My latest LJL Aircore DC/AC converter went to Prof Steven Jones for a lumens/watt test. Here is the video he did. Basically this test shows we are getting more lumens/watt than you would get if you plugged them in. The question isn't why doesn't the Aircore perform better, the question is why does it perform this well? There is a lot of activity in this area right now and it is fun to be a part of it.
Also just for fun a bonus video on Father's Day! My Seawater Battery
-- Edited by Lynx on Sunday 17th of June 2012 03:02:28 PM
LED bulbs are already very efficient, but weren't really designed for 60 hz, 110 AC in your house grid. A typical LED is a light emmitting diode and uses about 60 ma or more if it is a super bright white LED. These are put together in mutiples and assembled into what looks like a standard light bulb.
They are efficient in part because they don't burn power as heat like incandescent bulbs. Just about all the energy gets converted to light.
I have been working with Tesla Coils, Joule Thief circuits and now Joule Ringer circuits seeing if I could do better than lighting just one bulb. A Joule Thief is a blocking oscillator that starts and stops DC current and sends a surge of high voltage back through the circuit as the magnetic field in an inductor collpases. This converts low voltage DC to high voltage AC. Its oscillating at very high cycles per second. JeffD's retro load controller works on the same principle but converts the high voltage AC back to DC to charge a higher voltage battery than the wind turbine's voltage.
This current project I am working on is a combination of very old technologies. None of it is new, but there is always something new you can do with circuitry.
These LJL (lynx joule lamp) circuits are very simple wound aircore inductors with the old faithful 2N3055 transistor as the oscillator. No circuit board, no resistors or capacitors. The insulated wire acts as the resistor and the capacitor.
As each day passes I find new ways of improving the circuit. Today I reached 102 ma to light a 7.5 watt LED bulb (40 watt equivalent) with a 12.85 volt battery charged by my LXV9 VAWT. These same bulbs running off the house grid require 20 watts each! How bright is the bulb? Indiscernible from the brightness off the house grid. The newest LJL 3.0 is shipping out tomorrow for lumens/watt testing in Utah. The world record is about 200 lumens/watt for LED bulbs.
The other nice thing is the high frequency high voltage wont zap you like 60 hz 110 AC. It feels like a surface heat to your skin and doesn't pass through your body. No radio interference that I can detect on FM or AM.
