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Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit


By BT Humble, Section Light
Posted on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 10:05:51 PM MST
Burn-in testing

I decided that it was time to do a burn-in test on my home-made 15W fluoro:

...so I've hooked it up to a small 12V system and switched it on.  As of this morning it was using 850mA (I tweaked it a little since the above photo was taken, to make it a little brighter), and had been running for 65 hours without any issues.  It's a little brighter at one end of the tube than the other, but I think that's just due to the way the circuit works.

Here's the construction article:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/1/31/234116/315

BTH
Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit | 8 comments (8 topical)

Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by BT Humble on Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 04:36:08 PM MST

Up to 85 hours now, and all is well.

BTH



Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by RobC on Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 10:04:15 PM MST

Looks like it will work just fine. I stopped worrying about my setup at 75 hours. Mine by the way can be adjusted from a dim setting to the full output 50 to 75 watts depending on what you want. And you know what, it never would have happened without your starting the thread many thanks. RobC

[ Parent ]


Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by RobC on Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 10:06:02 PM MST

Make that 20 to 75 watts.RobC

[ Parent ]


Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by BT Humble on Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 10:18:01 PM MST


Looks like it will work just fine. I stopped worrying about my setup at 75 hours. Mine by the way can be adjusted from a dim setting to the full output 50 to 75 watts depending on what you want. And you know what, it never would have happened without your starting the thread many thanks. RobC

I've bought a few 555 chips to try out your circuit too, hopefully some of these zillions of ferrite transformers I've extracted from old computer PSUs will have windings that will work unmodified.  It seems a shame to dump them, and they're almost impossible to disassemble for rewinding.

I think I've worked out a method for a brightness adjustment for mine too, although it sort of defeats the whole idea behind it (low parts count (of recycled components), simple, cheap).

BTH


[ Parent ]



Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by RobC on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 08:55:35 AM MST

Use the core out of the flyback transformer. It should come apart easily; just make a cardboard bobbin to wind the wire on.

RobC

[ Parent ]



Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by BT Humble on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:44:00 PM MST


Use the core out of the flyback transformer. It should come apart easily; just make a cardboard bobbin to wind the wire on.

I'll give it a try.

BTH
PS - This afternoon will be 5 days of continuous running. I think I'll switch it off on Sunday evening. ;-)

[ Parent ]



Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by sandovalch on Mon May 16, 2005 at 12:10:00 PM MST

The circuit works, I'll make the printed circuit and assembly it for real and try it out for a longer period of time.


Re: Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by BT Humble on Wed May 18, 2005 at 12:03:45 AM MST

I've found that increasing the value of the 1/4W resistor to 200 ohms or so is a more effective way of reducing the circuit's current draw.  Also, if you want to drive a 36W (4 foot) tube, use an MJE3055 transistor and wind an extra 150 turns or so on the secondary (ie. 600 turns rather than 450).

BTH

[ Parent ]



Testing BT's home-made fluoro circuit | 8 comments (8 topical)
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Related Links
· http://www .fieldlines.com/story/2005/1/31/234116/315
· Also by BT Humble

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