Big Joule Theif

[pentiger]

Hello everyone,

I am reading that it's possible to run joule thief with 12v, but when I try to run it with even 6v it doesn't work and the transistor gets so hot I cannot even touch it. I wish I was able to connect this 6v rechargeable I have, that I can recharge with a solar panel. I would like to connect 120v LED bulb Shop Feit Electric 40-Watt Equivalent Indoor Soft White LED Light Bulb at Lowes.com
The bulb works great and gives beautiful light and if someone has an idea how I should approach this circuit using the 6v or smaller voltage battery I would appreciate the help.

[NickZ]

@Watson:
Thanks for the info on the led driver circuit. I checked it out, seams like it would work better than the Jtc. But it also looks like it's not as economical to use (650 mA). If the source voltage consumption is not of any concern (as when using a solar panel), then that led driver unit would be great to use. Small pcb circuits like that, especially when made in China, can be cheaper, and work better, to buy than they can be made. Same goes for the Led bulbs from China. The US led lights bulbs are still expensive to buy.
@Totoalas: I'll check on the mentioned links and info and I'll get back with you on it.
@ SkyW: Did you have good results using the 1 watt Led bulb test on the Jtc?
Has anybody tried the 10 watt leds bulbs (below),on a Jtc
10W HIGHPOWER WHITE STAR LED 700 LUMEN 12V USE - eBay (item 250176044368 end time Nov-27-10 08:08:41 PST)

[NickZ]

Guys:
Thanks for all the replies.
@Electricity: I would use Leds instead of the CFLs. But, thats me, I don't really care for the light from the CFL bulbs. Warm White Leds, maybe a better way to go. Good luck with your solar Jt project.
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, thought this was a better thread to post this in. Maybe some have seen this effect before. Last night I was testing my small self oscillator circuit that is the same as the 'big boy variant' that I think ashweth posted awhile back. Well using 1.2 volt nimh input, I took a 45uf-370vac capacitor connected with the flyback diode and let the cap charge up and then shorted the capacitor and noticed on the input amp meter that the amps dropped from 48 milliamps to around 20 milliamps when shorted and if the cap is shorted or the diode is dead shorted back into the primary coil that it's still 20 milliamps.
I think I recall maybe others noticing this effect or maybe it's normal to these circuits, though it sure seems like it might be useful for a cap dump circuit setup where an oscillator is used to bump voltage up. Let me know your thoughts on this folks, thanks.
peace love light
Tyson

[electricity]

JT for large CFL

@ Nick,
I have been thinking of the same thing, I want to light my work shed with some gutted large CFL, several of those 100w puts out nice light at full brightness.

@All
What will be a good JT circuit to light a bank of gutted 100W CFL off a bank of 12v 220ah deep cycle batteries with solar charge.

What is the draw on these at full brightness with good JT. I see that some small JT light up 13w CFL to full with 0.3 amps x 1.5v

I have found a large 5" OD, 1.75" ID, 2.25" H cone ferrite core from TV deflection yolk with 2 windings of several hundreds windings.

Thanks

[Watson]

Guys:
I'm working towards a 12 volt solar Jt circuit that will run off a 12 volt battery, that is being charged and kept up by an 18 volt solar panel-charge controler, and yet the Jt circuit will have the add ability to feed-back to source (at night) if needed, to keep the system further charging, and lighting 24/7. Eventually leading to a self running Jt system that does not require the solar panel, and can run direct off of a single (self recharging) run capacitor. That is the idea, and goal.
Right now we have been without water for 4 days where I live, intermitant electric power, most roads are closed, and thousands of people flooded out. And the biggest storm in a while here is not over, Yet.
So, an emergency back-up 12 volt solar system, that can be connected to a Jt circuit to make it all work more efficiently, to light ones home, is what I'm working towards.

PS.
Check the 10 watt Leds bulbs (700 Lumen):
10W HIGHPOWER WHITE STAR LED 700 LUMEN 12V USE - eBay (item 250176044368 end time Nov-27-10 08:08:41 PST)

I'll bet they can be made to light off of strong Jt circuit drawing much less that the 10 watts.
NZ

I think if I lived where you li e, I would move.

I've bought hundreds of LEDs from Hong Kong sellers, and without exception, all of them have lost most of their light output after a thousand or so hours of operation. I have not seen or teated the LED you linked to on eBay, but judging from my past experiences, i would say that it, too, will not put out its full light for more than a few hundred hours.

JTs are not made to run from a 12V supply. All you really need to do is use a Velleman-Kit K8071 1W/3W Power LED driver. This kit must be assembled. I've assembled them, and they are a bit tricky to assemble because the parts have to be installed a certain way to get things to fit nicely. The circuit will give you a lot more efficient light output compared to a LED with a just a current limiting resistor.

Best of success on your emergency backup system.

[totoalas]

Solar JT and Variants

Hi to all
Ps check Mopozco TROS on Youtube and Farmhand for solar charger regulation /voltage swapper energetic forum and auto lightswitch by Groundloop
Maybe you extract more juice from these circuits

cheers

totoalas

[NickZ]

Guys:
I'm working towards a 12 volt solar Jt circuit that will run off a 12 volt battery, that is being charged and kept up by an 18 volt solar panel-charge controler, and yet the Jt circuit will have the add ability to feed-back to source (at night) if needed, to keep the system further charging, and lighting 24/7. Eventually leading to a self running Jt system that does not require the solar panel, and can run direct off of a single (self recharging) run capacitor. That is the idea, and goal.
Right now we have been without water for 4 days where I live, intermitant electric power, most roads are closed, and thousands of people flooded out. And the biggest storm in a while here is not over, Yet.
So, an emergency back-up 12 volt solar system, that can be connected to a Jt circuit to make it all work more efficiently, to light ones home, is what I'm working towards.

PS.
Check the 10 watt Leds bulbs (700 Lumen):
10W HIGHPOWER WHITE STAR LED 700 LUMEN 12V USE - eBay (item 250176044368 end time Nov-27-10 08:08:41 PST)

I'll bet they can be made to light off of strong Jt circuit drawing much less that the 10 watts.
NZ

[Tectalabyss]

Catchup

Tec:
Sounds like you might be getting too much juice through the resistors to the transistor. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I hate burning anything.
Looks like the stronger the toroid's output, the less voltage is required at input.
At least with the big battery you won't have the problem with the changing frequencies in the Jt. It's impossible to maintain them steady when using the small AA batteries that drain quickly. I see that the Tip3055 drains the small AA batteries much quicker than the 2n2222s do, but I'm hoping to get a 12 volt battery and 18 volt solar panel soon, so I won't have to worry about that.
Right now we are going through one of the worst storms ever. Right now in Costa Rica we have no water service, electric power is intermitant, mudslides everywhere, roads are closed, and thousands are being flooded out.
So, a 12 volt solar Jt, would come in handy right about NOW. The batteries can recharge even in cloudy weather. That is where I'm going with this.
NZ

Hello NickZ and all.
I've had a lot of Doctor's appointment's and test's and its got me behind If I understand right you are trying to make it so you can run your lights when the power is off and recharge with a secondary off the JT,and when the sun is out with the solar panels.And if you have a lot of wind you may want to make some type of wind generator when the sun is not out for a few days,Just a thought. When I get the time I am going to wind a bigger JT and go with a bigger Transistor and secondary to see if that will work with 12 volts and some type of feedback circuit.you be safe and keep testing sounds like you are making progress Tec

[SkyWatcher]

Hi Nickz, thanks for the added info. Though I did read previous posts, just wasn't clear. Are you planning to run solar panel directly or hook it up to a JT for when it's cloudy to charge your 12 volt battery or is a JT at panel not needed. So it sounds like your going to use separate secondaries off the 12 volt joule thief, since of course the E/C position at 12 volts or 3 volts would be like going direct anyway. Or are you just going to use one secondary and put multiple 12 volt leds off of that. I had a thought, would it not be possible to make a voltage divider to divide the 12 volt input with resistors or something to then tap off each lower voltage point to run separate JT circuits, though not sure if that would be any more efficient.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

@SkyWatcher:
The idea is that since there is no way to keep any Jt working properly when the run and charging voltage and frequency is constantly dropping, as the smaller batteries drain in charge. Having a bigger 12 volt battery source that is maintained and kept charged up by an 18 volt solar panel , would be the way to avoid that problem. Plus a Jt (or several) that run off of a 12v source instead one volt, can output much more useable voltage and light through various secondaries and Leds, without having to play around with the smaller batteries all the time. Which I'm getting tired of.
You may have missed some of my earlier posts here that would have made for less confusion.
The idea is to make the biggest amount of light as possible from the smallest and cheapest source.
I'm really looking at the practical angle of the Jt circuit, I know that the Jt becomes optional once incorporating a big battery and solar panel. But working on the possible self running, and radiant aspect of the Jtc is what keeps me interested, especially if it can be upgraded into something more usefull.
NZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi Nickz, can you explain what you mean by 12 volt solar JT. Do you mean you want to use your 18/12 volt solar panel to power a joule thief circuit to recharge 12 volt batteries, using either the E/C or a secondary on JT. I think it would work, though only issue would be to avoid fluffy charge. Capacitor dump might help prevent fluffy charge, though more of a pain. I have a large ferrite core and large primary that works with 12 volts nicely, though it all depends on the load as to if the transistor will heat up. That's why i pointed out the bedini variant circuit because with some loads it doesn't heat up at all. Past few days I've been powering my warm white leds directly from my 12 volt lead acid to compare to JTC, I put 12 of them, 3 sets of 4 parallel leds in series for 4 volts per parallel set, it works well with one resistor in line. So what kind of voltage can the solar panel you envisage maintain in cloudy weather under the load of the JT do you think.
peace love light
Tyson

[NickZ]

Tec:
Sounds like you might be getting too much juice through the resistors to the transistor. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I hate burning anything.
Looks like the stronger the toroid's output, the less voltage is required at input.
At least with the big battery you won't have the problem with the changing frequencies in the Jt. It's impossible to maintain them steady when using the small AA batteries that drain quickly. I see that the Tip3055 drains the small AA batteries much quicker than the 2n2222s do, but I'm hoping to get a 12 volt battery and 18 volt solar panel soon, so I won't have to worry about that.
Right now we are going through one of the worst storms ever. Right now in Costa Rica we have no water service, electric power is intermitant, mudslides everywhere, roads are closed, and thousands are being flooded out.
So, a 12 volt solar Jt, would come in handy right about NOW. The batteries can recharge even in cloudy weather. That is where I'm going with this.
NZ

[pentiger]

Hi Tec,
I am not sure what could be wrong with your circuit.

I myself struggle with a coil.
I looked at some posts suggesting 3turns, 7turns and secondary of 50 or more turns. My toroid is around 1 inch in diameter. I am getting 12-15volts from the secondary at around 70 turns, and I don't know if this is the right voltage I should expect. I saw Jeanna's posts where she plugged 2 LED bulbs into similar setup, so she probably had many more volts from her JT.

Any ideas welcomed.

pentiger

[Tectalabyss]

Hey, great setup, I wonder how long will it last with such battery. More testing needed

Hello Pen Tiger and All.
I have been running some test with a 1 inch torrid coil that I used two years ago,and it works too but not like a normal JT circuit If I unhook one of the wires then the leds should go out.They do not. I read 3.5 volts at the led + side The two leds don't even dim.It will fry a 2n3906 or a 2n3906 they would work a little while before going up in smoke.I switched to a TIPL760A transistor that could be the problem not sure???.Or The 1/4 watt resistor org/org/red which I think is an 3.3k ohm. I went up to it to see if it would stop burning my transistors out.I did end up having to use a 75ohm 2 watt 5 % sandstone resistor at the ground and that could be whats going on Any how maybe some one can see whats going on till then I'll keep digging I added some photos. Tec