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Joule Thief - Anyone build one?

Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Seems to be the craze using crude inverters ripped from disposable cameras to drive CFL bulbs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrHA8jefiYc&

Seems like it's an RF nightmare as the camera in that video really picks it up - probably like a nearby AM radio. :biggrin:

Getting those numbers (lumens) would be pretty expensive with LEDs. Obviously the tube can break and it has a miniscule amount of mercury (no worries with all the coal plants, right? 😉 ) but nevertheless looks like fun!
 
Member call out thread! Ban!!

Jules purchased his altima legally. He did blow olds for the ducati though.
 
Rubycon said:
Seems to be the craze using crude inverters ripped from disposable cameras to drive CFL bulbs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrHA8jefiYc&

Seems like it's an RF nightmare as the camera in that video really picks it up - probably like a nearby AM radio. :biggrin:

Getting those numbers (lumens) would be pretty expensive with LEDs. Obviously the tube can break and it has a miniscule amount of mercury (no worries with all the coal plants, right? 😉 ) but nevertheless looks like fun!
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seems like??? once, i had an entire neighborhood going down intermittently, and it definitely wasn't CB, shitty transformer or the other usual suspects - i've never seen waves like this before or since! the culprit turned out to be a weirdo with a house full of electric "healing" devices.
 
slayernine said:
I would just get a couple LED battery disc light thingys

I found them cheap at princessauto before
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That is no fun. The CFL would blow it away, lumen wise though.

The Boston Dangler said:
seems like??? once, i had an entire neighborhood going down intermittently, and it definitely wasn't CB, shitty transformer or the other usual suspects - i've never seen waves like this before or since! the culprit turned out to be a weirdo with a house full of electric "healing" devices.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by go down?

Electronic healing devices - do you mean bone regeneration stuff? :biggrin:
 
Rubycon said:
What do you mean by go down?

Electronic healing devices - do you mean bone regeneration stuff? :biggrin:
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going down - all docsis devices going offline due to rf interference. where there used to be a carrier is now mountains of noise.

he had all kinds of electric medical quackery; he wasn't a very "grounded" fellow. i wouldn't be "shocked" if at least 1 was used for "regenerating" his "bone". he rented the upstairs to college girls, and they were "repulsed" by his "magnetism"
 
Really? I figured shielded CATV systems should be fairly hardened against such abuse. Wifi and other RF remotes, etc. OTOH... :biggrin:

If someone took these to one of those shows with RC cars, boats, or helicopters(!) it could be a problem.
 
Rubycon said:
Really? I figured shielded CATV systems should be fairly hardened against such abuse. Wifi and other RF remotes, etc. OTOH... :biggrin:

If someone took these to one of those shows with RC cars, boats, or helicopters(!) it could be a problem.
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not for me....i've got 2 billion, 400 million hertz of low-latency goodness, with telemetry!

Radio-Nerd-450x359.jpg
 
Neat but the Only problem is the amount of current it will draw off the battery, it will have a brilliant but short life..
 
BUTCH1 said:
Neat but the Only problem is the amount of current it will draw off the battery, it will have a brilliant but short life..
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That's what I thought too but users are reporting insane battery life! (hence the name joule thief!)

I would try to steal joules of my own but I could never make it ohm.
 
Yes, it does what you're thinking. By storing charge in the inductor it allows the circuit to continue working even when the battery voltage is very low. I had never heard of it until earlier this year when I was helping some HS students with a science project.

Works great!
 
LOLWTF @ the snippet at the end of the video description:

the pope is a i love you and im going to spinkick that fool in his big ass head
seriously tho if u like the pope u need to sit on a pinecone and twirl true story
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😵
 
Rubycon said:
That's what I thought too but users are reporting insane battery life! (hence the name joule thief!)

I would try to steal joules of my own but I could never make it ohm.
Click to expand...

Ohm's law cannot be denied, the light that burns twice as bright burns half again as long..
 
BUTCH1 said:
Ohm's law cannot be denied, the light that burns twice as bright burns half again as long..
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If comparing two sources with different brightness and efficacy remains the same yes. Comparing this to say a typical incandescent camping lantern then no.
 
The Boston Dangler said:
seems like??? once, i had an entire neighborhood going down intermittently, and it definitely wasn't CB, shitty transformer or the other usual suspects - i've never seen waves like this before or since! the culprit turned out to be a weirdo with a house full of electric "healing" devices.
Click to expand...

Something like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_ray 😉 I actually have one of those that I want to restore someday when I get around to it. Thing was definitely interesting the few times I powered it on.
 
I don't get what I'm seeing. So someone powered a light bulb from some battery pack? What's the point that I'm missing?
 
Rubycon said:
That's what I thought too but users are reporting insane battery life! (hence the name joule thief!)

I would try to steal joules of my own but I could never make it ohm.
Click to expand...
You get insane battery life because the circuit boosts the output voltage, allowing it to draw almost all of the charge out of a battery before the circuit fails to illuminate the light. This is in contrast to a flashlight for example, where the light is unusable even though the batteries may still be producing over 1v.
 
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ussfletcher said:
You get insane battery life because the circuit boosts the output voltage, allowing it to draw almost all of the charge out of a battery before the circuit fails to illuminate the light. This is in contrast to a flashlight for example, where the light is unusable even though the batteries may still be producing over 1v.
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Yes of course. LEDs using boost will do the same. The only purpose to chose this over LED (besides it's fun!) is it's dirt cheap.
 
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