I use the inverter and bulb off a scanner like this one and a 12 volt battery for a reading light. Unfortunately I believe I toasted one of the transistors in this one a few weeks ago when I had a 110v CFL go out so I decided to see if this inverter would light that bulb up. It did, not as bright as when hooked to 110v. I decided to hook it to the pedal genny to see how bright I could get it... Doh! I think it probably gave up the ghost at around 20 volts. zap
My circuit is very stable in this regard. Only the frequency seems to vary with voltage.
I think choice of fet (gate switch-on voltage) would be critical to get this circuit working on 12 volts. I've previously used bipolar transistors, in a TO-92 case, running off 9 or 12 volts to power lcd backlights. But thats a very low power level.
I expect, though haven't tested it, that this circuit would work well with a TIP41C, after choosing the right value of base resistor.
One last point I noticed; it takes a second or two for the tube to initially fire, after switch on, during which the current draw is about 1.5 amps.
Amanda[ Parent ]
Two days ago I took an old scanner apart and it seems to have EXACTLY the same inverter board in it. I only have one question: do you drive it with 5V or 12V?
I'm not sure whether it needs 5V or 12V. Wasn't easy to retrace on the PCBs anyway.[ Parent ]
I also understand that Commanda is at the moment working on (C)FL inverters for the BTHumble project in Fiji. I hope something comes out of it that's easily reproducible.[ Parent ]
Great minds think alike, I guess.[ Parent ]
