Big Joule Theif

[Guruji]

Big Joule thief

Hi guys about the capacitor I am using 10uf 16v electrolyte cap. Is this limiting my voltage down?. I have to increase this in slayer circuit to acquire more voltage in circuit?.
Any help please?
Thanks

[Watson]

Luck Ran Out

Oops, forgot the pic.

Looks like my luck ran out. I got an email from Mouser telling me that the super capacitors I ordered won't be in stock until middle to late June. Now ain't that pathetic?

In the meantime, I'm just sticking with a bunch of 1F aerogel caps in parallel, as seen in the pic. The 20 Farads of caps charge up to 2 volts and run the JT Flasher for more than 2 hours.

I've been looking at these Solar JT circuits and frankly, they are a bit scary. What will happen if you leave one in the window, and it overcharges the 10F supercap? You might be cleaning electrolyte and capacitor guts off the walls!

The 10F capacitor should have something in parallel that will limit the voltage to 2.5V maximum. or whatever its max rating is. One simple solution is a LED, maybe a green one that starts to conduct between 2 and 2.5 volts. When the cap gets up to its max, the LED will shunt the current through to common, and make a pretty light.

[Watson]

Oops, forgot the pic.

[Watson]

Luck ran out

[QUOTE=Lidmotor;50753]

Mouser is where I have been getting my super caps. I just ordered a couple more. They only had one of the $6 50F left in stock so I ordered that and one smaller one. I think it was a 20 or 30 for about the same price. So far I have had good luck with them getting the stuff to me here in California in one week or less. No problems with the caps so far. One of my Youtube viewers turned me onto the source.

Lidmotor

My luck seems to be running out. I checked Digi-Key and supercaps are non-stocked items. Other brands at other suppliers seem to cost twice as much.

When it comes to parts, I've been having bad luck lately. I bought 50 blue LEDs from a guy in Canada, and every one of them had a bubble. I'd never seen one with a bubble before; theyr'e normally rejected at the factory. He sent another bag, without the bubbles.

Then I got some parts from Goldmine Elect. I ordered 100 pF, they sent 270 pF instead. They made good by crediting my visa card.

Then yesterday I pulled a new solar cell out of the bag, and it was dead when illuminated. I'll have to email the supplier and see what happens.

Oh, well... Here's a pic of a recent experiment.
BTW, I'm from the south..
(So. Cal, a few miles down the road from Disneyland ).

[Lidmotor]

Mouser super caps

[QUOTE=Watson;50724]

Hi all,
"
Here is a video of the thing with a supercapacitor setup. It was just for demostration. Normally you use NiMh rechargable batteries or even just alkaline.

YouTube - Solar Joule Thief Runs A Fan

Cheers,
Lidmotor
"

I ordered some parts from Mouser, and also some super capacitors. But when I checked out, the super caps were back ordered. These were the cheaper Cornell Dubilier ones, 50 F for 6 bucks. I ordered 5 but from my past experiences, it may take months for them to fill the order.

I was wondering where you all get your super caps, and where's a reasonably priced source. A few years ago I ordered some 1 F caps from All Electroincs, but they had short leds and were snipped out of equipment.

What I found odd was that at Mouser, a 50F or 33 F is not much more than a 10 F, so why not buy the bigger ones?

Mouser is where I have been getting my super caps. I just ordered a couple more. They only had one of the $6 50F left in stock so I ordered that and one smaller one. I think it was a 20 or 30 for about the same price. So far I have had good luck with them getting the stuff to me here in California in one week or less. No problems with the caps so far. One of my Youtube viewers turned me onto the source.

Lidmotor

[Watson]

[QUOTE=Lidmotor;50165]Hi all,
"
Here is a video of the thing with a supercapacitor setup. It was just for demostration. Normally you use NiMh rechargable batteries or even just alkaline.

YouTube - Solar Joule Thief Runs A Fan

Cheers,
Lidmotor
"

I ordered some parts from Mouser, and also some super capacitors. But when I checked out, the super caps were back ordered. These were the cheaper Cornell Dubilier ones, 50 F for 6 bucks. I ordered 5 but from my past experiences, it may take months for them to fill the order.

I was wondering where you all get your super caps, and where's a reasonably priced source. A few years ago I ordered some 1 F caps from All Electroincs, but they had short leds and were snipped out of equipment.

What I found odd was that at Mouser, a 50F or 33 F is not much more than a 10 F, so why not buy the bigger ones?

[Lidmotor]

The last Joule Thief----"Lewey"

I finish the last Joule Thief--"Lewey" in my boxed series of three. Now there is a Hewey, Dewey, and Lewey. This one is smaller than the first two and has some different features. This third one completes the set and I'm finished with this project.
I am moving onto the SEC project from here. Slayer has replicated Dr. Stiffler's circuit and it looks very promising as an efficient way to make light.
Here is the video of "Lewey"
YouTube - Solar Joule Thief ---LEWEY

Cheers,
Lidmotor

[Watson]

Attached is one of my recent creations, an air core JT, running an aqua LED. This is a 'conventional JT', nothing but a resistor. Later I'll post a supercharged JT.

[Watson]

My first post here. I've built a lotta Joule Thiefs, mostly running off 1.5V or less, and mostly for driving LEDs. Some were for V boost, like running a 9V radio off a 1.5V cell.

I'm surprised that a 2N3055 can light up a neon, since the transistor's collector breakdown voltage is 60V and it takes 90V to light the neon. The circuit really needs a 2SC2625 or similar, with a BV of 400V. I get them out of old PC power supplies that got replaced because the fans was noisy. The other parts in there, such as toroid and coils, are good for JTs and such.

i'm also surprised that so many parts are blown out doing these experiments. Some simple protection diodes should prevent that from happening. But when a circuit is running at several tens of kHz, using a 1N4007 diode is not a good idea. Its reverse recovery time is too slow, and may act more like a capacitor than a diode. It's best to use a fast recovery diode, also scroungable from the PC power supply.

Best of success.

[Guruji]

Glad to hear you got the smaller one working Guruji.
I still havent gotten my 2" coil yet . Have you tryed to unwind the High output part of your coil ? It sounds to me like it has shorted while you were wraping if you cant get an output. Just a thought I've been busy this is the first chance I've had to get a reply in.Dont give up Tec

Hi Tec yes I already unwind the coil now. I tested the joule thief and it works.
Now I am winding the long coil. I have to joint the coil and I am very aware now not to short the coil. It's good that it's not a whole coil in a way I am testing it before joining it. It's giving bigger voltage when testing on the secondary everytime I join it .
Thanks guys.

[Xenomorph]

Ferrite cores can differ enormously since different materials can have been used (Barium,Strontium) and different FeO2 percentages.
I have wound a couple of identical winding counts onto different ferrite cores and got varying results.

[Brownsville]

Lidmotor Halo Light reproduction

I have been working on the Halo Light. I now have the inverted joule theif part working with the 2" coil and lighting a 30 watt round fl. Lidmotor has been a great help and source for getting this going and I am looking forward to getting it done.

I am not getting the light output that I am looking for at the moment but at least it is lighting the light. Also do not have led lit yet. I think I need a resistor from the B coil to the base.

I used 24 gage wire with the Slayer007 20 wrap bifilar and then 450 plus wraps on the pickup. I used 2 sided carpet tape between layers and on the coil before starting. 100 total feet of wire.....very tedious work.

Thanks for the inspiration guys

Brownsville

[Guruji]

Big Joule thief

Yeeeeeeeeeeeesss I did another one with a small torroid but this one working atleast
On the big one there's something wrong with the winding atleast now I know.

Thanks guys

[Guruji]

Joule thief

Thanks Tectalabyss for your encouragement.
On my last attempt I used slayer big joule thief but did one transistor only 2n3055 instead of 2n2222 on the 20turn coils and put a neon between collector and emitter as Shlodo told me.
Earth to emitter.
Did I do something wrong? I just checked joule thief part.
Thanks

hello guruji.
Could you send a drawing of your circuit so we could see if maybe something was not right.I dont have the 2" torroid yet so I'll have to wait till I can be of more help.Dont give up! Tec

[Guruji]

20 turns should be fine. CFLs dont work very well. try a Fluoro tube and run it at 3V. Also use 2n3055 not 2n2222.
u should be able to get a neon to light on the primary part of the JT. and a Fluoro off the secondary
-shlodo

Hi Shlodo I tried a 2n3055 as a joule thief circuit only but did not light the neon.
Did you mean that I should hook the two transistors for this to work?
Thanks