Super Simple Joule Thief Charger

[ibpointless2]

I also posted a Youtube video of it here working.

YouTube - Simple Joule Thief Charger

[Joit]

Hi.
Does your Charge Batterie goes hot over Time?
That is, what the Comments at your Vid are about. They think it may will explode, because "You cant charge Batteries"
Usual when you charge with a Joule Thief, the Batteries should stay could,
else they are pysically damaged, or the Duty Cycle is to big.
And what i do see most of the Time is, that the Minus of the Batterie is connected to Plus Suorce.
Its kinda different, what you do show as Setup.
But, by the Way, when i connect a Strobe light to the Leads,
then it shows, that the Current flows in from the Plus Source to Minus Charge Batterie.
So not sure, if it works the Way like you do connect it, with a blocking Diode at Minus, too.

[ibpointless2]

Hi.
Does your Charge Batterie goes hot over Time?
That is, what the Comments at your Vid are about. They think it may will explode, because "You cant charge Batteries"
Usual when you charge with a Joule Thief, the Batteries should stay could,
else they are pysically damaged, or the Duty Cycle is to big.
And what i do see most of the Time is, that the Minus of the Batterie is connected to Plus Suorce.
Its kinda different, what you do show as Setup.
But, by the Way, when i connect a Strobe light to the Leads,
then it shows, that the Current flows in from the Plus Source to Minus Charge Batterie.
So not sure, if it works the Way like you do connect it, with a blocking Diode at Minus, too.

Oh the exploding thing is just an inside joke with the guy about building custom computers and how some people make theirs look like bombs, it was merely a good poke at me and my mess of wiring.

Everything in the circuit stays cool and quiet. So let me get this straight, when you seen a normal joule thief charger the negative is plugged into the positive?
It seems to work great like the way it is now, but I was skeptical about the blocking diode too but it works.

Have you tried to make one its really simple to do? I keep getting good results, like last night the run battery started with 1.493 and the charge battery started with 1.155 (used a different battery then the original experiment) and shut it off at night and went to sleep and when I woke up the run battery was at 1.489 and the charge battery was at 1.193; I lost .004 but I gained .038!

[Joit]

Hi,
No, sorry, i dont get the Parts for it, the next Walmart is about 50 Miles from me away.

And yes, usually it is connected from Colector over the Diode to Plus.
--> + -PowerCoil - to Collector and Diode - > + Charge '-' -> back to Plus
...|->-TriggerCoil - to Base.
Emitter to Minus.
Some do connect the Charge Minus to Minus, and it does charge faster for them,
but i would afterwards compare, wich Method gives more Capacity at the Batterie.
I see double Capacity, when i charge them with the Backpath to Plus Source,
and never really tried it otherwise.

About your losses at your Source Batterie, it is hard to say also, how much you take out,
when i compare it with some Accumulator with ie 2 Ah, they give up steady
about ie 12V, but after the Amperage are down, the Accumulator will drop at the Voltage too.
And actually it is, what the Description says,
support a Voltage from 12V at a Load with 1 Ah for 2h.
So it is actually hard to say, how much Energy is taken out from the Run Batterie, to charge the Load,
because first do go the Amperage with the same Load steady down, and then the Voltage.
It is like a Ballon, what blows with a certain strength Air out,
and at a Point, it does loose at Size(Voltage).

[ibpointless2]

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi ibpointless2, regarding charging primary non-rechargeable cells with JTC or similar. What I have found through experiments, is that though you can recharge them a few times and it does seem there is a limit as to how many recharges they will take before losing capacity, be aware that in my flashlights they started to leak and kinda messed up the inside battery bay of the flashlights. It could be that they leak under a load that is too high for them, maybe they would not leak if the load was smaller. Hope that helps.
peace love light
Tyson

[sucahyo]

My only problem charging non rechargeable is with alkaline. I usually forget it and charge it half an hour too long and it pop. Once it pop, it reduce charge.

I am having less problem with zinc carbon. Although their charge only last for weeks or only recover small capacity, it still better than having to buy battery.

I think 100mV a day is too weak for a charger. Raise the input to 500mA or so by reducing coil impedance.

[ibpointless2]

My only problem charging non rechargeable is with alkaline. I usually forget it and charge it half an hour too long and it pop. Once it pop, it reduce charge.

I am having less problem with zinc carbon. Although their charge only last for weeks or only recover small capacity, it still better than having to buy battery.

I think 100mV a day is too weak for a charger. Raise the input to 500mA or so by reducing coil impedance.

They've been running for days without any pop, or any noise, or any type of heat. I think the 100 mV a day is the right way to go because any higher and the battery will pop or leak like you say yours do. And i can't change the coil because there is no coil, it just a simple garden light circuit thats been slightly modified. Plus i don't mind waiting a week to recharge some batteries if they'll last me a month. The low power is key in recharging Alkaline batteries, you can't rush these things to do something that they don't normally do.

[NickZ]

Guys:
I have been having to use non rechargeable AAs for my Jt. circuits as I couldn't find any rechargeables where I live (Costa Rica). I can say that there are some makes of regular AAs that can take the charge from the Jt much better, and work cool, and run longer than others. But, today I bought a rechargeable wireless phone battery that is rated at 3.7 volts, so I'm going to continue my Jt coil testing using that as a charge battery that receives about 2.5 volts from a tiny solar panel during the day, and can run a Jt to light up some Leds at night. Later I'll see if I can make the Jt to self charge during the day, and run itself and the Leds at nights without the solar panels help. I think that it's possible... but I'd like to see it for myself to belive it.
If there's anybody with a self running and charging Jt, especially one that uses only One Battery, I'd like to hear about it.
NickZ

[SkyWatcher]

Hi folks, Hi Nick, yes that's what I'm testing out now in my solar joule thief thread, others as well as myself have noticed it's tricky to get good solid charge that's not fluffy when using the same voltage input as charging battery voltage, in this case 1.2volt AA input, charging 1.2volt AA output. The only way to ever know for yourself is experiment or replicate what others say may work. That's why I'm experimenting with a large capacitor in parallel to try and on the fly convert some of the radiant to more proper charging current, then the next alternative would be cap dump into the charge battery, which of course makes the circuit more complicated. Oh and what I said about charging the primary non-rechargeables, I meant i never had one pop on me with bedini or JT radiant charging, it was just later in use that they leaked, possibly because I was loading them too much. Hope that helps anyone.
peace love light
Tyson

[sucahyo]

They've been running for days without any pop, or any noise, or any type of heat. I think the 100 mV a day is the right way to go because any higher and the battery will pop or leak like you say yours do. And i can't change the coil because there is no coil, it just a simple garden light circuit thats been slightly modified. Plus i don't mind waiting a week to recharge some batteries if they'll last me a month. The low power is key in recharging Alkaline batteries, you can't rush these things to do something that they don't normally do.

While low current charging reduce the chance of bubbling, when your alkaline gets full it will bubble eventually.

Make sure that your charger can charge with more than alkaline max voltage. For instance, mine usually charge with voltage higher than battery voltage. Nicad can be charged between 1.6V to 2.4V depend on state of charge.

[ibpointless2]

While low current charging reduce the chance of bubbling, when your alkaline gets full it will bubble eventually.

Make sure that your charger can charge with more than alkaline max voltage. For instance, mine usually charge with voltage higher than battery voltage. Nicad can be charged between 1.6V to 2.4V depend on state of charge.

[ibpointless2]

[ibpointless2]

[ibpointless2]

My Joule thief charger circuit that runs on non rechargeable AA batteries is still going after a month. I've had to swap the run battery to charge battery and vise versa because the charge battery reached 1.500 volts. The batteries don't get hot nor does the simple modified solar garden light circuit. It just sits in my room on my desk work 24/7 with a glowing red LED. Makes me wonder how long will it really run for?

I find it really a amazing because a simple modification to the circuit has let me run a LED for a month non stop, but before when it was just a plain solar garden light circuit it could barely run a LED for 2 days without any sun light getting to the solar panel. But now it runs even better with the modification and the solar panel removed. It just sits there glowing at me non stop, never taking a break and the non rechargeable alkaline batteries show no sign of leaking or exploding, heck they are cold to the touch! Amazing!