Supercapacitor Joule Thief 

Thank you

So is his "handy-work" at 0:44 ;D

@@BillAnt not really...

This is one of the reasons I love these videos, the idea of writing everything out on paper really gets the idea across.

Definitely not a doctor.

Nice

Steel ball co2 bb pistols deliver 3 joules at muzzle. That makes the 4.5mm ball go thru thick glass, enter and exit thick alloy can and for sure go inside human flesh. Insane cap...

@Heads Mess Yes, but in any way well timed and proper cap would accelarate the steel ball significantly with a powerful coil after the ball have had its initial 120m/s Co2 accelaration. A project amongst many others Im dreaming experimenting of :)

@Heads Mess Thanks. I do have some math to do and a lot to read if I'll ever get to this project. So many other things to do...

We're inclined to agree with you!

Too bad they cost more than a car

☣droid☣ wait what? how much they cost?

~$16,000

+Markovip not that expensive. 16k is a reasonable price

0:44

This thread is phenomenal

I found that using gases or water to explain how electric circuits work makes things a lot easier to understand. Basically, for the Joule thief, the transistor causes flow in one direction through the coil, which then causes the flow to stop due to the magnetic interference of the coils going in opposite directions, which stops the transistor, but all that electricity in between the coil and transistor acts like a small capacitor (quick-discharge battery), and the current from that part of the wire gets added to the current of the battery, to power the LED, then that emptying of the capacitor-like wire causes current from the battery to be able to flow to the transistor again, and the whole thing repeats itself.

I wasn't the only one thinking his handwriting was nice.

You know they could fail people with correct work, if they have bad hand writing. Any one is supposed to be able to read it. Though the higher you go in education the worse most teachers got.

Except his numbers lol

I'm glad it wasnt just me thinking this and he's a lefty to boot :-)

I get angry when people give me illegible hand writing. I mean if your 4s look like 7s how am I supposed to interpret what you wrote?

But grateful for making these videos!!

+Chaaan Chaan Limbaroc I think it's a sort of restrictor. The capacitor will output power with quickly fading voltage. It'll ouput more then needed early, then not enough later. The inductor and transistor are the working components, one working in each stage (inductor is the coil and is like wireless energy transfer at point blank, and the transistor is like a voltage-actuated switch). When the capacitor would normally output too much, the transistor cuts the connection until the power is used, then lets the capacitor supply another pulse of power. This simulates lowered voltage, I suppose. Lower average voltage in return for longer runtime. (That's good here. Didn't need that extra voltage, but did need that time.) Later, when the capacitor runs low, the inductor starts forcing the capacitor to drain faster by adding extra pull on the output. (Less time in the not-enough voltage range, but now the voltage is enough. Also good.) In all, I think the system reduces the too-bright time and the too-dim time and turns much of it into a what-we-need time.When the voltage is too high, though, the transistor gives up.

thanks man. It really helped alot!

Damn, even I could manage to understand that after your explanation...

If you care to learn a bit more about the inner workings of this circuit, take a look at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule_thief en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_oscillator

WTF MAN?? 😂😂

Southpaws often have either better handwriting, or really bad scrawl, because it takes us more effort to write than it does for most people. I scrawl my personal notes [and can read them!], but print quickly and neatly if others will be reading it. Maybe GS does the same.

So much for keeping it simple. You just ran with it.

2 transistors, a zener diode, a few resistors, and a few capacitors is simple IMO. And much better, because at least it is regulated. And with the right parts you can get many hundreds of regulated volts on the output!

But the losses increase by adding complexity to the circuit. I think the Joule thief is a great little circuit as is and perfect to help encourage people to experiment with electronics. But that aside why no recent projects or tutorials?

I like simple circuits too, but I generally notice simpler circuits are less efficient. Which is fine for some/many applications. A well designed boost converter or charge pump should be very efficient, much more so than this joule thief. I think the reason why it's efficiency is poor is because the oscillator relies on a positive feedback loop that only terminates when core saturation is reached. Reaching core saturation is not a cut and dry threshold, but more like a diminishing returns on how much energy is stored in the magnetic flux vs put in. So some loss comes because the inductor does not return all the energy Q1 put into it. Also you can see in the video how Q1 turns off gradually as the core saturates, which means there will be significant switching losses, which you may become painfully aware by burning your finger on Q1! :O Also, BJTs are generally not the best for switching applications, because they generally have a limit to how low the Vce voltage drop can be, generally about 0.4V depending on base current. Why have I not made any videos on my channel? Because I have been really busy and just not had time to keep up with youtube. (going to UVA!!! :) ) Also I recently acquired the Art of Electronics, so I have been holding off on my capacitor tutorial video just to make sure that everything I talk about is as correct as possible.

Can you edit the 'very basic' part, please?

Thanks mate

+GreatScott! hello?

You're welcome

no need to be jelous. If you want good oscilloscope but with low cost, don't chase scopes on shelf. Oscilloscopes are made to last for looong time. for example i got Tektronix 2440 500MS/s for 300€ including shipping and it's over 30 years old. And it is STILL going strong. Save money for proper one. Dont go with "poket" or "pc" scopes. It do not need to be lcd or light weight, BUT make sure it stands for your purpose of use. Here is something you need to consider when buying an old scope: Analog/digital (digital have more options & usage but analog ALWAYS shows correctly. Voltage spike detection depends on sample rate) Channel count (2 is pretty standard an good for general purpose. 4ch is for more complicated applications like communications and multi prosessor...and so on) voltage range (normal scope can take 400v spike, in other words 800v spike-to-spike. so check that before you plug prope to wallsocket) digital scope stuff: samplerate (faster the better it is. WARNING some scopes uses "averageing" to create "better" samplerate.) memory resolution: for digital stuff byte per sample is good enough but for analog circuits need more accurate samples... memory width: how long can scope record. this is a problem with old scopes. back then there was very little memory available. (I have to strugle with 1024 bytes but with delayed trigger i can analyze very accurately that did my app send to my circuit and trouble shoot it) and for more stuff you need to know, go watch scope guides from EEVBlog... they know a lot more than i do (just an engineer student). :) Good hunting.

Me too! It looks the business.

Dangerous_CODE Thanks for info mate...

As Afromantech said "I never invest more than 400$ in a scope ever!"

np :)

The standard Joule Thief is 45 to 60 percent efficient.

none at all. that's the scope probe. or to be precise, a spring loaded "Retractable Hook Tip" you can put on the tip of said probe.

Excellent experimenting! 👍👍👍

Let there be electromagnetic radiation!

@Heads Mess Yeah.. that was the joke. It's a play on "Let there be light." as God said in Genesis.

...You and I....

E Knaap you just prooved his point

It can be either "you and me" or "you and I".

LoganDark actually no

@@doftos Really, its a choice. They just choose to be _wrong._ "You and _me_ travel to the beat of a different drum...."

69 joules so yeah this cap is mlg certified

yeah also watch his videos

+Andrew Morrow not the creator, maybe first vids but not at all the creator

Clive gets named checked in the Wikipdia article along with the guy who originated it, but like there were MP3 players before the iPod it's usually after something has been given a snappy name that the general public takes note and Clive did a great job there.

Clive made it popular but he does give the original guy the credit he deserves.

That Guy

There's a specific reason.

@@mousamupadhyaya8053 which is?? this is so unhelpful -_-

I think this is because with the BC637 you can use 1A collector current, on the datasheet it says that this is a "high current transistor". This is really high, compared to, lets say the common 2n5088, which can withstand only 0.05A.

@@ReverbMaci oh wow that makes sense, thank you very much :)

No

You must watch Bigclivedotcom ! He's amazing!

StickySli Yeah everyone who's interested in doing these simple electronics projects should watch him.

I am simply not a fan of his video style. Most of the time I think it is boring. Not what he is talking about but how he presents it.

It's not rude if you don't like someone.

It works from 1V up (or more as I remember) wee ned something that works even below that...

Use an FET, rather than a BJT. A silicon BJT will never be able to work down to very low volts because it needs a minimum of 0.6V from base to emitter. I think a FET version of this circuit can go as low as 0.1V.

GRAHAMAUS I can't find any FET version of the mcp1640. Does anyone know one?

Que sorpresa

Y yo suscrito a tí también :v

I have 4 of them.

you're amazing, you should try making some videos on electromagnetism and teach us

Phewww... I was just about to slap you silly, then I read "I LOVE THEM!!!"... well, you've redeemed yourself ;D By the way, tinkerers can never have enough drawers, that's just the basic law of "Storage" ;)

as many as you need

Ok Simon Cowel

Sure

You could also try it with an JFET.

+Loundre3 What is JFEt?

An JFET is another kind of transistor. They are more effecient then bipolar transistors and can work better at lower voltages.

It is a good question!

You're welcome ;-)

Yeah capacitors now are geting smaler

@@davewatch8304 how much smaller? If they needs more surface and mucho more less distancie between the plates or contacts

It's a supercapacitor, meaning it won't tolerate more than a couple volts.

@@diablominero ok, but then they are not able to accumulate enough energy for supplying high power devices, for instance, a drill, or they do? 😂

I know it's sarcasm but i'll explain anyways. The light has an operating limit. Once the voltage drops too low the light turns off. However there's still a lot of energy left in the capacitor. This circuit draws that power out and bumps up the voltage to make the light run longer. There were some issues like the circuit heating up too much or not functioning when there was too much energy in the capacitor, so he tries to troubleshoot those while still keeping the circuit simple.

Thank you for explaining, helped me understand it better

I have found it

Because there was a reed switch

Hey i have many of those black thingies with three legs, i wonder what other names it has, 8050D, TL431? I have other 5

a transistor?

Black thingies with three legs? Two of them make an ant.

GreatScott! What do you use a transistor ??? I am beginer

Paypal takes a percentage of the amount as well. So there's not much financial benefit to using paypal over patreon. Patreon has a subscription service so people don't have to donate every month. If he uses patreon he can better track how much people donate every month and it is more stable than payments as people will be charged unless the unsubscribe. He doesn't have to worry about people forgetting to pay in a given month.

Ah yes, any sort of tech-talk would bewilder any type of outsider. :D

Thanke mate