supercharged lemon

Step 8 Finalize!

solder the joule thief to the lemon, and you're done!
the twisted transformer wire goes to copper electrodes, and the minus leg of the LED - to zinc electrodes.

the last photo is the comparison between the freshly made lemon and the one that was running for a whole month by now.

Comments

[Adam Manick]

Maybe add a switch to your circuit so you can turn it off when you don't want it to be lit.

[eranglr]

I tried to built it and has a problem: When I'm connecting the joule thief to the lemon, the led lights up for about half a second (even less) and then stop working.. when I disconnect it and reconnect it, the same result appear... How do I manage to keep the led light up? Thanks Eran

[Adam Manick]

First of all, your transistor may be the wrong kind, It can also be wired backwards. Maybe it is your transformer. Try to make another one and make sure to follow the diagram. The best transistors to use are... A 3904, A 2222, and a 4401. The 4401 puts out the most voltage in this circuit.

[s8]

the tricky thing here is the transformer from 5 different rings i've tried, only 2 worked. I suggest you to try another ring and perhaps a thicker wire to improve conductivity. Good Luck!!!

[Adam Manick]

Try to use toroids without paint on them. Normal toroids are a grayish color.

[geeklord]

im pretty sure its not a transformer, it two diferent inductors, it might even be called a choke(look it up on wikipedia).

[s8]

it is a 1:1 transformer.

[geeklord]

you sure?, i thought i heard that these work by storing very small amounts of charge in the toroid part of it and then releasing it; all of this happening thousands of times per second, of course.

[Adam Manick]

It is a toroidal transformer. And yes, the coil stores energy and releases it when the time is right.

[alex_jines]

transistor serves as amplification stage, it amplify the current generated from lemon

[s8]

not really - transistor here acts as a very fast switch.

[uberdum05]

The transistor acts as a switch and the 'transformer' is just like a really small flyback transformer found it modern CRT TV's

[virtualshogun]

from what ive herd now this is just something that i saw on one video they said it was something like 90,000 pulses per minuet most dvds are 60 frames to 120 frames / second so 90,000 pulses per minuet you couldnt catch it on a camera its just too fast :D

[cnegrea]

not true , ifi you catch 100 pulses for 1 frame it will be visible

[solarmatrix]

great instructable s8, i built this lemon Battery with a slightly different circuit it worked well. lit up my digital thermometer & used as a night light. Thumbs up mate!

[thatmantheuser]

What was the purpose of the transistor?

[junits15]

a joule thief works by making thousands flashes perseccond, thus the need for a swithc of somesort,in this case it it the transistor, but a solid state realy might work too

[ReCreate]

oh so the light flickers? how fast 10hz? or what?

[junits15]

it flickers faster than AC current, and that is 60Hz

[ReCreate]

so about 100 something hertz? wow you would probably need a high-speed camera to capture that flickering

[frollard]

its probably way too fast for all but the highest end cameras

[ReCreate]

no...ive seen cameras that record at up to 5000 frames per second you would need a 60 FPS camera to record it according to s8 since he says that they flicker at 40-50 hertz that 40-50 times per second ...right?

[frollard]

The highest I've seen is 90,000 frames per second, and its crazy exclusive. They use it for filming stuff like nuclear explosions. To confirm, this thing flickers in the kilohertz.

[Logan M.]

No. there is a 190,000 fps camera out there: http://www.videoscopeintl.com/Datasheets.htm

[frollard]

...not 'no'. The highest I've seen. That does not preclude the existence of such a beast :P

[Logan M.]

True. Very true...

[ReCreate]

KHz...man thats fast If i had that i would record the aliens spaceship flying around my back yard at the speed of light!(wink)

[s8]

around 40-50.000 actually

[david0]

was wondering if multiple of these cells could be connected to increase the power output and if anyone has any suggestions on how to do it...?

[joinaqd]

can it work if i used pennies and nickels?if it does then i wont have to buy the zinc and copper..

[chuckr44]

Pennies, yes, nickels, not so much. Use pennies and galvanized nails. Galvanized nails are coated in zinc. That's what I used for my vinegar cell.

[s8]

there's a big chance that it will - give it a try and let us know.

[joinaqd]

im still waiting for my CFL to burn out so i can get the toroid, LOL

[ReCreate]

im waiting for one of my 30 cfl's to burn out too they're supposed to last ten years

[bryanb333]

you can also find the toroids in computer power suplies and other power suplies. most often they are usd as a filter so look around in some old junk they are all over.

[ReCreate]

Yeah...

[joven112406]

what was the value of that transistor, i try to make that project but it fails to light, is the circuit is the really problem, please give me some advice, anything will be appreciated. thank you.