W
Watson A.Name - 'Watt Sun'
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
[I posted this last night, 2003 Aug 16 11:00 PM, but I didn't see it
show up on the server. I don't know why.]
I was googling groups and I came across this post from 1998. It also
talked about the Forever Flasher, AKA Infini-Flasher that we talked
about here a week or so ago.
He claimed that the Infini-Flasher was efficient and the only circuit
that would run for 20 hours off .3 farad.
I built the circuit at the following URL and talked about it in the
SED, etc. newsgroups. It says runs 6 months off a 150 mAh battery.
http://www.discovercircuits.com/PDF-FILES/3vledfs1.pdf
The first one I built used about 100 microamps average at 3VDC and
would run for 90 or so seconds off a 6800 uF cap. I built another
one, and changed some parts values, and lowered the 4700 ohm resistor
to 2200, which gave it a shorter pulse width, and that reduced the
average current. Now it draws an average of 44 microamps and runs for
over 5 minutes off the 6800 uF cap. It's getting really boring timing
this with a stopwatch.
This morning I made further mods and I think the current is down to 12
to 14 microamps, but since the DMM draws a couple uA, I have to kind
of finagle that into the total.
Here are the changes I made:
Was: Changed to:
4.7M -> 10M and 3.3M in series
0.68 uF -> 0.1 uF ceramic disk
2907 and 2222 -> 2N4403 and 2N4401
680 ohm -> 1.5k
4.7k -> 2.2k
47 ohm -> 220 ohm
With these values and an average current of less than 14 uA, the
pulses are 1 every .9 sec or about 1.1 Hz. It will run off the 6800
uF cap for over 11 minutes.
I figure that it would take 130 of the 6800 uF caps in parallel to run
this circuit for 24 hours, or a total of about .9 farads. That's
about 3 times as much capacitance as the Infini-Flasher. Which seems
to indicate that the Infini-Flasher is drawing only 6 or 7 microamps.
Slowing the flash rate down to much less than once a second will also
reduce the average current. That's how he made the Infini-Flasher
last a lot longer on the .3F caps. I can incease the 13.3M resistor
to 22 Megs, which will probably give it about 2 sec between flashes.
If I get it to run off the 6800 uF cap for 20 minutss, then the 24
hour cap would need to be less than half a farad.
I didn't want to have to use the inductor. I presume this is used to
boost the supply V up to the LED's V. When my circuit gets down to
less than 2V, the LED starts to dim and the circuit soon quits. If I
were to use a V boost circuit, it would probably operate down to a
much lower voltage, like the Infini Flasher.
Here's a part of the original post from 1998.
----------------
This is called the "Forever Flasher" because, given an adequite
supply of sunlight once a day it will flash forever (*even*
during night-time and low light conditions).
As you said it would be pretty trivial to make an LED flasher
that ran on solar cells. This one is special because it will
run for about 24 hours or so in complete darkness with only .3F
worth of caps. I did indeed try an LM3909 for this and it only
lasted about 20 minutes on the same caps!
This is the only circuit idea I know of that will run for about
24 hours in complete darkness flashing an LED off of .3F worth
of caps. Can someone come up with another circuit that's more
effecient? "The sci.electronics.design LED Flasher
Competition!"
------------------
--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
show up on the server. I don't know why.]
I was googling groups and I came across this post from 1998. It also
talked about the Forever Flasher, AKA Infini-Flasher that we talked
about here a week or so ago.
He claimed that the Infini-Flasher was efficient and the only circuit
that would run for 20 hours off .3 farad.
I built the circuit at the following URL and talked about it in the
SED, etc. newsgroups. It says runs 6 months off a 150 mAh battery.
http://www.discovercircuits.com/PDF-FILES/3vledfs1.pdf
The first one I built used about 100 microamps average at 3VDC and
would run for 90 or so seconds off a 6800 uF cap. I built another
one, and changed some parts values, and lowered the 4700 ohm resistor
to 2200, which gave it a shorter pulse width, and that reduced the
average current. Now it draws an average of 44 microamps and runs for
over 5 minutes off the 6800 uF cap. It's getting really boring timing
this with a stopwatch.
This morning I made further mods and I think the current is down to 12
to 14 microamps, but since the DMM draws a couple uA, I have to kind
of finagle that into the total.
Here are the changes I made:
Was: Changed to:
4.7M -> 10M and 3.3M in series
0.68 uF -> 0.1 uF ceramic disk
2907 and 2222 -> 2N4403 and 2N4401
680 ohm -> 1.5k
4.7k -> 2.2k
47 ohm -> 220 ohm
With these values and an average current of less than 14 uA, the
pulses are 1 every .9 sec or about 1.1 Hz. It will run off the 6800
uF cap for over 11 minutes.
I figure that it would take 130 of the 6800 uF caps in parallel to run
this circuit for 24 hours, or a total of about .9 farads. That's
about 3 times as much capacitance as the Infini-Flasher. Which seems
to indicate that the Infini-Flasher is drawing only 6 or 7 microamps.
Slowing the flash rate down to much less than once a second will also
reduce the average current. That's how he made the Infini-Flasher
last a lot longer on the .3F caps. I can incease the 13.3M resistor
to 22 Megs, which will probably give it about 2 sec between flashes.
If I get it to run off the 6800 uF cap for 20 minutss, then the 24
hour cap would need to be less than half a farad.
I didn't want to have to use the inductor. I presume this is used to
boost the supply V up to the LED's V. When my circuit gets down to
less than 2V, the LED starts to dim and the circuit soon quits. If I
were to use a V boost circuit, it would probably operate down to a
much lower voltage, like the Infini Flasher.
Here's a part of the original post from 1998.
----------------
This is called the "Forever Flasher" because, given an adequite
supply of sunlight once a day it will flash forever (*even*
during night-time and low light conditions).
As you said it would be pretty trivial to make an LED flasher
that ran on solar cells. This one is special because it will
run for about 24 hours or so in complete darkness with only .3F
worth of caps. I did indeed try an LM3909 for this and it only
lasted about 20 minutes on the same caps!
This is the only circuit idea I know of that will run for about
24 hours in complete darkness flashing an LED off of .3F worth
of caps. Can someone come up with another circuit that's more
effecient? "The sci.electronics.design LED Flasher
Competition!"
------------------
--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
