductors that look like resistor's(what are they called ???),and even with the fast diode's in there,by raising the frequency,the LED will light brightly-different inductor of course =different frequency.

So we have learned something here ;)
But i am a little confused about this turn off time,as the 1n4007 data sheet's all show a test frequency of 1MHz,while here i was using only 10KHz. If it is suited to frequencies of 1MHz,then how can it not switch off fast enough for 10KHz ?.


Anyway,i think maybe you missed my post to you some time back PW,in regards to the cool joule.

I have now built the circuit using larger primary coils from transformers. This has now allowed me to place my scope anywhere over the circuit without it shutting down--it has made the circuit a lot more stable. The early CJ circuits used small high turn,high resistance air core coil's,and even toughing the base with your finger would shut it down. But with these larger coil's,i can now scope all over the circuit,and so,would like to see if it is just the miller capacitance effect at work here,or !im suspecting! has more to do with coil capacitance.

Below is the circuit (modified version,that excludes the charge battery),and scope shot from points depicted in circuit diagrams.-->Please note in the second,i have no channel offset,and have switched channels around--i do this often to make sure one channel is not playing funny buggers.

1-So how has L1 and 1.5v battery(collector/emitter junction) got around 4.7 volts across it before the transistor has switched off?.
2- How is there below 0v across L1 and battery(collector/emitter junction) before transistor has switched on?.<--This one could be explained by some sort of overshoot of L1,and where i think coil capacitance may come into it?.


Brad