Alternative Backlighting of an LCD display.

This is one I was initially going to mention later, but a Craig’s list post piqued my interest and changed some of the direction of my initial intentions. For various reasons, using an alternative backlighting scheme for an LCD display is something to consider for a low voltage system. While they are inherently loaw voltage with a built in inverter for the backlighting, the backlighting consumes by far the most energy of the LCD display.

Additionally there are some people who are sensitive to light in a manner most people do not understand. There may be several reasons why this can occur which I will expand on in moment. Suffice it to say, bypassing the CCFL lighting system for testing purposes is one thing, totally removing the CCFL system is quite another. It is this latter approach that I will pursue. In principle it sounds easy enough to do. Finding a practical method of description that covers many models is another matter altogether.

The CCFL system usually uses a 24 volt supply which is then applied to at least one oscillator circuit, essentially nothing more than a basic transistor logic “Flip Flop”. each basic transformer will have 2 switching transistors for low and moderate power systems, with 4 windings. The voltage for the output secondary winding is usually between 750 volts up to about 2500 volts depending on tube. The transistors toggle on and off at a rate upwards of 10 Kilohertz. This is the same principle used for conventional flourescent emergency ballasts and is also the principle of the energy efficient lighting ballasts for T12, T8 and T5 flourescent ballasts, although configured slightly differently and using a different control IC/scheme. Compact Flourescents also use similar ballast controllers, and some made by Zetex (now a subsidiary of Avago, and who knows who will own Avago next week except the inside traders of Wall Street.) were tested to operate on a supply voltage of only 32 volts, and the Application note mentioned they believed it could operate on an even lower voltage.

Why the health issues? There can be many reasons. Western medicine does not have all the answers, and light has an incredible influence on all of us in the same or similar way no matter who we are. The health effects of not enough UV light are known to be a deficiency of Vitamin D3. Seasonal Affective Disorder is treated by hy intensity broad spectrum light exposure. Migrane sufferes sometimes have the onset of headaches after being under flourescent lighting, some from the “Newton Rings” that appear in some assemblies which are those bands of brighter light that move back and forth in the tube, and some from just the flicker rate, which most people normally do not see due to persistance of vision- it is why movies move, yet is merely a projection of sequential still images. Some people are sensitive to the color quality or spectrum of light.

Some of the things that go on with a CCFL specifically, but also apply to regular flourescent tubes. First is they produce a significant amount of UV light in addition to the visible portion of the spectrum- including the sickly colored “warm white” flourescent tubes. Conventional T series tubes produce a green hue which most people do not notice, but they know if they have cured ham sliced on a plate, that it looks pretty disgusting under flourescent lighting. This is why.

CCFL, CFL, and high efficiency ballasted lighting also produce RF energy. You can hear for yourself with a battery powered AM/MW radio held nearby. Switch mode supplies also give off an RF signal as well, it is how all of these achieve the efficiency they do. Modified Sine inverters, PWM motor and light controls, including the Class D audio amplifiers all use a PWM modulation circuit, each with it’s own optimal frequency. Class D audio amplifiers are also NOT rated with RMS power, they are rated with “Peak” ratings, which are deceptive, but you can get away with it with adequate marketing.

Why the PWM? For lighting, it allows for optimal energy transfer from the inductive reactance of the CCFL transformer and associated capacitors. It is also how LCD displays, be it TV or computer monitor are able to dim. Lighting dimmers for LED and flourescent dimmable ballasts use this principle. The amount of “ON time” relative to the mains supply frequency is the duty cycle. They are also in use for motor speed controls, and for pulse charging. This noise will radiate through the structural wiring of the domicile too. Adding Ferrite cores will help reduce this noise radiating to and from the mains wiring.

There is also information that is relevent here concerning mind control. If you doubt this, take some flashing marquee lights into a classroom full of kids- depending on the flashing speed and whether the kids are paying attention to the flashing lights or not- as long as the flashing is peripherally visible- that rate determines if you have a roomful of well behaved kids, or a roomful of little noisy monsters. A good book on the subject is one written By Nick Beggich: “Controlling the Human Mind.” Others have written extensively on this matter, there is not much I can add to what he and others have published on the subject.

For a little bit history to explain why I mention this is while MK Ultra and MK Searh were exposed in congressional testimony in the 1970′s (Church Committee) the research became difuse and did not really garner great interest, discussion or exposure until the opening of this century with DARPA being in the lead of such research currently. I only post this additional information to give you starting points for youe own research. Like it or not, it is being used subtly to shape your perceptions.

Ever have the urge for a cup of coffee shortly after you see and hear one being poured “on screen?” There are other methods at work too- you see people often with disarming props, such as an ice cream cone to soften your impression of them. Just look analytically at your local or national news broadcasts and you will see things you never saw before- sound effects to introduce a story, or moving nonsense images to distract part of your brain while something serious is being discussed- often to try program you how to think about a certain topic. Something to consider in light of mainstream news reporting on “Electric Calming methods” being employed in a recent major hurricane. But do not simply take my word for it- do your own research and follow up on the numerous footnotes you will find with most articles.

Another factor that may contribute to headaches even with a different lighting source is due to the flicker of the screen. What you percieve as a screen background as you read this, is actually a series of sequential dots and lines illuminated sequentially across the screen in a matrix and when the end of the scan matrix is reached, a “black screen” is created for an equal interval and the scan begins again. Typically at a frame rate on TV sets of half the mains power, which translates to 30 illuminated screens to 30 black screens for those with 60Hertz electric mains, and 25 illuminated and 25 black in areas where the mains is 50 hertz. In computers however, it can be twice that, give or take depending what your screen settings are for the monitor you are using and video chipsets.

With TV’s another factor is a “progressive scan”. At it’s most simplistic description it just means every other line is illuminated first, with a subsequent scan frame being interlaced with that first on the originally non-iluminated scan lines. In other words, frame 1 is partially scanned onto the screen, followed by part of frame 2 to make a full image, then comes the black frame, and then the part of the frame 2 that was not initially scanned is now scanned and part of frame 3 completes the scan, and this continues while the set is on.

Sometimes such interlacing is beneficial to the percieved image quality, and sometimes not. 20 years ago due to limitations of the hardware, an interlaced image was used to compensate. With those systems it was not portions of 2 frames, it was merely each frame by itself drawn in 2 passes. For many people this caused headaches, and in some nausea.

By backlighting with an alternate light source such as incandescent light source or other LEDs, this might not resolve the potential health issues created by the scanning, but it will alleviate the most power consuming portion of the monitor or TV; and the RF hash it’s power source creates. Utilizing a tricolor white LED allows you to adjustt the color balance for artistic applications as well.

But I am diverging from my point. Essentially, the project I plan to pursue with this is to eliminate the CCFL lighting circuit entirely and replace it with either Power LEDs, Tri-Color Power LEDs, or incandescent, or even daylight. Mainly the motivation is to see how much effort will be needed, or if it is in fact incredibly simple- I am inclined to believe it falls somewhere in between, but more to the simple end of that spectrum.

Looking at some approaches on the web- those that I could find, all have left the 24 volt supply intact. My approach will eliminate most, if not all of it.

The Power LEDs would best be powered with straight DC. While the application notes for LED lighitng suggest using constant current supplies and PWM for dimming, as opposed to just using a variable voltage or variable resistance; it is largely one of perceptions. The reality is a linear decrease in voltage does not yield a linear decrease in light output, whereas a linear decrease of the duty cycle will produce the appearance of linearity in the light dimming.

When one applies the concept of percieved linearity to audio this is no surprise. If you were to replace the volume controls on you Class A, B, C amplifier or permutation of those- the result is most of your adjustability from loud to soft occurs in a very narrow angle of rotation of the control. The Audio taper potentiometer is a logarithmic taper. If you plot the resistance on a linear graph, it is not a straight line if the graduations of the graph are linear.

Why a Tricolor power LED? Because you can color balance the light emitted from the face of the LCD. You can do it to a greater extent even than what can be adjusted from the LCD panel itself. It harkens a little bit back to the days of analog color TV where you had the ability for 2 sets of controls in the back of the set for color rendering in addition to the color level and tint controls on the front of the set. For those people who may have a mystery headache trigger that is more pronounced with one of the primary projected colors, they can reduce that amount to zero from the LED.

The other detail about “White” LEDs, is regardless of balance, their spectral emission for single phoshor/single chip LED’s, no matter who makes them- they still have a high blue spike in spectral response leading into ultraviolet light.

I personally prefer the daylight balanced LEDs because color rendering is closer to real daylight, but it works for me largely because the power supplies I use output a filtered straight DC with no dimmers. I do also recognize where some people may not like so much blue, and for some there is a health reason for it- usually manifests as headaches, fatigue and nausea. For some, the RF hash from PWM circuits can trigger it, for some- just unrealistic color rendering from what they are used to can manifest it. Cerulian Blue carrots for example may sound colorful, and Syngenta might come up with some- they arlready produced the GMO form of Cauliflower by making it orange. But I do not think too many people would want to eat Cerulian blue carrots, after all, there is no naturally ocurring blue food. Blueberries and grapes are a shade of purple.

So to sum up, My goal is to bypass and eliminate the CCFL circuit of an LCD monitor/display, and describe the basics as they should apply to other displays so they can be lit with other means, such as a kerosene lantern (for the Steam Punk crowd) or candle, to an incandescent light source to an LED source. I might even look into setting something up as an art display.

I shall post progress and action photos here in subsequent follow up posts. I just need to find some potential monitors for this project. The largest hurdle is to bypass the shutdown feature built into most monitors.

While this post may seem a bit fractured, it is largely the result of inter laced concepts. I do plan to get back to a few more regulators, and panel construction, as well as few other details, so please stay tuned.

To VAWT, or not to VAWT, that is the question….

I am going to shift gears a little here and discuss certain windmills now, and some others later. Some of the circuits presented thus far are fully compatible with these and more conventional Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines are as well. I am at least putting up text now so people can learn some of the styles of turbine, some of the materials used, and why they may be of more use in an urban setting than a conventional horizontal shaft turnbine most people think of when they hear “Wind Power”.

The Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has been around a very long time and in different forms that date to Romanian monks who used them initially for pumping water, and to Persia for the same purpose. The time frame roughtly a time before the concerns of Y1K when sundials, hourglasses and chariots were being certified as Y1K compliant. (yes, some Y1K humor) I do not have many images up at “press time” but as I find suitable qualified links or my own images, I will actually add them as their own post.

Darrieus wind turbines are those with essentially 2 or more blades vertically mounted and arched outward like an egg beater. There are some variations in concept too, Giromotors, and cycloturbines.

Giromotors use fixed blades- often in the generalized form of an “H”, (think of the old Pac Wind generators like Jay Leno has on his garage.) and the cycloturbines are similar only in general appearance- the blades themselves can rotate to the wind increasing available torque to produce energy.

There is also the Savonius Rotor, which can be incorporated within any of the Darries designs. The Savonius is the model you can construct from a barrel cut in half, a water tank from a water heater, etc.

There is also the Panemone design, a quick link to one in use in Africa It is simply made from largely fabric and wood and most important of all- it works. Another version that was 14 feet across was an informational filler page in a Lindsay Books catalog a number of years ago. It had numerous wooden vanes that could rotate into the wind. I will be contacting them about adding that image here.

The Savonius turbines have benefitted from the computer age tremendously. Many styles developed only within the past 10 years have less associated noise, more adaptable to turbulence, and because of their relatively small size- less of a threat to birds. Cycloturbines as well have benefitted in the same ways.

These designs do have some drawbacks, one is materials in some designs. The stresses the blade sees can also be transmitted to the mounting method as well. And there is also the matter of gravity. As a result, some bearing styles fail prematurely because they are not adaptable to the vertical orientation. The stress on the bearings of a VAWT is both gravitational downward as well as horizontal due to wind pressure. So this precludes the use of ball bearings in most cases, as well as sleeve or “oil-lite” beairngs. While these latter 2 can be used, they need more attention and a frequent lube cycle. Thrust bearings are a consideration. Those thrust roller bearings used in automatic transmissions offer the best straight forward approach- but they are designed for constant oil lubrication, and must be used in conjunction with another bearing for the shaft and armature (the rotating assembly). A compromise could be the tapered roller bearings as they are used in automobiles in the wheel bearings of most vehicles.

The tapered wheel bearing can simplify home built turbine construction. The tapered roller bearing uses rollers instead of metal balls as used in ball bearings, and the area of contact is spread the length of the roller instead of a single point in contact with the race of a ball bearing. Ball bearings are intended for loads perpendicular to the shaft, and ball bearings should have light grease that will flow back into the bearing race where the balls run. this last part makes conventional ball bearings a poor choice for vertical use. There are a few designs that have a cup race oriented so that axial forces can be handled in addition to radial forces, but most often you have to special order that style, which makes them very expensive.

The tapered roller bearing is a better solution, it is not perfect, but you can get them in a sealed style to protect the rollers and races from the elements. These use a heavier bodied grease than the ball bearings. If packed fully with grease, they will weep from the seal as air pressure changes, and also during use, as the vehicle of the grease slowly break down. So there is still the matter of maintaining the bearings every so often.

Another advantage of VAWT is purely mechanical. It is very easy to attach a pulley sheeve or a chain gear to the base of the unit, and have that drive an automotive alternator, or even a home wound axial flux dynamo. in many ways it becomes simpler to make than a conventional Horizontal shaft turbine.

The advantages of the VAWT is some desigs can still work with turbulent air sources close to the ground. Yes, some designs will work very well at higher levels, but they or any wind turbine can be considered an eyesore to some. Which is why they are better suited to urban areas when one is considering the neighborhood and a low profile is desired.

There are some potential hazards for those built at ground level. There is also less wind typically but in some areas the ground level wind is adequate for power production. The hazards are to people or animals walking into the spinning rotor- if there is no upper bearing or framework- they will likely bounce off the spinning rotor with hopefully nothing more than a bruise. Any framework adds a pinch point, and that can lead to serious problems of injury, so ground based turbines should have some means of protection for those around it- like heavy mesh fencing. or better yet an fenced area where the turbine is at least a few feet away from the fence itself.

There are numerous commercial sources for the different types of VAWT’s, and while the aim of this blog is to build rather than buy, I will be constructing some smaller types over time and posting them here with the assembly instructions, and the results. If people are in a hurry and want to purchase them from the various manufacturers out there instead, that is fine too. The fundamental idea of this blog is to provide information that people can use ahead of any purchases.

I have more in the Que

I have been busy on other matters. However there is much more to come.

A Minor Update to the Regulators

I noticed while constructing a new variant of the higher current regulator that the schematics I have are using the pin references used in a number of manufacturer’s application notes and Data Sheets which are correct for those documents I used, but there may not be consistency in numbering across data sheets, but in my original endeavor to keep consistency across the information here, I overlooked how I numbered the pins of the LM317 in the upper corner of the image. In my schematic they are consistent with the manufacturer’s information, The center pin on the regulators is traditionally the output, I will put different labeling on the images over time as my time warrants.

This is why the manufacturer’s data sheet-when they are complete, have precedence.

The latest Data sheet from National Semiconductor actually omits the pin numbering references completely, and it is understandable why they did.

I will also be posting a simplified 10 Amp Regulator circuit in a couple days, it will handle more than 10 Amps, and it omits the 2N3055 entirely. In short is merely a stack of IRFZ46 MOSFETS driven/controlled directly from the LM317/LM117 regulator output. I will try a couple variants too and post those as well over time since it is getting much easier to locate MOSFETs in scrap boards than 2N3055′s.

The last clarification on my views of “free Energy/over unity devices

While I come down hard on “Free energy” claims, the reason is largely due to the ignorance of the claimant. If they happen to be sociopathic in nature and try to exploit other people’e ignornace on a topic, then they deserve to be called out for out. If it is merely that the individual does not understand what RMS means versus peak, when it regards power, that is at least forgivable.

The problem is over unity has not been achieved. Can it be achieved? Maybe. It may yet be 100 years or so away. We live in a time period when we have power devices that are inherently efficient, but imperfectly so- The MOSFET in whatever flavor and permutation has potential.

I do not discount that Bedini “may” be increasing a circuit efficiency somewhere depending on what device you point to- but nothing he has done is little more than PT Barnum showmanship with Rube Goldberg devices. The fact remains, his primary circuit batteries discharge in his little converted fan, or his Rube Goldberg devices- his own videos show that. This is not some wild claim. This clearly demonstrates he has losses, not to mention the physical resistance and friction losses a fan, or bicycle wheel spokes produce with air. What he has on the web and has broadcast on the airwaves is largely hype and mis-representation. BUT- with that said, were his claims more on par with “…less than unity, but perhpas more efficient…” and done so with less hype- he could be taken more seriously. He is after all utilizing a flyback transformer, which up until fairly recently, was largely relegated to high voltage sections of TV sets. Dr Jones- with his version of a Colpitts Oscillator, did not find anything “new,” but he does remind us that some things might be worth revisiting.

As for “The Practical Guide To Free Energy Circuits”- rip out the pages dealing with the magnet motors- they are not free energy, but they offer potential for looking at motor design a little differently. Burn the rest of the book though- it is poorly written and is little more than hype.

Do I work for big oil? GE? Siemens? The global cabal to supress free energy systems? Nope. I am just a truth seeker who tries to build his own stuff. I honestly hope to see real unity devices appear in my lifetime. But I do so with a critical eye to claims of unity or over unity. If at some point I actually do find a unity system, I will write about it. The one I have refered to prior that harnesses static and RF hash pollution, I have not had time to set up. I really do hope to get it set up soon.

Tom Bearden has done some things that do bear further study, whether they will yield anything is yet to be seen. It was decades between the development of the “Cohearer” and the detector tube and decades more to the 1N34 detector diode. His work is more focused up on magnetic amplifiers, which is a field unto itself and the actual principles of that field have only honestly been approched by Bearden.

Where to look in the future for unity devices? let alone over unity? Any of these systems must draw energy to operate. Will they generate their own endless supply of energy? Not likely in this universe. There in lies the problem- not in theis universe. We must live by the physical laws that define this universe. The universe itself is a vast energy system. Will a way be found to tap it? I hope so. So far nothing comes close enough to be practical. We must always keep in mind that energy was required to produce magnets- super magnets required a great deal of energy. Using them in a Perendev motor is an application, but it is not a unity device even; because of that detail of the energy required to produce the magnets.

However there is future potential in flyback transformers, MOSFETs, and magnetic amplifiers. Magnetic amplifiers were in use in the era of the telegraph. early telephone systems. They have since fallen to the wayside. Could they help in eficiencies to approach unity? Maybe. Flyback transformers? Maybe. While I support people researching these things, I also hope they will better understand that RMS current equations cannot apply to pulse circuits- and many a free energy claim has done just that- whether by deceit or by ignorance.

In short- if people are going to charge you money for a kit and claims it utilizes free energy- it is deceitful. It may be rooted in the ignorance of the vendor as well. Therefore they need to learn to take the brickbats of their folly when they try to hide behind “credentials” that more often imply they are clueless and ignorant of the real details of their device(s). This extends to the real equations that disprove their claim(s) all the while the claimants try to misapply incomplete or the wrong equations in order to confuse the audience.

Which is why I offered a rather failsafe test- the coffemaker. Just time your own coffee maker to know how long it takes to brew a pot. It would also help to know the finish temp as well so that compairison can be furhter proof one way or the other. After all, it is fundamentally the basis of “RMS” power.

The bottom line- in our universe- “free energy” is only that which you did not need to pay for or invest a great deal of time to get it. Technically if you are given an internal combustion engine powered generator and a years supply of fuel and consumables- that is “free energy”, and while not even close to unity- it is all a matter of how you parse definitions.

Restatement of some constructor notes and of nitpicks.

Just a few notes for the constructors, those who build things. Most of these details have been stated already, such as the use of the variable resistors in these circuits- that is so you can find the values that work in the conditions in your region of the world.

I often use the 1 MegOhm linear taper pots because they are precise enough for determining initial values. Once those are determined, you can take a resistance measurement and install fixed values in their place. I fully assume you the builder will be paying attention to what you are doing and when bread boarding circuits, that
you set your pots at least at midpoint or full resistance initially before powering them up in the circuit being worked on. Nitpiks do not give you credit for having common sense. And on the other hand- I do trust you will have common sense and apply it.

If you decide you want precision in those circuits that are to remain adjustable, simply add a vernier drive or a multi-turn pot.

If you do not trust yourself, and are afraid you might short something out- just add a fuse: problem solved. The discussion on fuses/circuit breakers/circuit protection and distribution is to be covered in a later blog.

I have found one nit-pik who does not like the concept of this site. They think the average person reading this has no common sense and no brains. I find it quite the opposite- it is the nit-pik who is lacking.

They are out there, and they usually express their jealousy of what you are doing by claiming faults where they do not exist. If you let them jibber long enough, you find the depth of the Obsessive Compulsive Behavior that sometimes borders on the clinical, plus you find their expansive ignorance of most things. And to top that off they get upset when you decide to ignore them.

The saddest part is they have little life experience, little real world experience and the worst part is they fail to read for content, context or understanding and often they believe in absolutes where they really do not exist. In their little short sighted world it is only their opinion that counts. They want specific numbers and specific “hold my hand” types of instructions because they are afraid of many things- most of all actually doing anything. In their little rants they always lack introspection, and they will just never “get it.”

But enough about the nattering nabob or future ones.

Free Energy Systems

Most are a hoax if they are asking for money from you in any way- they are a hoax. Be it a kit, a seminar, or device itself. Fair warning here- no pictures, and just a handful of links. But not to worry, I avoid the heavy math discussions so you do not need to worry about keyboard imprints on your forehead.

I raise this here and not the circuits blog because as fuel prices rise for many reasons- none of them “peak oil;” which is in itself a fraud to conceal the simple fact too few people control oil production, refining and distribution. People want to know how to save money. I among them. I have delved into many a corner of the web to find many sources of information and this one pops up repeatedly. So I figure giving it attention here can help you save money too.

One thing I find interesting is there are a good number of people who have some grasp of electricity, but do not fully understand what they are presenting, or if they do they are purposely misrepresenting it when claiming they discovered “free energy” or “Tesla Technology,” especially when they claim it in terms of a money making venture. There are also people who do not understand what Tesla was doing in spite their potentially having read books about his work thinking he had invented something he actually had not. I have looked at a number of videos, and publications such as “The Practical Guide to Free Energy Devices,” etc.

No doubt, some of it is entertaining. Some things like the Perendev’s and similar magnet motors get all manner of attention, and they can work, and some do work for a time; when they work. However the notion of Perendev’s actully being free energy devices? They are nothing of the sort. The magnets had to be manufactured, and those took a great deal of energy to produce just the magnets, and over time those magnets will lose their magentism and therefore a Perendev will eventually fail to function. However with that said, it is the closest yet to be achieved.

Essentially what a Perendev is, is a set of magnets on a rotor and another set on a stator set up in a manner where there are magnets in attraction and repulsion in a manner that induces rotation. There are numerous examples on the web at Youtube and other video sites. When one of these is attached to a conventional generator head sized for the torque produced by the Perendev or a couple other related designs, you can generate electricity. It is only “free energy” if you get the parts for free. Most designs are not self starting, yet there are a couple sophisticated units that are. One way to achieve it is to have an odd number of magnet pole faces on one part of the perendev and an even number on the other, those “parts” being the stator and the rotor.

You also see examples of hype, misrepresented or little understood phenomena all over the web. It is not helped by schools that fail to teach adequate physics, chemistry and math. Agenda science has replaced real science, so real knowledge of magnets, magnetism, electromagnetism and related topics are lost in a morasse of agenda posed as “science.” As a result, we have generations more gullible than ever before due to a lack of empirical thought and real knowledge.

So when someone tosses out Tesla’s name in the same breath as their own “invention,” they get the requisite “ooohs” and “aaahs” from the audience and some are very willing to part with their money. Most of that comes from their own lack of understanding of some very simple fundamental electrical concepts. Primarily that of “Apparent Power” which is defined as Ohm’s Law for DC circuits as Power is equal to Volts multiplied by Amps. This only marginally applies to continuous sine AC because our conventional measurement of the AC at the mains outlets in our homes, offices and industry is actually the RMS voltage (Root Mean Squared). I explain this a little further on.

When you use nonsinusoidal AC, or pulsed DC, you have to factor in the reactance of the circuit, which most people who are making claims these days of finding “Free Energy” really are not finding anything, not even their own ignorance of the circuits they are using or the correct equation to calculate actual power in those circuits.

Such is the case with the Lutec “Lea device.” Even though their results can be replicated- there is no waveform shown for the output, and while they chose to use Wattmeter’s they did not indicate which ones, so it is reasonable to assume they went with the cheapest they could find, which means their meters only measure “apparent power” which is not accurate for the output generated and likely why they claim over unity when such cannot be the case from what is shown of the documnetation, video or their simplistic schematic.

If you have not figured out by now, I am a skeptic- open minded, but skeptical. I am at least addressing the topic rather than ignore it.

If it were myself doing the presentation, I would make every effort to eliminate possible sources of error in measurements and the measurments would be fully described: the input waveform (if applicable if not DC.) and output waveforms would be shown. Each piece of apparatus would be identified by make and model, and I would have no problem with showing the entire unit disassembled. If there was some aspect to the device I could not rationally explain with conventional terminology- I would acknowledge that gap of knowledge. But it would appear from what I have been seeing of the “Free Energy” devices is the gap of knowledge is with the presenter- Only their gap of knowledge is they do not know the difference between apparent power, which is Ohm’s Law; and simple: And that of “Real” or “Actual power” as derived from measurements that include frequency and pulse duration in some manner.

A 60 hertz or 50 hertz sine wave from mains power has a significantly different look on the scope to that of a simple “multivibrator” circuit producing sharp short duration pulses or spikes 5 microseconds wide at 50 or 60 Hertz. there is a great deal of difference in power available as well, yet a cheap wattmeter cannot discern that difference and will give a measurement of the apparent power when “measuring” the pulsed power.

The more accurate measure for pulsed circuits and AC is the “VAR”- which is Volts multiplied by Amps multiplied by Reactance of the circuit. This is why transformers are rated in “Volt Amps” if the amps of the secondary are not distinctly specified, and why they seldom classified by wattage on the output anymore. Even then- because of the efficiency of a transformer it is ALWAYS less than one, you do not have unity power between primary and secondary- there are always losses no mater how you wind them.

This means the output power will always be less than the input power. Which means the pulse motor charging system of Bedini does not follow the principles he claims when the motor is powered by a battery. He has losses all throughout his circuit. Will it charge “A” battery/ one of the two in use? yes one will be partially charged on that level of it’s functions, but if you pay attention to Bedini’s own presentation videos- you can see the “charging battery” that is driving the pulse motor is losing voltage as it discharges over time. This is the key.

Not to mention if you use marginal batteries to be charged, you can make it look as if somehow “power came from nothing….” But I covered that in a previous critique of Bedini and his “Rube Goldberg Devices.”

For those who constructed any of his various rube goldberg chargers and they did not live up to expectations- the inherent losses of indctors and transformers is why. It is not a matter of you having made an error in your construction- it is a matter of the principles involved are not as Bedini has presented them. I am not saying his charger cannot work- it only means when powering them with one battery to charge another, one battery gets some charging at the expense of the other which is discharging. Conservation of energy is maintained, and power unity has not been met and cannot be met in that way.

Both batteries cannot be charging in his circuit unless an external energy input is present in the form of something to turn the armature independent of the driving coil, or an independent charging current is attached to the battery driving the coil, or a power supply has been installed in lieu of the battery that energizes the driving coil.

While he is a showman of a sort and his “inventions” are made to look impressive, even his rewound cooling fan does not and cannot live up to what he has claimed it is doing. There just is not enough energy, and numerous component losses are what prevent even achieving energy unity. Which is why his “charging coils” are better applied to a location around the perimeter of a wind mill blade set where they will be able to charge at least one battery.

But a simpler and effective approach to measuring the effective power versus apparent power is the RMS value- or “Root Mean Squared” value. When you measure your mains power, in the US, you get a nominal measure of 120 to 127 volts depending on where you are and time of day. This is the RMS value for 60 Hertz AC in much of North America.

Peak to Peak measure of potential of the mains Sine Wave current is much higher because you are measuring the waveform potential at it’s peak values as viewed on an oscilloscope. The RMS value is essentially the point of measure of the potential of AC where it has the same heating effect as a DC source. Generally speaking for continuous Sine Waves, RMS is 0.707 multiplied by the peak voltage. Many old Vacuum Tube Voltmeters had markings for the P-P voltage right above the RMS voltage.

This is why people like Bedini do not want knowledgable people willing to explain why his approach cannot work as described in his yahoo groups discussion forum, or as published in numerous places. Failure in that arena is nothing new. He and many others who claim to have “free energy devices” are trying to use the equation for apparent power of a circuit where it does not apply accurately; which on the surface lends them the appearance of credence when it should not.

Calculating output power of a Class D Amplifier has the same ramifications. The “Peak” power- often the value cited in the ad copy, does not give you an accurate measure because the waveform is similar to that of an AM radio signal. RMS values are accurate for sine wave power, not digitized audio of a Class D. Maxim Electronics and International Rectifier have application notes which explain filter requirements, and other parameters which more accurately define and explain the Class D amps and their power ratings.

The American Radio Relay League has an excellent resource in their annual handbook. They cover the reactance formulas, power factors, power, apparent power, etc; in about as tidy a bundle as I have seen anywhere. So if you can find one that is a few years old, buy it. The space I have consumed here is far more than I would have wished, but there is a need to reveal the charlatans for what they are and how they are being charlatans. Plus there are far too many. But all have a few things in common- one is they are preying upon a general lack of knowledge of electricity, electronics and magnetism of the general public.

Reactance is a concept of AC circuits where it addresses the Inductive Reactince of inductors or coils of wire, transformers, etc and the manner in which the energy is stored in them, and Capacitive Reactance and the energy stored in that manner. Inductors store energy in a magnetic field, and release it when the voltage potentials applied to it drops to a point where it cannot support the magnetic field at the intensity any longer at the level it was at the peak applied potential. Capacitors store energy in a manner akin to static electricity building up in you when you walk across carpet and then touch a conductive surface with resulting shock. Each form of reactance has it’s own characteristics and equations and they are both needed in any calculation of of values in an AC circuit. When you fail to account for the effects of either od these forms in an AC circuit, the numbers start to appear to be higher than they really are in the measurements.

I have oversimlified some of the aspects of reactance, but only to help illustrate the major points without introducing or exposing you the reader to a multitude of equations. With that my sin being minor omissions such as the equations, the larger point is I am being truthful and exposing the fraud or ignorance that pervades much of the “Free Energy” claims by explaining the concepts founded upon on those equation. My goal is not to put you to sleep. Trying to condense what the ARRL has covered in about 8 pages of information scattered in several parts of their manual into a couple paragraphs here is going to of necessity require some oversimplifications. However my intent is not to decieve- but to inform.

If one chooses to pursue the Zero Point Energies, that is fine, just develop a better understanding of what others are trying to present so you do not get taken advantage of, or pointed to as ignorant or worse- as a fraud if you are constructing the device.

Among the file torrents and file sharing websites and Youtube, there are Youtube quality videos galore suggesting “over unity” devices- but the people creating those “devices” likely do not understand what they are looking at, and/or if they do are hoping the viewer does not know what they are looking at either. Or when they hook up meters for measurements that what the digital meters are really telling them is not the full story. For if they did truly understand what they were doing, they would change what they were doing if they were honest people. I am sure there will be many people critical of my words here, but I stand by the equations and waveforms for that is where they will always falter.

One such device I encountered on a file share was simply a variant of a pulse charger ligthing a string of lightbulbs with the assertion insinuating it was “over unity” by the title of their video on the order of small power in and big power out. The problems are many with those types of setups. First- the use of digital multimeters is deceptive as people are not seeing the fluctuations over time. In fact in one video, it was quite obvious they were pulsing the light string- and 2 other things were evident- the bulbs were nowhere near their normal light output level. No waveform display on an oscilliscope. visible, but an arc was being created which you could hear it was not as constant as it would be if it were on 50 or 60 hertzAC output or even pulsed DC output. Incandescent lights are also not intantly responsive to pulsed inputs, which is why there is a lag for them the light up, and cool off on shutdown. You can get an incandescent to light up on a narrow width pulse at 20 Hertz or more, but it will not light up as bright, nor get as hot as it would if it were on Mains power or DC.

Even though the clamp meter they were using in that particular video was showing some current flow greater than the input- 1- the meters used are different meters, 2) both meters are digital, which means the meters are sampling the pulse peaks- not the actual duration. and more importantly not telling you the measurement is pulsed. The response of most digital meters is usually slow, sampled a few times a second or damped. Often when a digital meter indicates a pulsed current rather than constant current, you only see dashed lines only on a handful of makes of meters; and as long as the pulse timing is within the meter’s frequency range- the meter will register it, even if the voltage peak is a spike resembling this “l” for a wave shape. The meter cannot distinguish between that spike recurring 60 times a second and a 60 hertz sine wave. And since you cannot see it on a scope to see what the waveform looks like, how are you going to know? Inductors and capacitors are the key to knowing the difference. Both store energy over time, and can release that energy quickly or slowly depending on resonance of the circuit. This is why the reactance of the circuit is the key.

Various power supply filter schemes work because of this. Because an energy pulse can be stored- you can release high current pulses even though the input was seemingly small in compairison. When you look at the phenomena over time, you see that difference. For example- take a 30,000 Microfarad capacitor from a mainframe computer or larger- hold a 9 volt battery on the terminals of the capacitor for a couple seconds- now go touch those contacts to a conductive material and you will see and hear a spark of the discharge that takes only a few thousandths of a second to discharge. yet if you hold the battery to the same material, you might see a tiny spark at best- but you will not hear any spark anywhere close to the magnitude of the spark of the first discharge if at all.

If you were able to actually count the free electrons directly that flowed into the capacitor from the battery when held across the terminals, as loud and as intense as the spark was, you would have had fewer electrons making that spark; as intense as it was, than the battery released in charging. This is why you need to view an oscilliscope pattern. This is why many of those who chose hype over substance get called charlatans or liars, or ignorant. Those hucksters do not want people like myself around. Because our simple questions reveal the ploy or the ignorance, and the hucksters do not want either instance to be revealed.

Patents mean nothing these days as far as validity goes- water carburetors and perpetual motion devices have patents too. If something looks like a Rube Goldberg contraption- it is hiding something. Plus there is never a mention of actual power factor, which is defined in this instance as a ratio of the actual power as measured by a wattmeter that can distinguish between pulses of current and continuous sine wave power compared to their apparent power measurment calculated by voltmeter and ammeter.

As I mentioned in a post on the circuits blog, the waveform of AC is merely a 2 dimensional representation when viewed on an oscilliscope of something that is likely 3or 4 (or even more in string theory) dimmensional phenomena when you start looking at the related current flows through a device, magnetic flux generated within a device or a wire, heat, or capacitive reactance. String theory could even suggest 10 or 12. What does that mean? It means an oscilliscope is useful but by itself is not showing all of what is happening in a circuit. Technically an oscilliscope is nothing than a tool for visual measurement of a voltage potential- with the ability to show you what the waveform of that potential is looking like, and the scope can be calibrated in a manner that gives you a time reference to calculate frquency, or to see the effects of harmonic resonance, external noise. etc.

While power is a scalar, which means it is a derivative of the equation (essentially stripping the equation down) of the waveform. The area under the waveform, is a more accurate visual measure of power that can be available; and this can then be “rotated about the time axis” so the notion of what that envelope of energy is as an integral equation (expanding the equation) becomes a little more clear. From that integral of the equation of the wave form it is more representative of the real power available when current of the circuit is factored in. If you consider it in terms of a danish as opposed to a soda cracker- which occupies more space? In this case- that space is “power” once current flow is worked into the equation because that is a measure of electron density if you will. In the case of DC- you just have a cylinder when rotated. So think of actual power as being those rotated forms and a low current/electron density being a low density foodstuff, and the high current/electron density as high density foodstuff. Soufle versus solid chocolate if you will- or a trifle of chocolate versus a truffle of chocolate.

So, when you encounter those videos or those hucksters in person- either the person presenting the information is ignorant, or is a scam artist. There is no middle ground.

However- while the idea of pulse charging for desulphating batteries is sound, and it can be applied to other battery types for charging purposes, one does need to keep in mind that there are losses to be expected within the circuits and battery. Someone selling an impulse motor powered by a battery as a battery charger while they may not be lying about the ability to partially charge a single battery. But when they are suggesting that more power is being produced than is consumed they ARE lying, or just ignorant.

Just because a battery powered circuit can light up a neon bulb- which indicates a 67 volt or greater impulse potential it does not mean they have created more power from a battery source. It only means there is adequate magnetic flux induced in a pickup coil or transformer circuit from pulsed DC to reach that potential level, but Neons do not indicate power even though they consume it. Such devices incorporating neon bulbs that light when in operation are NOT free energy, it is NOT Tesla.

If the charging system is using the wind to move the magnets, then that IS “Free Energy of a sort,” and certainly a better application of the components of an impulse motor as battery charger, and more beliveable.

When adding in the duration and frequency of the impulses in circuits which is a similar concept to lighting that light string of the aformentioned video. Work is defined as power over time. I can pulse 40 Watt flourescent tubes with a modified ballast on 12 volts- something I will cover in the near future because I have fully functional standard flourescent fixtures that use standard flourescent tubes you can buy anywhere. The ballasts are operating on 12 Volts, DC. It is not that difficult. It is the same principle involved as lighting that light hood at the end of my LED post.

If you are looking at this on an LCD monitor or a laptop, the main power supply stepped that voltage down, and a small circuit board boosted the DC potential sometimes as high as 1000 volts depending on the Cold Cathode Flourescents used. Still not Tesla.

In use, a 40 Watt flourescent tube on normal AC is rated for about 3300 to 3800 Lumens. When operated on DC with the set up I have, they only produce about 70 Lumens. Better results are achieved with shorter tubes. But that estimated 70 Lumens draws 48 Watts, or at 12 volts- 4 Amps. In cold weather near -20 F, the tube will light and your eyes will convince you it is as bright as always when you look at it- but your eyes are compensating- the reality is the tube lights internally, but minimal actual light output is realized. This is what is happening with that light string in the video I mentioned above.

Because of the matter with frequency and duration being factored into the determination of power, this can be used as a better guide to sizing inverters to electric motors, and making some changes to them for power factor corrections. And when applied in the compairison of the basic circuit of Class D audio amplifiers and modified sine inverters, we see the similarities of the systems and concepts of the signals and resultant outputs involved. We also begin to see the similarities in a larger context as well.

On the matter of “Free Energy,” yes, there is some out there. Most of it not well understood, and has been taken as a cause celbre` by some authors who themselves fall short of adequate basic knowledge. For example: The publication “Creative Science” issue 371 is one example. Some things in there are worth casual scientific investigation, but some notions like a “new” perspective on magnetic fields are not borne out by the simple demonstrations you can do yourself, or by the natural physical phenonema you can see- such as Aurora Borealis or A. Australis.

If one takes the publication as completely factual on it’s face- that is a big mistake. Tropical Aurora would be a common event if what the article on the “new perspective on magnetism” suggests were indeed actual fact. They are not fact, just a misinterpritation of the phenomena of magnetism and it’s properties. Prime example: Tropical aurora are not common, and when it does become visible it is only because it came down from one of the poles. This is mentioned here because at the end of the article they show how the earth has magnetic fields from pole to equator- which is not how the phenomena we see could support such a suggestion. If the core of the earth is a molten ball that is spinning, it is going to have a north and south magnetic pole in general terms. Because the heat of the core is above the curie point, some other factor has to be at work to produce magnetic poles of the intensity we see. The mantle is cooler, but still above the Curie point. Scientists can only theorize how the earth’s magnetic field is generated. Chances are, the full answer lies with “M-Theory”/”String Theory” and a revision of cosmological interactions.

Now, if the earths magnetic engine stops for a time, we might see magnetic poles appear all over the globe, NASA does not really know for sure. There will be those who claim it to be proof of the nonsense in “Creative Science” but the reality is going to be far different. It is possible that the poles disappear entirely for a while. Again, NASA is not absolutely sure on this. But the discussion of the earths magnetic poles is something for another time. I merely raise it because Creative Science raised it.

However, in that same publication, they mentioned using a long wire to collect electric potential. I will simply call it the longwire “power tap” or “Atmospheric pwoer tap” for lack of a better description, and it is an honest Free Energy phenomena, though not “zero point energy.” How effective it can be? Difficult to say, but certainly something worthy of more research.

If you are in an urban setting you might try a variation on the antenna aligned so that it collected the massive amount of RF hash existent in urban environments of the US and Canada, and the industrialized world. Though not with the potential power production they describe in the publication.

Atmospheric power tap.gif

However It should work, because the theory is quite sound and anecdotal evidence supports it. if you a have a longwire antenna for a shortwave receiver, you may have experienced an instant of the phenomena if you contacted the conductive end while disconnecting it in a showstorm. It is merely the result of static developing in that wire due to dust in the the air, or some other item that brushes across the wire. This is a legitimate problem for radio towers and transmitters as that potential can develop to such a significant magnitude to be a health hazard.

However The example of the fellow on the mountains should never have seen print nor the suggestion which made up the first few pages of the publication prior to the “Power tap” (my name for it). When he- the author or editor begins that portion with “I heard of a man that lived up in a mountain top area and by collecting the energy from the earth and sky, collected enough power to power his entire home! ….” It sure “sounds” impressive, but the reality is the author was just filling space with unsupported trash. It is not even Urban legend. If the author’s intent was to present it as news it is lacking in the fundamental “Who, where, what, and why.” Even though I am critical of some things in “Mother Earth News,” and their book “Homeade Power,” at least they went out into the field to find most of these people.

I found largely the same article on what is essentially the same atmospheric power tap on different websites and blogs, and it is not clear which- if any of those people are actually the original author of the information who apparently is Ham Radio operator with the call of “AE4YW” as near as I can ascertain since he is the one who got it into print. Since the origins are sketchy, and the same artwork appeared on numerous websites, I will post their image slightly modified, however I believe their schematic might be in error. I will try a number of configurations and compare them myself later. While they claim length is critical- it is not as critical as they would make it out to be as 75 feet of enamelled wire develops quite a fair potential itself.

The accumulated charge takes time to develop/accumulate in the wire, and some areas of the world are less capable than others at produceing meaningfule charge accumulation. As for charging a battery in a few days as suggested in the article- no. The cummulative energy would take a number of weeks to charge a lead acid battery adequate to start an automobile- but it IS “Free Energy, BUT nothing like what Tesla had in mind. Tesla needed a power transmitter- this is what the Montauk experiments were all about. Tesla’s energy recievers were not harvesting the energy that longwire is- they were recieving the RF energy from his power transmitter. You can demonstrate what Tesla was trying to do with flourescent tubes beneath an AC high tension power line, or touching a tube to an electric fence, or placing one beside a CB antenna, or other transmitter. The size of the tube may or may not be optimal if it does not light, however many a fraud were born out of using a radio transmitter in close proximity to flourescent lighting tubes.

To be fair though, once you understand the principles involved with what you have in front of you, you can do off beat things with technology. Such as a candle powered radio- powering from about 30 “Thermocouples” from gas appliances that were bathed with the flame of a candle. Not such a mystery- to me anyway. I peeled a thermocouple apart out of curiosity long before I encountered that blog. Know what I found? The outer copper jacket was protecting an insulated inner conductor. When the tip of the thermocouple is heated it produced about 0.1 volts at about 20 microamps. It was one I removed from service, which might explain numbers out of the norm. Off beat? Most certainly. Tesla Free Energy? Not really. Can it be replicated? You bet! I do intend to have a longwire set up to do my own testing, and once I have some results to put up in the blog I will post them. If I can accumulate enough marginal thermocouples, I will try that too.

At the end of that issue of “Creative Science” is a piece on a company that had listed in the Telephone Book yellow pages back in the 1980′s, selling a fuel-less generator (reading between the lines- Perendev attached to an AC generator head). The note in the picture was that phone was disconnected. The insinuation was they were shutdown by an unnamed agency. The reality is most likely the company ran out of money and just closed the business. There were no news articles or official documents included which would have supported that insinuation of a nefarious government agency closing them down. The reality is, as it was at that time, a yellow pages ad was an expensive proposition, and if you missed a payment or were late on a payment- your phone was shut off. So it is much more propbable that company vanished from real circumstances of just not having enough money to continue operations, which is not something clandestined or the result of something nefarious. Who knows- maybe they realized too late that the magnets in a Perendev fail over time.

In short- the prospect of “Free Energy” gets many people taken advantage of simply because of a lack of their understanding of what the things they are looking at, and what they actually do, or how they really operate. It is akin to pointing a photographic light meter designed for reflected light right at the light source and then thinking the inverse square law is false. The video in question titled “free energy 27 Watts in 460 Watts out.” I debated if I should even give it acknowledgement in this way. It is not free power, it is not Tesla technology- it could simply be a matter of someone using a meter that does register a value- just not the correct value for the circuit they are taking a measurement on. Therefore the apparent measurement is innacurate. And this is the problem with many of the over unity claims- they get the measurements wrong because they are using the wrong tools and equations for measurement, or they purposely chose the wrong tools and equations hoping to mislead you.

For those who take issue with my words- go ahead and try prove me wrong on the fundamentals, because I know how to take the correct measurements, and how to apply the right equations. This alone blows holes in just about all of the “free energy” and “over unity” claims. And while I should not have needed to throw close to 6000 words at the subject I do believe it a necessity.

After all, a coin crusher is just a coin crusher. Great fun, and expensive as a hobby- but it still is just a coin crusher, (or a can crusher.) and nothing more.

I have been busy with a large post that will cross post to my circuits blog soon.

After some reserach, I encountered some things that deserve attention. The size of the post is rather large and not too many pictures, but it does evaluate a few of the misunderstood or misrepresented phenomena I am seeing being posted to youtube and elsewhere as “breakthroughs,” or “Free Energy.”

This could save many from being ripped off, or pursuing a dead end.

Long overdue LED project

Some images load today, I will upload and insert the rest of the images in a day or two.

2 LED types used

This part is a little out of my original order of things for the book, but relevent.

The basics of the LED choice is largely what you may have available. There are ways you can achieve white light. First is to simply use a white LED. The second is to use a combination of red, blue and green LEDs. Some of the multi unit LEDS are made exactly that way.

I will start with some basics here, if it sems a review, you can skip ahead.

Luminares in general are measured for light output in two ways, and the measurements are not able to be translated from one to the other with any accuracy. So if purchasing new LEDs, the greatest output in Candela or milli- candela should be chosen with the widest “viewing angle” available if you are going to use them general illumination. For point source lighting use, such as indicators, motor vehicle turn indicators or other use where direct viewing is the manner of use, the light output is not as critical, except when motor vehicle equipment standards are required. Surprisingly, there are a number of LEDs from a number of manufacturers that meet or exceed the required candela rating in a single 3 volt lampule.

The Candle, or Candela output is measured in a manner of light intensity on a surface at a set distance along the centerline of the light source output. Many LED lamps of the conventional bi pin style that many are familiar with are now available with greater than 20,000 millicandela output. Those usually have a fairly tight viewing angle. To give a reference point for the intensity, the turn signal lamp on most cars is a mere 20 candela, so 26,000 candela is a brighter light albeit in a tighter cone of radiation.

The white LEDS are additionally labeled with a “Temperature.” All that means is the light your eye perceives will have a certain “color cast” to it. The bad news is the “warm white” types also tend to have a bit of a greenish cast to them due to the coloring of the phosphors used.

The human eye is very adaptable, and most people who have experience with photographic film understand that color cast their color photographs will have when taken under flouresecent light: green or; orange: under incandescent light. Unless people look at the flourescent luminaire itself, they rarely notice the difference between a cool white and a warm white even. Color film that is daylight balanced show those colors in a very marked manner when printed without compensation for those special lighting conditions. Digital cameras are more forgiving, but not perfect, and even tend to have a blue or purple cast under a daylight 5000K LED.

All this means is colors have a temperature. Just as people consider white with a very slight blue tint to it as being a truer white than true white light, they also have a preference for interior light color or temperature. There is a difference in preference for light color regionaly as mentioned in the lighting Institute publications. European tastes are more often for the higher degree K luminaires and most people in the US have a preference for the “warm white” LEDs of about 3400K. I myself prefer a more accurate daylight coloring myself. The data I distilled some of this from was from literature available from Cree, LED City and various online resources dealing with LED lighting. Digikey for example, has numerous training modules available online to better inform and educate those engineers and designers involved with lighting with LEDs.

Yes, you read that correctly- “warm white” is a cooler temperature than “Cool white.” That cool or warm reference has more to do with color tones than temps- warm colors are yellow, orange, red, and the cool colors are blue green and purple. The general coloring of “white” are denoted for LEDS as a certain number denoting degrees kelvin, or K.

Daylight can be considered to be right around 5000 to 5400 K. Tungsten lighting is right around 3400K. White LEDs are made as initially a blue LED, with a phosphor coating on the cast lens body above the LED chip that reradiates the blue light energy that strikes it as a certain temperature “white” light depending on the formulation. As a result the “warm white” or those rated in the region of 3400K have a slightly lower light output than those same lamps that were made as a 5400K or 6000K unit due to a thicker layer of phosphor.

The Lumen measurement is taken as a spherical measurement a specific distance from the light source; spherically surrounding the entire light source where the Candela or “Foot Candel” is measured as a light intensity 1 foot from the light source. They are not easily translatable by any conversion equation either.

If you are going to try use a photographic light meter to measure relative outputs, you must reflect the light to be measured off of a “grey card,” usually “80 percent” which is the one provided for most light meters and they are calibrated to that grey card for accurate light response measurement. Simply pointing the meter at the light source is not going to be accurate at all unless the meter is specifically made for use in that manner.

LEDS are now available in a wide array of configurations and mounting styles. In the situation you may be in, rework may not be an option if you make a mistake. Even with a reasonably equipped workbench, some rework or salvage work just is not practical due to the physical damage the devices receive in removal from the circuit.

Currently from a salvage perspective you will encounter the discrete LED “bulbs” most often, followed by various Surface mount Devices, Multiple LED arrays, such as from a scrolling marque, and potentially some Mazda based (standard screw in base light bulb)”duds.”

Heat will kill LEDs almost as fast as over voltage, so any retrofit design at the component level you need to keep this in mind to assure adequate cooling of device.

Surface mount LEDS can be made in several ways, such as a single diode or as a “poly” multiple diode assembly under one lens, or several cast together. Some larger units are called “X-lamps” by Cree, who manufacturers quite a few that get relabelled by other companies that use them in their own assemblies have lumen outputs comparable to that of conventional incandescent lights in common use. The X-Lamps are usually mounted to a “star” or similar base for moutning in a fixture or assembly and some are further fitted with a lens. That star is a standardized size and is used to dissipate heat that is generated at the point junction of the LED when in operation.

Just one multi unit LED

When you are using the driver circuits, these are often designed around Pulse Width modulation circuits if the control circuit is to used as a dimming circuit as well in order to shorten the “duty cycle” (on time) of the LED. The driver circuits are intended to otherwise provide a constant current source. This works well if you are series connecting your devices providing they are all rated the same for voltage and current. Manufacturers typically suggest against wiring the LEDs in parallel as the light output can vary from device to device due to Ohms Law for parallel connected loads. Sometimes this may be the only practical way to use them however; especially if they are of a mixed type, be they arrays, or discrete devices.

When on straight DC, there is no off cycle, so there is constant heat generated that needs to be dissipated. So such things as heat sinks, increasing air flow, wider conductive pads, etc, should be factored into the design as well if you are working with discrete Power LEDs that are not mounted to carrier dies yet. Most manufacturers prefer the devices to be powered from a constant current source for maximum performance rather than a constant voltage source (direct connected to a battery). A rudimentary means of accomplishing this is to use a resistor in series with each parallel LED, or string of LEDs.

Another means of accomplishing this is little more involved and uses a MOSFET (any that have sufficient current capability for constant current will do.) All that is done is to wire the MOSFET as a “variable voltage resistor. While the circuit below does not look like it should work, it actually does work within limits if you can set the resistance where the MOSFET is operating near the pinch off zone so an increase in voltage increases the resistance. In the one schema, the one that really does not look like it will work since there is no visible path across the circuit without the load in the image, actually does work because the completed circuit references negative voltage (for N channel types) through the load itself.

A bipolar transistor could also be used, an NPN type would connect essentially the same, Emitter as input, with variable resistor to Base and the Collector as output.

In testing, it did seem the MOSFETS were a little easier to get to work correctly. Your results may differ.

Alternately, in the National Data Sheet for the LM117/317/317HV type 3 terminal regulators, they show the simple circuit for up to 1 amp of constant current. Some have used the LM317 as a current source for the cathode circuit of tube amps as well.
<a href="http://www.national.com/JS/searchDocument.do?textfield=LM117&x=0&y=0" LM317/117 Datasheet selector
National LED Lighting Ap Notes
If the resistors are variable for dimming purposes, these can yield non-linear results, even if the variable resistor is linear in it’s taper. Which is why the driver circuits are suggested by the manufacturer. If you are constructing these for your own use, and can live with results that are not mathematically predictable and consistent other than the point where the LED begins to conduct, the driver or current sink is not as critical.

Most of the Power LEDs are intended to be used with a lens assembly as well. If you are doing a custom assembly such as I have done with these fixtures in the images, those extra assemblies are not practical. However with the one fixture, the crackle glass is for all intents and purposes accomplishing much the same thing a certain diffusion lens assembly would do, and the other recieves a plastic difusion cover.

a view of one undercabinet conversion

If you want optimal performance from the LEDS with the capability of their being dimmed, a PWM circuit is the suggested way to go. The results can be predictable and linear in nature with correct parts values.

Most any PWM circuit can work as long as the output current and voltage is within the ratings for the devices to be lit. The simplest approach is to simply buy the driver that the manufacturer suggests, but this can become expensive, and if you are not able to order parts because you do not have reliable shipping or postal services, then you need to make do with what you have. in short the PWM circuits operate by pulsing the output.

If you ever made a type 555 oscillator, you could change the rate of the output frequency, and you could change the duration of the “on” or “Off” portion of the output. This is the basis of the PWM operation. Bridgelux has an application Note “AN-12″ that covers this in 58 pages more detail.

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Bridgelux link to ap note

Many of the “Light engines” or “Stars” that you will find when ordering “Power LEDs” from vendors (such as Mouser or Digikey), the light engines or stars use “X-lamps” as their luminaire if contracted from Cree, or other names if they were ordered from another company like Avago, or Seoul Semiconductor. The star itself is just a base mounting, and not much more than an aluminum planchet with an insulating layer and conductive tracks for the power LED.

A Power LED Star by Lite on.

Many are used with an additional lens for a specific shape of light output. Just as they are without a lens, they usually radiate in a 120 to 180 degree circular pattern from the backplane of the star depending on manufacturer.

Many of the mounted units have an integral means of reducing voltage to the LED itself as some manufacturers actually have assemblies suitable for wiring to mains power (not all of them though) or for limiting current applied to the on board LED. These stars also serve as an interface with a metal mounting base to radiate the heat that is generated from the lamp when in operation.

If you buy the commercially available mazda based units for retrofit to older light fixtures or lamps, some are composed of the discrete LED lamps and some are surface mount devices. Each has it’s own advantage. While those commercial units offer simple retrofit, the basic LED lamp or chip in itself can be wired to DC for low voltage use and fitted to just about anything.

The way most of the Mazda based retrofit bulbs are made, you have to break the glass or plastic envelope and remove the LED from the circuit board. Usually it is just easier to buy the LEDS from a vendor, although if you are using salvaged LEDs pulled from boards, those too will work, but there are no guarantees that the light intensities will be the same for many reasons, so you may want to set up the workbench to find suitable resistors to put in series with each LED to optimize it’s light output for higher voltage than merely 3 volts.

To make white lighted areas, or reasonably close to that rendering, if you happen to have a small pile of discrete blue LEDS, you can add red, and green LEDs, so when lit you will have some approximation of white light where they overlap in patterns. It will not be perfect, but it will be close enough to reduce eyestrain or to create certain effects.

When purchasing the LEDs, always download the application notes and specifications specific for that LED. Voltage is critical- you can use less than peak voltage, but you need to be mindful not to exceed the maximum applied voltage either. If you are able to supply optimal current at the Typical operating voltages you will get the expected rated light output of the device. Typical operating voltages and peak voltages are two different ratings, and they will vary between types/models, and with salvage LEDs, that range could be anywhere. 3 volts is usually safe for assembly and testing purposes.

If you are using unkown rated devices and have plenty to sacrifice a few for testing, that is the easiest way to find out at what point they burn out, and then use a lower voltage. If you measure current while testing, you may want to incorporate a current limiting resistor to limit current below the burnout point to allow for some flexibility.

While the current measurement may seem an odd inclusion here, if you have an adequate value of a resistor, which you can calculte, you can apply a greater voltage to the device than you initially expect. Back in the 1970′s I replaced the 12 volt lamps in a tape player with LEDs I had on hand to change the color of the display and replace all the lamps that a few had already burned out. It was just that value of resistor for each LED (many were different in that project) that allowed for 12 volts nominal to be “applied” to the diode- the current limiting was critical, the voltage drop was less critical and so led to a simpler installation. It is easier to maintain constant current on a 12 volt system than it is to maintain a constant 12 volts in an automotive situation for example.

Some of those earlier LED arrays for under counter lighting had high failure rates because of the effects of poor quality control in the LED and the effects of transients induced from many sources including the incoming power line from the power company. Transients can include RF energy as well.

One array I constructed, I used a cast off flourescent light trough. It measures about 2 feet square and was used with the drop ceilings commonly found in offices originally. I simply wired4-5 Watt power LED stars together after mounting them with a spot of heat sink compound to the backing side, plus I mounted a screw terminal to the top side of the housing so I could wire it easily to a battery, a mains supplied power supply, or whatever arrangement I might need for it later. Currently, it is wired to a mains supplied power supply salvaged from a printer. To achieve the correct voltage for the LEDS, I initially used an industrial wire wound potentiometer in series to limit current flow and to introduce a votage drop in the circuit. Once I determined the point where the LEDs were at maximum intensity; I measured my resistance of the rheostat out of circuit, and installed a suitably sized power resistor in it’s place. I also inadvertently found out the LED stars I had used, which were a 5 watt per unit rating, had a built in overload protection feature which strobed the LEDS at about 1 hertz when too much voltage had been applied. I was lucky they had done that because LEDS often just burn out once their maximum applied voltage is exceeded. Or worse- blow up (I managed to do that in high school with an adjustable power supply I was not familiar with and the little LED stood no chance when a full 35 volts at a few amperes was applied to it.)

5-watt-star JPEG

The quick projects I show below, one the finished product ready to be mounted, the other one yet to be assembled and the images will show the basic steps of assembly.

scored clad board

One advantage of using the LED lamps such as T-1, and T-13/4 and related outlines, is they have their own ability to dissipate the heat so no significan heat sink is required. However when clustered together, they can be a minor problem due to the nature of several focused lenses creating multiple shadows. Not a problem with reading a book, but it can be problem trying to read a component part number of a component still mounted to a circuit board.

Through hole style

An array of power LED stars mounted linearly present a similar problem but is less pronounced. The 5 grouped in the trough overlap enough that shadows cast are not as pronounced.

Multi LED Mazda based replacements can also lend themselves to some very creative lighting effects with some very basic square or pressed glass light globes. Each discrete lamp casting the shadow of the same portion of globe edge in a different location on a wall or ceiling, and if colors are mixed…. Very effective and dramatic in an Art Deco setting.

With the SMD devices that you can handle, you can construct an array simply by taking a copper clad board, removing any coatings or corrosion first. In my examples, I simply used a sharp knife to cut through the conductive layer approximately in the center of the small boards. It may seem wasteful, but the large copper foil area is an effective heat sink for the LED modules, and is needed as such.

Prep steps for a Surface mounted Device or SMD.

You could certainly do the same for mounting the individual leaded lamps, but they tend to be more easily managed when inserted through perf board, and do not need much for heat dissipation. The through hole units are also very amennable to wire wrap assembly. They may look a little odd from the side as it is difficult to get them to line up evenly and squarely unless an external holder is used, but that is not critical as you are not viewing the light source direct nor the luminaire you are looking at the light from those units within it as it illuminates in it’s path.

With a modest soldering iron with a small tip, the SMD devices are quite easy to manage. Tinning each side strip of copper is the next step, this makes handling the device, the solder and the iron a bit easier.

Action Shot.

If you notice the extra visible wires in a later image, that was due to one device being reversed from what it was supposed to be when soldered. I chose to make the alteration to the board rather than try extract the device because damage to the device is almost assured when you try to desolder for re-use a 6 padded (or more) surface mounted device as I had. If I had been salvaging equipment, I would have trimmed the board down to a size I could cement to the main carrier board and then make my soldered connections.

Once one side is soldered in place, the other side is very easy to solder. If you do not have a nice fillet on the first side, simply reheat and add a small amount to achieve a concave fillet after the other side is done. This may seem counter to what you see with wave soldered boards, however that sodlered connection is the junction where heat transfer takes place, so having a good solder fillet helps conduct heat out of the device.

Ready for wiring, Silicone anchoring is a later step.

When assembling in this manner, do not expect your solder joints to be perfect. You can strive for it, but the reality is the less time you spend on minor details that will be hidden from view, the more time you have for other things.

If you are working with salvage materials, obviously you use what you can get. In that situation the best two choices to use are red or amber if white is not available. Red does not wipe out your night vision, so are good for areas where you might be in and out of an a structure in the course of a night. Amber, while not the easiest colored light to work under, does allow for some lighting options in task areas and is better choice than red.

The small boards are just cemented in place with RTV silicone. Do not energize the circuit until the silicone has adequately set up because it will be conductive until cured to reasonable extent. The following images just show the steps of basic assembly. As long as your LEDS are oriented the same way, it simplifies the wiring and actually speeds things up overall.

Ready for dallops of silicone to anchor them in place.

One additional note, if you mix types, such as I did with the SMDs and the discretes, they have different peak voltage values, one at 4.2 volts and one at 3.9. while this does not sound like much, the LEDS when run close to their peak voltage, if they are going to fail early, they will fail earlier than you expect.

Some other considerations for LED lighting- Line noise. If you are on mains power and using a driver board as suggested by the manufacturer, you may consider adding a common mode filter to the input voltage of the driver.

filters

If you are suffering from chronic driver failures, or LED failures, you might consider adding individual ferrite beads to each power wire to the LEDs. This does however add a load to the driver and will usually mean failures for the marginal drivers, and I know energy efficient flourescent ballasts, which are more similar to PWM circuitry than you might think, are more prone to failure when ferrites are in place. Since I have used them with the flourescent lighting to supress RF radiation through the house wiring, those marginal ballasts tend to simply fail, yet the ferrites were placed only on the mains power input to the ballast, so that may not be the whole story yet, I am still researching, but so far this does seem to be the case.

In perusing Digikey for current high output LED’s, this one caught my eye:
This is just the LED on a carrier. You would need to review the data sheet, linked on that page, to see if your setup is able to utilize this. If you want cutting edge, here it is. And by the time you read this, something better has likely come along. I point this one out because it is equivalent to roughly 65 to 70 Watts of incandescent light in a single package. It is not cheap when compared to the leaded types, but you have the lumionous output now to easily replace all of the CFL’s you may have. Why am I down on CFL’s? The light quality, the mercury, and their inability to survive in some metal enclosures such as a range hood. LEDS are also cold friendly, and more efficient than CFLs. Digikey does also ship worldwide.

One thing I do find the CFL’s useful for- Their bases. If you are very careful you can remove the top from the base at the point where the grove is around the circumferance. Some are not glued, and they can be opened with a screwdriver blade, those that are glued need a utility knife or a saw blade to just cut through the plastic. There is an electronic ballast board in that base that may or may not have some useful parts intact (depends how the CFL failed). The bases allow you to assemble an array or an LED discussed below to be retro fitted to older lamps AS LONG AS THEY ARE ON LOW VOLTAGE, or a driver circuit suitable for your mains voltage.

If you pursue this for your own lighting, as always- YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULTS. In other words- If you failed to do due dilligence on research of the readily available documentation, Or even if you did- Not I, nor any company mentioned here, or manufacturer of the products can be blamed for your mistakes. Since I only have low voltage in my barn, I can use the bases to mount various LED arrays to them. Since I only have low voltage in the barn, I will not get conventional 120VAC light bulbs confused with the low voltage stuff so no surprises.

bases1

bases2

bases3

In short, if you have been waiting for a good LED module before you commit to them, these and others like it are now here, and at a justifiable price point. These make integration of an alternative energy system in your home rather simple if you have the knowledge to make use of these parts, or if you are just wanting to see what the components are of some of the “ready made” products that are available at significant prices still.

If you need the rough equivalent for 100 Watts, how about this one:
LED Link

These images linked to DigiKey are used with their permission.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not promoting these for any other reason than they are just good products that give you some flexibility. In a few months, these will potentially be obsolete just due to the nature of the technology advancing and innovation and refinements of production.

One thing to remember- with all of the obsolescences in this area of electronics, the “NOS” or New-Old Stock of those units that are no longer in demand in industry because something better came along leaves the door open for many of these to end up on the planet somewhere in bulk. If you happen to be one of those people in one of those areas, don’t be afraid to use them.

In addition, you can purchase LED flashlights right now, and they are pretty good. They can sometimes be adapted to an existing fixture, but the LEDS in use are not always cutting edge or even close to it. I have some LED flashlights with a very perceptable purple hue to them. They were made shortly after some of the first white LEDs of T1 and related sizes became readily available with decent output and reasonable cost. If you do this, it is best to wire them in parallel because there are some issues you will encounter if you wire them in series. first and foremost is that of equal intensities.

Another nice salvage light source that are reasonably energy efficient and give off good light for their size at 12 volts are the Cold Cathode Flourescent lights found in the light hoods for flat bed scanners. HP makes some that have a discrete hood with it’s own cord that plugs into a power socket on the scanner itself so you could scan 35mm films. These hoods make a nice “ready to go” light fixture where all you need to do is clip off the mini 4 pin Din style connector and strip the cable and wires out to a length you can work with and attach loops or gator clips. You can light up a work space or task space, and they are bright enough to read a book under with reasonable comfort, but don’t expect to light up a room with them.

HP Lighthood bottom view

Lighthood top

The CCFLs used in scanners, laptops, flat panel LCD monitors/TV sets can be extracted and used as well, and they are a bit more work, but the small ballasts are in themselves easy enough to work with. Determining a method of mounting the raw tubes can be a challenge if you want something better than dabs of RTV silicone on the ends to hold them in place. The tiny driver circuits are best salvaged with the tubes rather than being fabricated. They will not work reliably in series, so should be wired in parallel if you are using multiple hoods.

I will cover more on using conventional bi-pin flourescent lighting on 12 volt systems without having to add an inverter to them in the future. I have a bank of cast off 2 foot square drop ceiling troughs converted to 2 foot conventional flourescent tubes with low voltage ballasts on them as well as a number of 2 foot fixtures on the rafters of my barn to light the general walkway through the barn currently. Their drawback and that of any CCFLwhen compared to other types of lighting is the RF generated by the flourescent ballast circuits and low conversion efficiency of about 4 amps at 12 volts for about 70 Lumens. There is no getting away from that due to the prinicples of flourescent lighting, and the principles of the circuits. Cold weather is also an issue, and where the LEDS far surpass them for performance.

The LED update will be soon.

Other matters interceeded that kept me from getting this done sooner, but it should be up very soon, and very substantially as well..