400 LEDs Lit From Earth Battery & Joule Thief Circuit

[ekremgusani]

using 50$ camera?? YOU ARE CHEAPSKATE!!!

[RightQuiteNot]

Have you tried just letting it run to see how many days it will go without attention (i.e. moving or cleaning ground probes)?

[Pirate88179]

@RightQuiteNot

I have not cleaned or moved the ground metals in about 3 years. I have not just let it run for extended periods of time as of this writing.

Bill

[Armookie]

Also can I ask what transistor could be replaced in the fuji mod to handle two aa batterys in series? I have tried many and always have no luck with it working. I don't want to add a higher resistor because this will dim the light, I am trying to avoid that if possible. I find two aa bats make it run much brighter with the cfl bulbs but as I said it always blows the transistor after a few mins. Do you have any ideas?

[Pirate88179]

@Armookie

Those leds have no transformer as it is not required he in the US with 120 volts grid voltage. They run right off the wall directly. The modified Fuji, the way we have done it, can handle up to about 5 volts input so your 3 volts should not be a problem at all. If, for some reason, your transistors are getting hot, try adding a heat sink over them made of al. or copper tubing. Do keep in mind these components were made to flash like 20 times, then toss away so some care is needed

[Armookie]

@Pirate88179 Thanks for your reply. I just don't get why my transistors blow with two aa bats. The transistors are marked d2687 are yours the same in the modded fuji?

Maybe it's because I am using rechargable batts I just don't know. What transistor is on your modded fuji? Superb channel by the way! :)

[Pirate88179]

@Armookie

It is a single transistor marked D1960. Check out my Pirate light video. A fellow left a comment there that he built one and used it camping for three weeks using two D batteries in series and it worked great for him. His batteries are still good.

Rechargeable bats are even less voltage, like 1.2 volts so that should not be the problem. Maybe they switched to another board on the Fuji. There used to be just 2 types, an AA board, which i use, and a AAA board.

Bill

[Armookie]

@Pirate88179 Hi Pirate thank you again for replying. I noticed on the other guys comment that he was using it wired in parallel not series so he was anly running at 1.5v. Thats my problem I can run it fine in parallel but trying to double it up to 3v in series is what burns out my transistor. Have you any idea what transistor could handle 3v. I tried many but have no luck at all. Just very strange.

[Pirate88179]

@Armookie

You could use a 2N3055 or a TIP 3055. These can handle the power no problem as I use them on my Bedini replications which use two 12 volt motorcycle batteries. Probably hurt the efficiency a bit but, maybe not too bad. I wonder why your transistors are different from mine?

Bill

[Armookie]

@Pirate88179 Thank you the 2n3055 sound like a good one to use unfortunatly I have none at the moment. I looked close at your other vids and from what I can see the transistor on mine is very tiny compared to the 1960 transistor on yours. I have a few 1960 transistors that I will try it with. Will let you know how it goes. :) Thanks again for you great help.

[Pirate88179]

@Armookie

I just bought 2 more Fuji AA cameras new today on special...2 for like $3.00! when I get a chance, I will open them up to see what transistor they have. I would suggest using a heatsink of some kind with the 2n3055. I always have and no problems yet.

[Armookie]

@Pirate88179 Hi just to let you know, if your local walmart have a photography centre just go in and ask for any of the used desposable flash cameras. They will let you have them free. I got over 150 of these used cameras from them. Just tell them they are for recycling or for a hobby group who dismantle them for receycling. They should let you have a sack full. Best to ask at about 8.30pm to 9pm because its normaly just the counter staff at that time who normally will just give you them. :)

[Armookie]

These leds you are using are they the sort without transformer or do you plug them straight into the wall? Just not sure if you omitted the transformer as all leds in the uk come with a transformer. I was just unsure if you removed or modified these light at all. Can you let me know please. I have also made some great modded fuji cfl lights that work great and burn for about 16 hours. Have you had any luck running the fuji mod with two aa bats as it always blows the transistor in mine?

[WodeBolder]

ha!! man everytime i check out your vids you have added even more 'output'. you guys are an inspiration to amatuers like me who know nothing about electronics to start down the path to enlightenment!!!! 2 months ago a didn't know what a diode was.. last night i had 36 (super bright - 3 volt i think??) LED's going wirelessly with my SEC circuit. your eaarth battery/ joule thief experiments are next!!! thanks mate. you have ALL the booty! arrr

[Pirate88179]

@WodeBolder

Thank you very much for your kind words. Hey, a little over 3 years ago, I knew next to nothing about electronics. It was only through working with the smart folks on OUdot com and watching videos here that I began to learn. Here and there I added my own ideas in but if not for many folks, I would still be in the dark. (Literally) Keep up your efforts and I look forward to seeing your experiments.

Thanks,

Bill

[LoneOarman]

Pirate: Here's a new Joule Thief circuit which uses much less energy draw. Mine's using only 1.8ma

v=EzlMHlnK2DM

[trance183]

Quick questioin. How many volts and amps is the earth battery originally? And how many after the joule theif circuit?

[Pirate88179]

It changes a little here and there but usually I get about 1.9 volts and 19 mA's from the EER or EB. Out of the modified Fuji I get about 400 volts and I don't know about the power as I have never checked that.

Bill

[trance183]

Thats beautiful. I await more videos mr Pirate. :)

[trance183]

Bill you are awesome. And you system is super cool. Keep making these amazing videos.

[Pirate88179]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

Bill

[daddyjimau]

Hello Bill,

I enjoyed your video again, mate, somehow it dosent loose its effect, you have a great system setup here.

I'll be in touch with you shortly via the land line:)

jim (electricme)

[Pirate88179]

Thank you very much Jim. I really do appreciate it.

Bill

[daddyjimau]

Hello Bill,

You are more than welcome mate.

jim

[CosmicGnarler]

great display! You must have spent alot of time gathering those random led's! or just live near a junk pile. :-) I love those resources that downtown never has! All the stuff gets bought in the middle of the city, gets used and damaged a little, and winds up on the outskirts in piles.

Or maybe you bought them I dont know but it sure looks romantic to walk amongst if you had a lady...

[Pirate88179]

I bought these strings of leds (100 each) in an after Christmas sale. they were cheap and way cheaper than building them on my own. I think I paid like $3.00 for each 100 leds. Radio shack was selling them for like $2.50/led!

Bill

[Pirate88179]

A light meter is a great idea. Thank you. Sorry for the delay in my response.

Bill

[kubikop]

Well done dude! 5*

Are you alining the anode / cathode North to South? you might find different powers out, due to their orientation to Magnetic north. The Telephone companies That used these said it makes a big difference.... Could you try it for me and tell me if it does as I do not own a garden....

Thanks

Paul..

[Pirate88179]

Thanks Paul. these electrodes are aligned on the north/south meridian, not magnetic north. This is very important to output levels. Also, the angle from the bottom of the electrodes must be the same as the magnetic dip angle for your specific area. There is a lot to all of this that we studied in our group on overunitydotcom almost 2 years ago. if all of this is done right, you will see no damage to the anode or cathode for many years. Thanks.

Bill

[kubikop]

Hi Bill

Glad you knew it then, just spreading knowledge where I can, I did not read the over unity pages.... :-0 sorry but I keep thinking If x amount of people cant do it, then it takes a fresh look from a different point of view..... I read/reed the telephone thing on an obscure site.....

Paul..

;-)

[Pirate88179]

Paul:

I do appreciate you suggesting this because what if I didn't know about it? That is what I love about the forums and youtube, the exchange of information, and folks helping other folks. I would rather someone tell me something I know rather than they assume I know it and not tell me. You are way advanced more than I am in electronics and I enjoy watching your work, and I always learn something new from it.

Bill

[Asymmatrix]

Very cool.

[Pirate88179]

Thanks

[jonnydavro]

Way to go Bill.You will be off grid before xmas the rate you are going.I was thinking about connecting in series/parallel.Could you have 2 seperate EB charging seperate capasitors and when the caps are full switch them out of the circuit into series/parallel and switch 2 empty ones back into there place.This way you could use the 2 charge one up while the EB'S are charging new one's for later.Your small supercaps woud be good to test this.Great stuff Bill.Regards jonny

[Pirate88179]

I don't see why that would not work. Jim (electricme) suggested something very similar.. One could just keep cycling the caps and have power 24/7. Thanks Jonny.

Bill

[marthale7]

Great work... A yard light solar cell wtih this and you would have a good deal of light with that cap. maybe a JT to charge the cap up durring the day then a photo cell to trigger on this circuit at night.... Great setup at last some light from the earth battery. They seem to be hard to setup in series.

[Pirate88179]

Thank you. Yes, that is my goal. Charge during the day and run it at night when we need the light. Series hook-ups have been problematic thus far but, it may just be because I don't have enough room to experiment. Thank you.

Bill

[jeannacav]

I agree Bill,

It looks really pretty.

And are you NOT able to run this setup with the 1F 5.5V supercap that you used last year to light a straight LED from 2 probes stuck in the ground?

I know you want to do fun things with gadgetmall's cool cap, but it might be an easy thing to set it up in the garden with just the little supercap? Then you could perhaps keep it there?

jeanna

[Pirate88179]

Thank you Jeanna. That first supercap was only 5.5 volts, .47F. It would not be enough to run the Fuji as these are a little power hungry. I was able to run the 100 and then 200 leds and the 48" tube from the 2 10 farad supercaps but this large cap will run this stuff a long time.

Bill

[harpbloke]

it was only a matter of time before you did 400. well done, yay.

and thanks again for sharing this with us.

[Pirate88179]

Thank you very much.

Bill

[daddyjimau]

Hello Bill,

Those xmas LEDs look really nice, they sure do.

For a $50 camera you are getting some good video, at least it is clear in my neck of the woods.

Fertilising the garden with Carbon and Magnesium is doing wonders for your electric flowers, lol.

Very good video post Bill.

jim

[Pirate88179]

Thanks Jim. Yes, the camera does a nice job for the money, but it does not have very good low light circuitry and it always appears to make things darker than I see them when filming. I guess i could try the manual exposure settings instead of auto and see what happens.

Bill

[muddymuddymuddmann]

hey i got some of these coiled up flouresent lights that you screw in. two are not working any more. they didnt go slowly like the big ones. i think the hv circuits are blown. im wanting to grind off the bottom slowly till i get to the taps of the bulb itself , and try one of those.......

mudd

[Pirate88179]

You can very carefully pry the base off of the top part and cut the wires to the circuit and you will just have the coiled tube and 4 wires. All you do is put high voltage (around 300 volts plus) into one wire on each end of the coil and it will light just fine. Be careful, these are loaded with mercury and you do not want to break the glass.

Bill

[muddymuddymuddmann]

i like it a lot. your camera is doing fine in my opinion. can you see enough to find things on the ground by the light given off?

and which experiment gives the most light from the earth battery?

mudd

[Pirate88179]

Well, these leds are Christmas lights and they are the smaller sized ones. if you bunch them in one place, you can read a book easily. I think the best light for the buck from my experiments so far is the fluorescent tubes. I tried lighting two 48" 40 watt tubes tonight and the first one was really bright and the second one was only lit halfway down the tube. I have no idea why at this point.

Bill

[muddymuddymuddmann]

Criticaly cool. The vid on the 48 inch tube looked like the bottom 2/3rds was pretty brightand the last third was just a little less but not by much. good luck on the reason of the second tube. oh i found my circuit and i am wanting to modify it. so i can play too. what do i do first?

mudd

[Pirate88179]

Go to josepinodotcom. He has a really good set of instructions for modifying a Fuji board. We made a few changes but that is the basic circuit I am using. There are 2 types of Fuji boards, you want the ones that use an AA bat. not AAA.

Bill

[muddymuddymuddmann]

tnx

[infamousartgallery1]

Do you think at the end of the leds it could run another joule thief? or another cap then JT?

[Pirate88179]

That's a good question that I do not know the answer to. The guys are doing wonderful things with the joule thief circuit on overunitydotcom and some of their circuits might work in line after the leds. The Fuji is a power waster really so I don't think it could run another one in line. But, I don't know. Thanks.

Bill

[afdhalatifftan92]

Good experiment as usual...

Hey, what about JT running a JT??

Lolz!!

[Pirate88179]

Thank you.

A jt running a jt? Hmmmmmm......not a bad idea.

Bill