The original Jeanna's Light circuit used a TIP 3055 and a 3.375" ferrite toroid and output over 700 volts from a "dead" AA battery. Jeanna was an online friend of mine and designed a brilliant circuit. I built 3 of those lights here and they still work all these years later. Your videos always show great detail and easy to follow instructions for replication. I admire your ability to do that. Keep up the good work. PS The Jeanna Circuit was developed over at overunitydotcom. Bill
I'll have to get back to you on all that. I did observe the voltage at the CFL on my oscilloscope at one point during R&D and the peak was around 800 to 900 volts. Still watching your latest videos - lot's of stuff there.
I hope you are ok. Your video on how a joule thief works got me into electronics. Saved my life. You haven't posted in such a long time. I hope your in a good place where ever you are. 👍🇮🇪🙏
I'm always glad to hear when a video makes a difference with someone. Thanks for letting me know! And I don't have time to post often anymore but I do manage to every now and then. I should be releasing another one next week sometime.
You should tear open the CFL and give it a try that way. Even a broken CFL might work. Of all the CFLs I've opened that "didn't work" anymore, the tubes were fine and lit up with this circuit. Thanks for sharing what you did.
It was a conscious descision to put only the one 1.5v battery. I started with a joule thief lighting an LED which normally has just one 1.5v battery and I decided to leave it like that since the CFL circuit could have any number of 1.5v batteries depending on your resistance, core and windings. And I think I found the variable capacitor mention you're talking about. It's in the labeling at 0:47. I added an annotation. Easy typo for me to make since I've used variable capacitors so much. Thanks!
A simple rule of thumb with it all, is that the lower the number of primary turns, the brighter the light but more the current draw. A balance can be reached and that's a main interest in such circuits :) Yours is great for what it was designed for, reading, emergency light, night light perhaps and fun !
By "without using electricity" I guess you mean lighting the compact fluorescent light without plugging into the wall. I've gotta admit it is a cool feeling holding the CFL in your hand with no chord and walking around or sitting reading a book. Like magic. :)
Thanks. If you have any problems building something from one of my tutorials, don't hesitate to ask for help. I'm always delighted when someone finds them useful. And I don't know the battery life yet. I'll let it run this weekend while I watch it.
Thanks. As usual it's the kind of tutorial that would have helped me. But this way I got to have the fun of figuring it out! The coil was tricky to get right.
Man I'm learning so much from you.. Thank you for making these videos. I can't wait for my son to grow a little older so I can share these projects with him.
I don't want to try LEDs right now since LED flashlights powered from batteries exist, makes it less fun. But powering CFLs from batteries is exciting! I chose my core completely at random. I selected it because it was the biggest I had. It's also an iron powder core which people seem to think wouldn't be great. Maybe it isn't but it worked and it stayed cool while the transistor and batteries heated up. So I'd say, just try what you have. And I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching.
Thanks! The ASZ15 transistor is a PNP type transistor whereas in this video I'm using an NPN transistor. However, you can use your PNP transistor if you simply reverse the positive and negative of the battery in the circuit. Everything else is the same. The ASZ15 is a lower power than the 2N3055 I used so hopefully that's not a problem. I just tried with an NTE219 PNP transistor which is close to a 2N3055 in power and it worked. Sorry for the delayed response. I wanted to find and try one first.
Using the 13 watt CFL in this video the two batteries lasted 25 minutes at full brightness and 30 minutes dimmer. Using a 5 watt CFL the two batteries lasted 90 minutes at full brightness and 15 minutes dimmer. I show these tests in my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video or you can find it in the Videos section on my channel page. Others have different runtimes based on the coils, resistances, ...
+Nishi Chemie If you don't have a variable resistor then try different fixed value resistors since your resistance might be too high. Also, see my follow-up video where I measure the resistance th-cam.com/video/yz_99oVMbSI/w-d-xo.html Your problem may also be in the wiring. Double-check the way you connected to the coils since it's backward from what you'd expect. It's also possible that you had the problem I talk about at 2:16 if you didn't put thick insulated wire at that point. For an easier one, try powering an LED instead. You can see how to do that in this video here th-cam.com/video/B61DU7yEsPM/w-d-xo.html PS There's no Reply button under your comment because of your Google+ settings. - go to your Google+ page, - in the top, right corner click on your thumbnail icon, - in the popup that appears, click on "Settings". - for the 2nd question down "Who can comment on your public posts?" set it to "Anyone".
It's definitely 18 AWG. It says so right on the spools and I used the 18 gauge location on my wire stripper to strip the insulation. Must just not look the same through video or just be a different one than you're used to.
To make your own cores you could try using large washers stacked on top of each other with a layer of plastic or paper in between each to separate them electrically. I don't know how well or even if it will work since there will be large eddy currents compared to a manufactured ferrite core. Sorry for the delayed responses. Email notification of comments doesn't seem to be working.
No, the distance is the length of just the tube itself, from the end of the tube where one set of wires connect to it and the end of the tube where the other set of wires connect to it. In order for the tube to light up, the gas inside the tube has to be ignited from one end to the other. For a spiral tube that's the length of the tube as if you'd straightened it out and measured from one end to the other.
The best I got with this coil was 1 hour and 45 minutes. I show doing these tests in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (there's a link to it in the description below this video.) And no, it can't charge itself, at least not indefinitely. Though there are circuits that power an LED and do some charging, but the batteries eventually run out.
Glad you liked it, DiyEcoProjects. Yeah, it took some hunting and reading for me to figure out what to do with the CFL's wires too. At least now, anyone who watches this video will know.
Actually, comparing it to some I've seen, I thought the light level was pretty good. I was surprised I could easily read by it! I did try a 9V one early on and it was brighter than whatever else I was doing at that stage. I think I didn't keep using it because I wanted to keep the battery voltage and power small, since to point is to get the best results with the least power. I started out trying just one AA for a long time without success.
Thanks. I've tried only the one core so I really don't know if any random one will do, but it was a random selection on my part so I'd say go for it. Judging by all the other joule thief powered CFLs out there I think most, if not all are randomly selected. Most are actually likely iron powder cores and not ferrite as I said in this video. I didn't know that when I made the video. I should put an annotation. I'll have more about it in this week's video.
+Nishi Chemie You can increase the output of your solar panel by giving it more light. Keep in mind that your solar panel can give out only so much voltage. If you want to get more voltage and amps from your solar panel but without increasing the light then you can't. There are circuits that will increase the voltage while dropping the amps or that will increase the amps while dropping the voltage but you can't increase both at the same time without supplying more energy, i.e. more light.
***** I buy my 2n3055s at local electronics stores, though it's cheaper to buy them online (e.g. ebay.com). I don't understand the rest of your question. If you're asking for a different circuit to power your fluorescent light, I don't have any other circuit off hand.
***** No, I've never heard of it, so I probably can't help you with it (at least not with my available time.) But I did a search and found a few things, but nothing black and heavy. Do you have a link?
***** Thanks. Looks like an automotive ignition coil and a battery. I guess the flame comes from having an ignitable gas flow through the arc? That's what it looked like in some of the videos I saw when I searched earlier. I don't have any circuit to add to it to power a fluorescent light. Possibly something with a 555 timer chip and the ignition coil will do it. Try looking for a circuit with those two things. I know I made one once but I never documented it. I didn't try a fluorescent light though.
***** You're going to have to search for that yourself. I'm not even sure it if will work since I haven't done it. It's just a suggestion so that you have something further to look into. I only know that I once managed to make a high voltage power supply using a 555 timer and an automotive ignition coil, but I never used it with a fluorescent light. I don't have the circuit anymore.
RimstarOrg Actually, using an ignition coil+555 chip ought to work REALLY WELL to light up a CFL although it won't be so compact any more. Should be interesting to try.
The main point about the magnet wire is that it has thin insulation so that allows you to put on a lot of turns. So does the fact that it 30 gauge (AWG) wire, which is very thin. So basically, any wire you can find that will allow you to put a few hundred turns would be fine. You could also try putting multiple layers if you can get many turns side-by-side.
Thanks. And heck, there wasn't even a video like this around for me when I made it just recently! Now there is, though. I just needed a time machine to go forward and find it useful for me! :)
+Nishi Chemie You can't do it with a joule thief circuit. But if your input is AC then you can look into "step down tranformers", and if you want DC output then add a full wave bridge rectifier after that. If your input is DC then one solution is a DC-DC converter. I don't have anything to help you further, but maybe knowing the terms to look for will help.
You can get cores in many things: microwave ovens, power supplies, TVs, ... I think stacked washers would be susceptible to eddy currents across their surface. But make sure to put something thin and non-conductive between each one to prevent eddy currents through the stack (waxed paper, thin plastic from a plastic bag, ...). It probably won't be as good as a ferrite core but it's worth a try to see how good they'll be.
I don't know any other transistor numbers off-hand that'll work but one way to find some is to do a search for "2n3055 equivalents". You can also use PNP transistors if you reverse the battery in the circuit while leaving everything else the same (the 2N3055 is an NPN transistor.) I do that in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (see link the the description below this video) using an NTE219 PNP transistor.
3v battery can power 230v CFL easily but the current draw will increase proportionally, causing the battery to deplete quickly. This is what I had learnt in school, but I do believe in overunity. As a result I want to understand what's happening in your circuit. Is it depleting the battery quicker than normal or is it actually drawing lesser current from battery despite stepping up the voltage to 100 times? If it's really amplifying the wattage, I'd try to replicate it. Although I did some experiments with bitoroid transformer and got success to some extent. Thanks for taking effort in explaining step by step process of making joule ringer CFL light. May God gives you more strength and wisdom!!
All the joule thief circuit does is build up energy in the magnetic field in the coils and then dump it all at once into the output and then repeat. So the output is made up of short bursts with nothing in between. Not a very efficient circuit, but it works. It's also called a blocking oscillator circuit. I show the output in this follow-up video th-cam.com/video/FkLET8MhRbU/w-d-xo.html I explain the basic joule thief circuit in this older video th-cam.com/video/DAyM8Iet1O8/w-d-xo.html
@@RimstarOrg thanks for taking time to answer my queries. So joule thief circuit increases the voltage and current but decreases the duty cycle. I believe if we collect the short duration high voltage and high current pulses into a capacitor and charge another battery with it, the charging battery will charge faster than the source battery will deplete. I think it will be overunity. I read it somewhere on overunity forum.
The first thing to check is your connections to the coil. They're connected the opposite of what you'd expect so compare them carefully to the diagram. The other thing to do is try a higher input voltage. I was trying for a long time with just one AA battery but when I finally added a second AA battery connected series (positive of one battery connected to the negative of the next battery) it started working. You could even try 2 or 4 AA batteries.
It's a biography, "Robert H. Goddard - Pioneer of Space Research" by Milton Lehman. Goddard was an American who did rocket research in the 1920s and 1930s and is known as one of the fathers of rocketry. A fascinating man and a great read.
The potentiometer controls the brightness of the light. I'd already adjusted it before filming. However, you can see it in action in my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video or you can find it on my channel page.
Great work!.... Thanks for taking a chunk of your time to male these kind of video's, I learn more from your videos than I do reading a book for 7 hours!! ;-)
I mean the 1st peak is positive over 700V, the 2nd peak is negative 225V, the 3rd peak is positive 140V, the 4th is 100V, the 5th is 70V, and so on. Each successive peak as the voltage alternates is lower and lower, so it's dampened. That happens each cycle as the transistor is turned off and the energy from the magnetic field is dumped. You can see this in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video at 2:55 where I show the output at the CFL on my oscilloscope.
A frequent error is to get the connections to the short coils wrong. Very carefully compare the diagram to how you've done it. Notice that the two short coils are connected to the circuit oppositely each other. If that's okay then add more batteries in series. Mine wasn't working with a single AA battery but when I added a second one it started working.
With the 13 watt CFL in this video the light stayed bright for 25 minutes. It was less bright for another 30 minutes. Total time was 45 minutes. With a 5 watt CFL the light stays bright for 1 hour and 30 minutes. It is then less bright for another 15 minutes. Total time is 1 hour and 45 minutes. You can see these tests in my video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video and you can find it on my channel page.
Only in that it steps up the voltage. The difference is that it also steps up the current. This is done by building up energy in the core's magnetic field, during which the CFL is not getting power. The all that energy is dumped, hence the higher voltage and current. Then the cycle repeats.
My understanding is that fluorescent tubes need high voltage AC across them so that the mercury doesn't all migrate to one side, so you'd need some sort of circuit besides just batteries. Most of the ones I've seen usually have bigger toroids so there's more room to fit a lot of turns without the ends coming close together. That way they don't need more insulation on their wires. More turns might help. I had 500 hundred at one point but that wasn't as good, probably too much resistance.
Yes, you can use a fixed value resistor instead of a potentiometer. But it sure is nice to have the resistance be adjustable. The best value will vary, based on your CFL mostly I guess, so it'd be good if you had a few different value resistors to try. In the experiments I did in my other video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" I used around 30 ohms for a 13 watt CFL and around 70 ohms for a 5 watt CFL. There's a link to that video in the description below this video.
With rechargeables, I don't know. Rechargeables I've had in the past don't hold as much charge as non-rechargeables but there are other types of batteries that can be used too. Using the batteries in this video and the 13 watt CFL it lasted 25 minutes at full brightness and 30 minutes dimmer. Using a 5 watt CFL it lasted 90 minutes at full brightness and 15 minutes dimmer. See my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" (link in the video description.)
I don't know how long it lasts yet. I don't have any LED comparisons. I tried a reflector and it didn't help much. I don't think it was bright enough to matter. Same for solar cells I suspect. But the fun was just in getting it lit as much as I did, more than I expected in fact. Adjusting the potentiometer does adjust the brightness. I turn it down to min resistance and then increase the resistance while the brightness stays the same, using as little current as needed.
I'm not too familiar with trigger coils - just had to look it up. Wouldn't that give you just one brief flash with a long wait before the next one? I don't know, they're new to me.
Thank you Rimstar... youve videos are always very clear. Readers, you may like to try this with a LED bulb (light of amerca 4w) as you often get more amp hours that way. 5.11 thanks for saying this about the CFL, i had to research this a while back Chears Rimstar, your a star!
Not sure what you'd consider a super joule thief, could be lots of things. But if it's going to create a high voltage then you'll need better insulated wires where there would be high voltage, as I point out in this video. So if the toroid is small, you may not be able to get much of the more thickly insulated wire onto it.
If you're not getting a voltage reading from the many-turn coil then it sounds like you may have a short circuit, maybe due to high voltage when you had only one battery, not enough to light the CFL but enough to get high voltage. How thick is the insulation for you short coils? It's possible to have a short between the short coils and the many-turn coil. If that's the case, you might be able to just change the wiring for the short coils and the short on the many-turn coil won't matter.
I think it would create sparks at the output. I know I accidentally had the end of one of the other windings close to one end of the battery at one point and saw tiny sparks. That's all you'd need to ignite a gas. I'll test for sparks at the output of the red wires, the big coil, this week and put it in my next video. I hope I don't forget to!
I don't have an answer to your question. Here in Canada I've seen both AWG and mil, though for many other things we use metric. At least I make clear in my videos that it's AWG rather than saying just "gauge". I'll consider including mm in the future. I already include both temperature scales when I remember to.
Mine doesn't make any noticeable ringing sound. I do recall at points while I was still experimenting it, hearing the ringing that I hear in a lot of other videos but it wasn't very loud. I don't recall what the circumstances were.
I suspect a ferrite rod might work, though I don't know how to layer the coils or if you should. I started out with trying my ferrite rod and didn't have any luck so I switched to the toroid. But I was trying only one AA battery when I was experimenting with the rod so it may or may not have worked had I tried two AA batteries. I've seen videos of others using similar circuits and longer rods.
I've gotten it working with 2, 3 and 4 AA batteries and there wasn't much difference in brightness so I suspect 1 would work too. The biggest difference might just be in battery life. The more batteries, the longer they'll run for.
Are you asking if it works with normal light? I assume you mean incandescent lights, the ones with just a thin wire filament inside a round glass bulb. I've never tried but it isn't designed too. Those would appear as a short circuit and wouldn't be taking advantage of the effect of this circuit at all.
Sure. But the speed with which the cap will charge depends on its capacitance. A lower capacitance one will charge faster than a higher capacitance one. Also, make sure your cap has a high enough breakdown voltage (also called dielectric strength). That's the voltage rating typically written on the cap.
My toroid is 1 1/4inch outer diameter and 5/16inch inner diameter or 33mm outer diameter and 15mm inner diameter. But I just used the biggest one I had. If you have a bigger one then use it so that you can get more turns on it. It'll also be easier to wind. There was some question if a ferrite core would be better than an iron powder core (like mine) but since mine stayed cool during the tests in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video, iron powder cores are okay.
I didn't have success with a cylindrical core, but I tried it first before I realized the issue with voltage breakdown through enamel insulation. Others seem to have had success with cylindrical cores though.
Well, it's sort of AC in that when the magnetic field dumps its energy you get a dampened wave, but the first peak is huge compared to all the res; it dampens real fast. Have a look at my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (link in the description below this video) and you'll see the oscilloscope output. It also works quite different than a flyback. See my "How a Joule Thief Works" video (link in the description or maybe I misunderstand flybacks.
What is needed for this Joule Theif Light 1. Fluorescent light 2. Two AA batteries (1.5 volt) 3. Battery holder (for AA batteries) 4. A switch 5. Power transistor 6. Variable capacitor/potentiometer 7. Ferrite core 8. Magnet wire 9. Thicker insulated wire 10. 18 gauge wire 11. Tape I'm just putting this comment just in case you want to write it down really fast instead of pausing and playing the video. :)
Oh, are you removing the resistor from the circuit when you measure the resistance? You have to otherwise your measurement will include the circuit in the other direction from the resistor too.
I get mine by taking apart old electronic things. The one in this video came from an old power supply. There's a nice one in most microwave ovens. Ordering online is another option, ebay for example. I don't usually see this type in electronics stores.
You might be able to but from the specifications I'd say it's borderline. It might damage the transistor. If you try it I'd suggest to start it the first time with the potentiometer set to the highest resistance and then gradually turn it down until the CFL turns on or the transistor breaks. You could add a fixed value resistor of maybe 70 ohms in addition to the potentiometer just in case but the CFL may not light.
It's not only counter intuitive, but it's the opposite of what I get. Are you sure you're measuring the resistance correctly - though I don't see how you can be?
I don't know how you'd adapt a camera flash circuit. It's the same principle though. Build up a store of power and release in a burst. Just a question of increasing the frequency.
It doesn't have to be a spiral. But I think that the longer the distance between the two ends of the tube, the higher a voltage you'll need to get it to light up.
I removed the CFL and put the output wires close together at various distances - no sparks. Each cycle there's a high voltage spike, around 1kV, then within 2 microseconds it drops to 0 and negative to around -200V. It then goes back positive and negative and so on, each time decreasing in voltage until it stays at 0V until the next cycle. I guess there isn't time between the 1kV and the -200V for a spark in air. Maybe in a slightly conductive gas it would, but I don't know for sure.
+RimstarOrg I have used a 9V battery. - UPDATE - I remade the ferrite core to be EXACTLY as you've done, 30 gauge wire with thicker wire where ends meet, some packaging tape, 10 turns of (admittedly 20 AWG, not 10) and 5 turns of the same wire. Basically what you've done. I connected it with the exact same circuit except I'm using a Tip41c which with all my tests works almost the exact same as the 2n3055. I use a variety of variable resistors, 10k 1k and 100 ohms. Heres the odd part: Once powered the CFL doesn't light. To see if the circuit even works I connect a 20W LED (because previously I got a 20W to get insanely bright off a 9V battery with a different core) and it immidetly brighten and then quickly dies down to nothing...? I adjust the ohms and it does the same thing but at different brightnesses. If you didn't get that: I powered it, it turns on brightly, then slowly dims to no light in about 2 seconds. Possible reasons: 1. Tip41c may not work the same as the 2n3055 in this circumstance. 2. The 2 10 gauge wires are at different coils. I was wondering why one was 5 turns and the other is 10, why is that? I think this might be the problem because of the inbalance in turns, the magnetic field gets weaker every cycle. Until it turns off? Maybe then I have to switch the wire so the inbalance works the opposite... I don't know if anything I'm saying is making any sense. But I'm not sure. I find it really awesome that even though this video is 2 years old you are still helping people out!! Your awesome and smart! :D
+chems The number of coils for the 2 10 gauge wires were arrived at by trial-and-error, basically trying different numbers of turns and seeing what worked best. You can try different numbers too. From the datasheets the Tip41c looks comparable to the 2N3055 as you say. Maybe you should try lower input voltage like mine, only around 3 volts. Possibly your input voltage is too high causing a voltage at the wires that's too high and breaks down the air. The insulation is already probably damaged from the first breakdown. That would explain it working only briefly. When you turn it on, the corona would take a little time to build up between the ends of the wires before the air becomes conductive enough to act like a short circuit. When you turn it off, the corona goes away. If that's the case, using a lower input voltage might still work as the lower high voltage at the wires might not be enough to form a corona in the air. The voltage reached before the breakdown may not be high enough to ignite the CFL but might be for the LED (I'm not familiar with the LED circuit, though I doubt it requires high voltage.) If it still doesn't work with the lower input voltage then remove the 2 10 gauge wires so that you have just the enamel wire and apply some more tape, basically to plug the holes from the breakdown. Or you could paint on some corona dope. You might also want to look at my follow-up video for some ideas th-cam.com/video/yz_99oVMbSI/w-d-xo.html.
+RimstarOrg The LED wasn't connected to the high voltage, it was connected to the Collector and Emitter to see if the "joule thief" part of the circuit even worked. I did try putting the LED on the high voltage and got the same results. But you may be correct with the voltage damaging the wires. I'll go take off the 10 gauge wire and try to fix the insulation of the 30 gauge and see if that works, otherwise I might rewind wire onto a new core. Thanks.
Hmmm... is right. How many turns do you have on your toroid? Are you using the circuit in this video and putting your LED where I have the CFL? If you have a lot of turns and you're putting it where I have the CFL then as I said, it's dampened AC, but it's high voltage so maybe the even dampened voltage is high enough. Will a high enough voltage light an LED in the reverse direction?
You haven't done anything wrong. Mine probably become hot too except that I can't tell since it's in the can. It's not a problem for me since I don't keep it running long. The solution is to attach the transistor to a heat sink. I do that in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video. See my "How to mount/attach transistor to heatsink (2N3055)" video for how to do this. There are links to both videos in the description below this video.
I can't say for sure if your ring magnet would work, though I'm doubting it. The permanent magnetic field might work against the coils' magnetic fields and you'd probably have large losses due to eddy currents. As a negative effect on the magnet, it may demagnetize it.
Oh, that's interesting. So you're saying that if it is, then it's a bad choice for a core? It was a random selection on my part - just used what I had.
The variable resistor allows you to adjust the brightness. You can try with a fixed value resistor, around 25 ohms to around 60 ohms, but if one doesn't work, try a smaller one. I show me adjusting it in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video. There's a link to it in the description below this video.
I was originally thinking of embedding it in the top of a wooden staff (ala Gandalf's staff or something) but I love how the cola can turned out instead. Interesting stuff of JonnyDavro's. It seems if you look at just the basic principle of 'store up energy and then release in a burst' there are a huge number of ways to do it - probably even mechanical! I only measured current at the early prototype stages and it was over an amp at one point. Don't recall which coil iteration that was though.
2.7v for the short coils isn't very high, but if you're reading it with something other than an oscilloscope, like a digital or analog meter, then you would get a low reading.
I can't measure the amp output because it's neither DC nor AC and that's all I can measure. But the voltage spikes at just over 700 volts. See my video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" when I show the oscilloscope output in detail. There's is link to it in the description below this video.
I don't know how long yet. I'll reply again when I do. I didn't notice any brightening after first turning it on. In my research I looked for some diagram showing where the wires go but didn't find any. Maybe I should just break one open someday. :)
I can't say for sure but I assume they act as a step-up transformer, the few turns of the short coils inducing a higher voltage in the long coil. If you look up step-up transformer you'll see how that works. Let's say you have a transformer with 2 coils (keeping it simple) and the 1st coil has a few turns and the 2nd coil has many turns. If you put fluctuating low voltage in the 1st coil, that'll result in fluctuating high voltage in the 2nd coil. To light the CFL we need high voltage across it.
To be galvanized means it has a thin coating of zinc on it to reduce corrosion. From the wikipedia page, the "it" can be iron, steel or aluminum. I'd think iron or steel would be best due to their higher permeability to electromagnetism. Aluminum's permeability is around that of air. Sounds like you have some experimenting, and winding (;-)) ahead of you.
I don't know enough about MOSFETs to say. But in the comments to my other recent joule thief and CFL video, Acme Fixer said "You can try the tiny 2N7000 MOSFET which costs a dime at Mouser or Futurlec, but it requires 3V gate voltage." Re the 116 ohm resistor, neither my 5w CFL nor my 13w CFL would light with as much at 100 ohms, so I suspect 116 ohms would be too high. See my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" for my measurements.
very nice project, educational and fun ! i am sure that little AA battery is very Happy among those monster size components :) Steve i don't know you smoke or not, but you should keep a bottle of Zippo Lighter Oil in your lab cause nothing can remove that sticky label residues rather than that oil. i had that problem with HDD label removals, nothing helped until i found the magic :) good luck with next one.
+Denny Smoke LOL I have a newer keyboard stored away but I like the deep press of the keys with this one. And I recently cleaned it so it's good for another frightening 20 years or so! And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying my videos.
I'm pretty sure it can't be used for a box fan. The output is pretty spikey with relatively long pauses between the spikes as the energy builds up in the coils. You're better off powering the fan directly from the battery. It's really the form of the output that restricts its application.
Nice! How long does the battery last? I thought that CFL needed to warm up before becoming efficient. I was wondering if the pairs of wire from the tube were connected to some sort of filament.
I've found them in old bench power supplies (i.e. box types with knobs and meters on the front), I think they're filtered power supplies. Also, microwave ovens.
![แฉกลโกงงานวัด 2024 [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.106 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/taC5dpP3HXA/mqdefault.jpg)
The original Jeanna's Light circuit used a TIP 3055 and a 3.375" ferrite toroid and output over 700 volts from a "dead" AA battery. Jeanna was an online friend of mine and designed a brilliant circuit. I built 3 of those lights here and they still work all these years later.
Your videos always show great detail and easy to follow instructions for replication. I admire your ability to do that. Keep up the good work.
PS The Jeanna Circuit was developed over at overunitydotcom.
Bill
I'll have to get back to you on all that. I did observe the voltage at the CFL on my oscilloscope at one point during R&D and the peak was around 800 to 900 volts. Still watching your latest videos - lot's of stuff there.
I hope you are ok. Your video on how a joule thief works got me into electronics. Saved my life. You haven't posted in such a long time. I hope your in a good place where ever you are. 👍🇮🇪🙏
I'm always glad to hear when a video makes a difference with someone. Thanks for letting me know! And I don't have time to post often anymore but I do manage to every now and then. I should be releasing another one next week sometime.
You should tear open the CFL and give it a try that way. Even a broken CFL might work. Of all the CFLs I've opened that "didn't work" anymore, the tubes were fine and lit up with this circuit. Thanks for sharing what you did.
It was a conscious descision to put only the one 1.5v battery. I started with a joule thief lighting an LED which normally has just one 1.5v battery and I decided to leave it like that since the CFL circuit could have any number of 1.5v batteries depending on your resistance, core and windings. And I think I found the variable capacitor mention you're talking about. It's in the labeling at 0:47. I added an annotation. Easy typo for me to make since I've used variable capacitors so much. Thanks!
A simple rule of thumb with it all, is that the lower the number of primary turns, the brighter the light but more the current draw. A balance can be reached and that's a main interest in such circuits :)
Yours is great for what it was designed for, reading, emergency light, night light perhaps and fun !
By "without using electricity" I guess you mean lighting the compact fluorescent light without plugging into the wall. I've gotta admit it is a cool feeling holding the CFL in your hand with no chord and walking around or sitting reading a book. Like magic. :)
Thanks. If you have any problems building something from one of my tutorials, don't hesitate to ask for help. I'm always delighted when someone finds them useful.
And I don't know the battery life yet. I'll let it run this weekend while I watch it.
Thanks. As usual it's the kind of tutorial that would have helped me. But this way I got to have the fun of figuring it out! The coil was tricky to get right.
Thanks, Dan! You're last one was pretty cool too. I'm looking forward to your next one.
Thanks! And thanks for feedback re the music. It sure beats just hearing me talk and is hard to select so that it helps rather than hurts.
Be sure and upload a video when you do. BTW just enjoyed your videos. Some cool yet simple stuff you have there.
Man I'm learning so much from you.. Thank you for making these videos. I can't wait for my son to grow a little older so I can share these projects with him.
I don't want to try LEDs right now since LED flashlights powered from batteries exist, makes it less fun. But powering CFLs from batteries is exciting!
I chose my core completely at random. I selected it because it was the biggest I had. It's also an iron powder core which people seem to think wouldn't be great. Maybe it isn't but it worked and it stayed cool while the transistor and batteries heated up. So I'd say, just try what you have.
And I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching.
Why not run the lamp from the collector current coil?
What kind of run time you get with a new pair of AA cells?
It'd be cool to see how well it works with your ion cells. I love it when as much of it is homemade as possible.
Thanks! The ASZ15 transistor is a PNP type transistor whereas in this video I'm using an NPN transistor. However, you can use your PNP transistor if you simply reverse the positive and negative of the battery in the circuit. Everything else is the same. The ASZ15 is a lower power than the 2N3055 I used so hopefully that's not a problem. I just tried with an NTE219 PNP transistor which is close to a 2N3055 in power and it worked. Sorry for the delayed response. I wanted to find and try one first.
Using the 13 watt CFL in this video the two batteries lasted 25 minutes at full brightness and 30 minutes dimmer. Using a 5 watt CFL the two batteries lasted 90 minutes at full brightness and 15 minutes dimmer. I show these tests in my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video or you can find it in the Videos section on my channel page. Others have different runtimes based on the coils, resistances, ...
Thanks! Yeah, it helps when it's in a more engaging format. Thanks for watching!
+Nishi Chemie If you don't have a variable resistor then try different fixed value resistors since your resistance might be too high. Also, see my follow-up video where I measure the resistance th-cam.com/video/yz_99oVMbSI/w-d-xo.html
Your problem may also be in the wiring. Double-check the way you connected to the coils since it's backward from what you'd expect.
It's also possible that you had the problem I talk about at 2:16 if you didn't put thick insulated wire at that point.
For an easier one, try powering an LED instead. You can see how to do that in this video here th-cam.com/video/B61DU7yEsPM/w-d-xo.html
PS There's no Reply button under your comment because of your Google+ settings.
- go to your Google+ page,
- in the top, right corner click on your thumbnail icon,
- in the popup that appears, click on "Settings".
- for the 2nd question down "Who can comment on your public posts?" set it to "Anyone".
It's definitely 18 AWG. It says so right on the spools and I used the 18 gauge location on my wire stripper to strip the insulation. Must just not look the same through video or just be a different one than you're used to.
To make your own cores you could try using large washers stacked on top of each other with a layer of plastic or paper in between each to separate them electrically. I don't know how well or even if it will work since there will be large eddy currents compared to a manufactured ferrite core.
Sorry for the delayed responses. Email notification of comments doesn't seem to be working.
No, the distance is the length of just the tube itself, from the end of the tube where one set of wires connect to it and the end of the tube where the other set of wires connect to it. In order for the tube to light up, the gas inside the tube has to be ignited from one end to the other. For a spiral tube that's the length of the tube as if you'd straightened it out and measured from one end to the other.
The best I got with this coil was 1 hour and 45 minutes. I show doing these tests in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (there's a link to it in the description below this video.) And no, it can't charge itself, at least not indefinitely. Though there are circuits that power an LED and do some charging, but the batteries eventually run out.
Glad you liked it, DiyEcoProjects. Yeah, it took some hunting and reading for me to figure out what to do with the CFL's wires too. At least now, anyone who watches this video will know.
Actually, comparing it to some I've seen, I thought the light level was pretty good. I was surprised I could easily read by it! I did try a 9V one early on and it was brighter than whatever else I was doing at that stage. I think I didn't keep using it because I wanted to keep the battery voltage and power small, since to point is to get the best results with the least power. I started out trying just one AA for a long time without success.
Thanks. I've tried only the one core so I really don't know if any random one will do, but it was a random selection on my part so I'd say go for it. Judging by all the other joule thief powered CFLs out there I think most, if not all are randomly selected.
Most are actually likely iron powder cores and not ferrite as I said in this video. I didn't know that when I made the video. I should put an annotation. I'll have more about it in this week's video.
+Nishi Chemie You can increase the output of your solar panel by giving it more light. Keep in mind that your solar panel can give out only so much voltage.
If you want to get more voltage and amps from your solar panel but without increasing the light then you can't. There are circuits that will increase the voltage while dropping the amps or that will increase the amps while dropping the voltage but you can't increase both at the same time without supplying more energy, i.e. more light.
***** I buy my 2n3055s at local electronics stores, though it's cheaper to buy them online (e.g. ebay.com). I don't understand the rest of your question. If you're asking for a different circuit to power your fluorescent light, I don't have any other circuit off hand.
***** No, I've never heard of it, so I probably can't help you with it (at least not with my available time.) But I did a search and found a few things, but nothing black and heavy. Do you have a link?
***** Thanks. Looks like an automotive ignition coil and a battery. I guess the flame comes from having an ignitable gas flow through the arc? That's what it looked like in some of the videos I saw when I searched earlier. I don't have any circuit to add to it to power a fluorescent light. Possibly something with a 555 timer chip and the ignition coil will do it. Try looking for a circuit with those two things. I know I made one once but I never documented it. I didn't try a fluorescent light though.
***** You're going to have to search for that yourself. I'm not even sure it if will work since I haven't done it. It's just a suggestion so that you have something further to look into. I only know that I once managed to make a high voltage power supply using a 555 timer and an automotive ignition coil, but I never used it with a fluorescent light. I don't have the circuit anymore.
RimstarOrg Actually, using an ignition coil+555 chip ought to work REALLY WELL to light up a CFL although it won't be so compact any more. Should be interesting to try.
The main point about the magnet wire is that it has thin insulation so that allows you to put on a lot of turns. So does the fact that it 30 gauge (AWG) wire, which is very thin. So basically, any wire you can find that will allow you to put a few hundred turns would be fine. You could also try putting multiple layers if you can get many turns side-by-side.
Thanks. And heck, there wasn't even a video like this around for me when I made it just recently! Now there is, though. I just needed a time machine to go forward and find it useful for me! :)
Outstanding! Great practical application for one of the Internets most cherished circuit. Clever build and nicely compact. Thank you for sharing.
+Nishi Chemie You can't do it with a joule thief circuit. But if your input is AC then you can look into "step down tranformers", and if you want DC output then add a full wave bridge rectifier after that. If your input is DC then one solution is a DC-DC converter. I don't have anything to help you further, but maybe knowing the terms to look for will help.
You can get cores in many things: microwave ovens, power supplies, TVs, ... I think stacked washers would be susceptible to eddy currents across their surface. But make sure to put something thin and non-conductive between each one to prevent eddy currents through the stack (waxed paper, thin plastic from a plastic bag, ...). It probably won't be as good as a ferrite core but it's worth a try to see how good they'll be.
I don't know any other transistor numbers off-hand that'll work but one way to find some is to do a search for "2n3055 equivalents". You can also use PNP transistors if you reverse the battery in the circuit while leaving everything else the same (the 2N3055 is an NPN transistor.) I do that in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (see link the the description below this video) using an NTE219 PNP transistor.
I guess. I actually did it the equivalent of 3 times in all my experimenting. :) Glad you like the video.
3v battery can power 230v CFL easily but the current draw will increase proportionally, causing the battery to deplete quickly. This is what I had learnt in school, but I do believe in overunity. As a result I want to understand what's happening in your circuit.
Is it depleting the battery quicker than normal or is it actually drawing lesser current from battery despite stepping up the voltage to 100 times?
If it's really amplifying the wattage, I'd try to replicate it.
Although I did some experiments with bitoroid transformer and got success to some extent.
Thanks for taking effort in explaining step by step process of making joule ringer CFL light.
May God gives you more strength and wisdom!!
All the joule thief circuit does is build up energy in the magnetic field in the coils and then dump it all at once into the output and then repeat. So the output is made up of short bursts with nothing in between. Not a very efficient circuit, but it works. It's also called a blocking oscillator circuit. I show the output in this follow-up video th-cam.com/video/FkLET8MhRbU/w-d-xo.html I explain the basic joule thief circuit in this older video th-cam.com/video/DAyM8Iet1O8/w-d-xo.html
@@RimstarOrg thanks for taking time to answer my queries.
So joule thief circuit increases the voltage and current but decreases the duty cycle.
I believe if we collect the short duration high voltage and high current pulses into a capacitor and charge another battery with it, the charging battery will charge faster than the source battery will deplete. I think it will be overunity. I read it somewhere on overunity forum.
The first thing to check is your connections to the coil. They're connected the opposite of what you'd expect so compare them carefully to the diagram. The other thing to do is try a higher input voltage. I was trying for a long time with just one AA battery but when I finally added a second AA battery connected series (positive of one battery connected to the negative of the next battery) it started working. You could even try 2 or 4 AA batteries.
It's a biography, "Robert H. Goddard - Pioneer of Space Research" by Milton Lehman. Goddard was an American who did rocket research in the 1920s and 1930s and is known as one of the fathers of rocketry. A fascinating man and a great read.
I don't know yet. I'm going to open it up and do some testing this week (voltage, resistance, current, oscilloscope, ...) and put it all in a video.
The potentiometer controls the brightness of the light. I'd already adjusted it before filming. However, you can see it in action in my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video or you can find it on my channel page.
Great work!.... Thanks for taking a chunk of your time to male these kind of video's, I learn more from your videos than I do reading a book for 7 hours!! ;-)
I mean the 1st peak is positive over 700V, the 2nd peak is negative 225V, the 3rd peak is positive 140V, the 4th is 100V, the 5th is 70V, and so on. Each successive peak as the voltage alternates is lower and lower, so it's dampened. That happens each cycle as the transistor is turned off and the energy from the magnetic field is dumped. You can see this in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video at 2:55 where I show the output at the CFL on my oscilloscope.
A frequent error is to get the connections to the short coils wrong. Very carefully compare the diagram to how you've done it. Notice that the two short coils are connected to the circuit oppositely each other. If that's okay then add more batteries in series. Mine wasn't working with a single AA battery but when I added a second one it started working.
I was wondering if anyone but me noticed that! It was purely a happy accident and I love it. :)
With the 13 watt CFL in this video the light stayed bright for 25 minutes. It was less bright for another 30 minutes. Total time was 45 minutes.
With a 5 watt CFL the light stays bright for 1 hour and 30 minutes. It is then less bright for another 15 minutes. Total time is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
You can see these tests in my video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light". There's a link to it in the description below this video and you can find it on my channel page.
Only in that it steps up the voltage. The difference is that it also steps up the current. This is done by building up energy in the core's magnetic field, during which the CFL is not getting power. The all that energy is dumped, hence the higher voltage and current. Then the cycle repeats.
My understanding is that fluorescent tubes need high voltage AC across them so that the mercury doesn't all migrate to one side, so you'd need some sort of circuit besides just batteries. Most of the ones I've seen usually have bigger toroids so there's more room to fit a lot of turns without the ends coming close together. That way they don't need more insulation on their wires. More turns might help. I had 500 hundred at one point but that wasn't as good, probably too much resistance.
Yes, you can use a fixed value resistor instead of a potentiometer. But it sure is nice to have the resistance be adjustable. The best value will vary, based on your CFL mostly I guess, so it'd be good if you had a few different value resistors to try. In the experiments I did in my other video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" I used around 30 ohms for a 13 watt CFL and around 70 ohms for a 5 watt CFL. There's a link to that video in the description below this video.
With rechargeables, I don't know. Rechargeables I've had in the past don't hold as much charge as non-rechargeables but there are other types of batteries that can be used too. Using the batteries in this video and the 13 watt CFL it lasted 25 minutes at full brightness and 30 minutes dimmer. Using a 5 watt CFL it lasted 90 minutes at full brightness and 15 minutes dimmer. See my follow-up video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" (link in the video description.)
I don't know how long it lasts yet. I don't have any LED comparisons. I tried a reflector and it didn't help much. I don't think it was bright enough to matter. Same for solar cells I suspect. But the fun was just in getting it lit as much as I did, more than I expected in fact. Adjusting the potentiometer does adjust the brightness. I turn it down to min resistance and then increase the resistance while the brightness stays the same, using as little current as needed.
I'm not too familiar with trigger coils - just had to look it up. Wouldn't that give you just one brief flash with a long wait before the next one? I don't know, they're new to me.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Thank you Rimstar... youve videos are always very clear.
Readers, you may like to try this with a LED bulb (light of amerca 4w) as you often get more amp hours that way.
5.11 thanks for saying this about the CFL, i had to research this a while back
Chears Rimstar, your a star!
Not sure what you'd consider a super joule thief, could be lots of things. But if it's going to create a high voltage then you'll need better insulated wires where there would be high voltage, as I point out in this video. So if the toroid is small, you may not be able to get much of the more thickly insulated wire onto it.
If you're not getting a voltage reading from the many-turn coil then it sounds like you may have a short circuit, maybe due to high voltage when you had only one battery, not enough to light the CFL but enough to get high voltage. How thick is the insulation for you short coils? It's possible to have a short between the short coils and the many-turn coil. If that's the case, you might be able to just change the wiring for the short coils and the short on the many-turn coil won't matter.
I think it would create sparks at the output. I know I accidentally had the end of one of the other windings close to one end of the battery at one point and saw tiny sparks. That's all you'd need to ignite a gas. I'll test for sparks at the output of the red wires, the big coil, this week and put it in my next video. I hope I don't forget to!
I don't have an answer to your question. Here in Canada I've seen both AWG and mil, though for many other things we use metric. At least I make clear in my videos that it's AWG rather than saying just "gauge". I'll consider including mm in the future. I already include both temperature scales when I remember to.
Mine doesn't make any noticeable ringing sound. I do recall at points while I was still experimenting it, hearing the ringing that I hear in a lot of other videos but it wasn't very loud. I don't recall what the circumstances were.
I suspect a ferrite rod might work, though I don't know how to layer the coils or if you should. I started out with trying my ferrite rod and didn't have any luck so I switched to the toroid. But I was trying only one AA battery when I was experimenting with the rod so it may or may not have worked had I tried two AA batteries. I've seen videos of others using similar circuits and longer rods.
I've gotten it working with 2, 3 and 4 AA batteries and there wasn't much difference in brightness so I suspect 1 would work too. The biggest difference might just be in battery life. The more batteries, the longer they'll run for.
Are you asking if it works with normal light? I assume you mean incandescent lights, the ones with just a thin wire filament inside a round glass bulb. I've never tried but it isn't designed too. Those would appear as a short circuit and wouldn't be taking advantage of the effect of this circuit at all.
Sure. But the speed with which the cap will charge depends on its capacitance. A lower capacitance one will charge faster than a higher capacitance one. Also, make sure your cap has a high enough breakdown voltage (also called dielectric strength). That's the voltage rating typically written on the cap.
My toroid is 1 1/4inch outer diameter and 5/16inch inner diameter or 33mm outer diameter and 15mm inner diameter. But I just used the biggest one I had. If you have a bigger one then use it so that you can get more turns on it. It'll also be easier to wind. There was some question if a ferrite core would be better than an iron powder core (like mine) but since mine stayed cool during the tests in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video, iron powder cores are okay.
I didn't have success with a cylindrical core, but I tried it first before I realized the issue with voltage breakdown through enamel insulation. Others seem to have had success with cylindrical cores though.
Well, it's sort of AC in that when the magnetic field dumps its energy you get a dampened wave, but the first peak is huge compared to all the res; it dampens real fast. Have a look at my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video (link in the description below this video) and you'll see the oscilloscope output. It also works quite different than a flyback. See my "How a Joule Thief Works" video (link in the description or maybe I misunderstand flybacks.
What is needed for this Joule Theif Light
1. Fluorescent light
2. Two AA batteries (1.5 volt)
3. Battery holder (for AA batteries)
4. A switch
5. Power transistor
6. Variable capacitor/potentiometer
7. Ferrite core
8. Magnet wire
9. Thicker insulated wire
10. 18 gauge wire
11. Tape
I'm just putting this comment just in case you want to write it down really fast instead of pausing and playing the video. :)
Oh, are you removing the resistor from the circuit when you measure the resistance? You have to otherwise your measurement will include the circuit in the other direction from the resistor too.
I get mine by taking apart old electronic things. The one in this video came from an old power supply. There's a nice one in most microwave ovens. Ordering online is another option, ebay for example. I don't usually see this type in electronics stores.
You might be able to but from the specifications I'd say it's borderline. It might damage the transistor. If you try it I'd suggest to start it the first time with the potentiometer set to the highest resistance and then gradually turn it down until the CFL turns on or the transistor breaks. You could add a fixed value resistor of maybe 70 ohms in addition to the potentiometer just in case but the CFL may not light.
It's not only counter intuitive, but it's the opposite of what I get. Are you sure you're measuring the resistance correctly - though I don't see how you can be?
I don't know how you'd adapt a camera flash circuit. It's the same principle though. Build up a store of power and release in a burst. Just a question of increasing the frequency.
It doesn't have to be a spiral. But I think that the longer the distance between the two ends of the tube, the higher a voltage you'll need to get it to light up.
I removed the CFL and put the output wires close together at various distances - no sparks. Each cycle there's a high voltage spike, around 1kV, then within 2 microseconds it drops to 0 and negative to around -200V. It then goes back positive and negative and so on, each time decreasing in voltage until it stays at 0V until the next cycle. I guess there isn't time between the 1kV and the -200V for a spark in air. Maybe in a slightly conductive gas it would, but I don't know for sure.
I have done everything exactly as you have and I am getting a voltage on the small windings but its not enough for a CFL, i can barley light an LED
+chems Try adding another battery in series (+ to -) for more voltage. One AA battery didn't work for me so I added a second one and it worked.
+RimstarOrg I have used a 9V battery.
- UPDATE -
I remade the ferrite core to be EXACTLY as you've done, 30 gauge wire with thicker wire where ends meet, some packaging tape, 10 turns of (admittedly 20 AWG, not 10) and 5 turns of the same wire. Basically what you've done.
I connected it with the exact same circuit except I'm using a Tip41c which with all my tests works almost the exact same as the 2n3055. I use a variety of variable resistors, 10k 1k and 100 ohms.
Heres the odd part: Once powered the CFL doesn't light. To see if the circuit even works I connect a 20W LED (because previously I got a 20W to get insanely bright off a 9V battery with a different core) and it immidetly brighten and then quickly dies down to nothing...? I adjust the ohms and it does the same thing but at different brightnesses.
If you didn't get that: I powered it, it turns on brightly, then slowly dims to no light in about 2 seconds.
Possible reasons:
1. Tip41c may not work the same as the 2n3055 in this circumstance.
2. The 2 10 gauge wires are at different coils. I was wondering why one was 5 turns and the other is 10, why is that? I think this might be the problem because of the inbalance in turns, the magnetic field gets weaker every cycle. Until it turns off? Maybe then I have to switch the wire so the inbalance works the opposite... I don't know if anything I'm saying is making any sense. But I'm not sure.
I find it really awesome that even though this video is 2 years old you are still helping people out!! Your awesome and smart! :D
+chems The number of coils for the 2 10 gauge wires were arrived at by trial-and-error, basically trying different numbers of turns and seeing what worked best. You can try different numbers too.
From the datasheets the Tip41c looks comparable to the 2N3055 as you say.
Maybe you should try lower input voltage like mine, only around 3 volts. Possibly your input voltage is too high causing a voltage at the wires that's too high and breaks down the air. The insulation is already probably damaged from the first breakdown. That would explain it working only briefly. When you turn it on, the corona would take a little time to build up between the ends of the wires before the air becomes conductive enough to act like a short circuit. When you turn it off, the corona goes away. If that's the case, using a lower input voltage might still work as the lower high voltage at the wires might not be enough to form a corona in the air. The voltage reached before the breakdown may not be high enough to ignite the CFL but might be for the LED (I'm not familiar with the LED circuit, though I doubt it requires high voltage.) If it still doesn't work with the lower input voltage then remove the 2 10 gauge wires so that you have just the enamel wire and apply some more tape, basically to plug the holes from the breakdown. Or you could paint on some corona dope.
You might also want to look at my follow-up video for some ideas th-cam.com/video/yz_99oVMbSI/w-d-xo.html.
+RimstarOrg The LED wasn't connected to the high voltage, it was connected to the Collector and Emitter to see if the "joule thief" part of the circuit even worked. I did try putting the LED on the high voltage and got the same results. But you may be correct with the voltage damaging the wires. I'll go take off the 10 gauge wire and try to fix the insulation of the 30 gauge and see if that works, otherwise I might rewind wire onto a new core. Thanks.
Thanks So Much!! Finally found a video that helped me forward on my project. Thanks!!!
Hmmm... is right. How many turns do you have on your toroid? Are you using the circuit in this video and putting your LED where I have the CFL? If you have a lot of turns and you're putting it where I have the CFL then as I said, it's dampened AC, but it's high voltage so maybe the even dampened voltage is high enough. Will a high enough voltage light an LED in the reverse direction?
You haven't done anything wrong. Mine probably become hot too except that I can't tell since it's in the can. It's not a problem for me since I don't keep it running long. The solution is to attach the transistor to a heat sink. I do that in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video. See my "How to mount/attach transistor to heatsink (2N3055)" video for how to do this. There are links to both videos in the description below this video.
I can't say for sure if your ring magnet would work, though I'm doubting it. The permanent magnetic field might work against the coils' magnetic fields and you'd probably have large losses due to eddy currents. As a negative effect on the magnet, it may demagnetize it.
Glad to hear it! Thank for letting me know. Cheers.
Oh, that's interesting. So you're saying that if it is, then it's a bad choice for a core? It was a random selection on my part - just used what I had.
I don't turn up any good search results for either dry crystal solar cell battery or sn305. Can you elaborate?
The variable resistor allows you to adjust the brightness. You can try with a fixed value resistor, around 25 ohms to around 60 ohms, but if one doesn't work, try a smaller one. I show me adjusting it in my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" video. There's a link to it in the description below this video.
I was originally thinking of embedding it in the top of a wooden staff (ala Gandalf's staff or something) but I love how the cola can turned out instead.
Interesting stuff of JonnyDavro's. It seems if you look at just the basic principle of 'store up energy and then release in a burst' there are a huge number of ways to do it - probably even mechanical!
I only measured current at the early prototype stages and it was over an amp at one point. Don't recall which coil iteration that was though.
2.7v for the short coils isn't very high, but if you're reading it with something other than an oscilloscope, like a digital or analog meter, then you would get a low reading.
Cool. Sounds like you're building one. Have fun with it!
I can't measure the amp output because it's neither DC nor AC and that's all I can measure. But the voltage spikes at just over 700 volts. See my video "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" when I show the oscilloscope output in detail. There's is link to it in the description below this video.
Okay We'll wait for it.......but you and all of your gadgets are just AWESOME....
Very interesting video, thanks for making both it and the video describing the operation/principles behind the Joule Thief circuit :) .
hey i have a question can we wind wires on ferrite transformer intead of toroidal core plz tell man
I think that depends on how you wire it. The two windings have to be overlapping each other, they can't be on different sides of the transformer.
ok bro thanks i will wind it according to you
I don't know how long yet. I'll reply again when I do. I didn't notice any brightening after first turning it on. In my research I looked for some diagram showing where the wires go but didn't find any. Maybe I should just break one open someday. :)
Very well done. I wish this video was around bout the same time we were all building them the first time hehehe. Excellent job
I can't say for sure but I assume they act as a step-up transformer, the few turns of the short coils inducing a higher voltage in the long coil. If you look up step-up transformer you'll see how that works. Let's say you have a transformer with 2 coils (keeping it simple) and the 1st coil has a few turns and the 2nd coil has many turns. If you put fluctuating low voltage in the 1st coil, that'll result in fluctuating high voltage in the 2nd coil. To light the CFL we need high voltage across it.
To be galvanized means it has a thin coating of zinc on it to reduce corrosion. From the wikipedia page, the "it" can be iron, steel or aluminum. I'd think iron or steel would be best due to their higher permeability to electromagnetism. Aluminum's permeability is around that of air. Sounds like you have some experimenting, and winding (;-)) ahead of you.
You make the best electronic videos!
I don't know enough about MOSFETs to say. But in the comments to my other recent joule thief and CFL video, Acme Fixer said "You can try the tiny 2N7000 MOSFET which costs a dime at Mouser or Futurlec, but it requires 3V gate voltage." Re the 116 ohm resistor, neither my 5w CFL nor my 13w CFL would light with as much at 100 ohms, so I suspect 116 ohms would be too high. See my "Fun with Joule Thief Powering a Compact Fluorescent Light" for my measurements.
bro can we use ferrite transformer instead of toroidal core plz tell
I think that depends on how you wire it. The two windings have to be overlapping each other, they can't be on different sides of the transformer.
very nice project, educational and fun !
i am sure that little AA battery is very Happy among those monster size components :)
Steve i don't know you smoke or not, but you should keep a bottle of Zippo Lighter Oil in your lab cause nothing can remove that sticky label residues rather than that oil.
i had that problem with HDD label removals, nothing helped until i found the magic :)
good luck with next one.
Thank you Mr. Rimstar for all wonderful educational videos. That IBM compatible PS1 keyboard scare me. LOL.
+Denny Smoke LOL I have a newer keyboard stored away but I like the deep press of the keys with this one. And I recently cleaned it so it's good for another frightening 20 years or so!
And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying my videos.
I'm pretty sure it can't be used for a box fan. The output is pretty spikey with relatively long pauses between the spikes as the energy builds up in the coils. You're better off powering the fan directly from the battery. It's really the form of the output that restricts its application.
Nice! How long does the battery last? I thought that CFL needed to warm up before becoming efficient. I was wondering if the pairs of wire from the tube were connected to some sort of filament.
I've found them in old bench power supplies (i.e. box types with knobs and meters on the front), I think they're filtered power supplies. Also, microwave ovens.