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A simple, low voltage inverter for fluorescent lamps up to 15 watt

by thermoelectric on January 15, 2009 Table of Contents A simple, low voltage inverter for fluorescent lamps up to 15 watt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: A simple, low voltage inverter for fluorescent lamps up to 15 watt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: Dismantling the ferrite-cored transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Wind the transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Put the transformer back together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: Make the driver circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: Is your circuit not working? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

Author:thermoelectric

author's website I am a high school student in Cairns, Queensland. Most of the time I am either at school, sleeping, doing stuff on my computer, making circuits of some kind or messing with 240v

Intro: A simple, low voltage inverter for fluorescent lamps up to 15 watt

Thankyou to Burak Incepinar for letting me document his design. This is his website if you want to check out more awesome designs. This Instructable will help you run any fluorescent light off low voltages, It has been tested to run Compact Fluorescent Lights and Fluorescent tubes up to 15 watt.

Step 1: Parts
Things you will need: 25mm x 20mm x 5mm ferrite core. AWG28 (~0.3mm) Magnet wire. AWG32 (0.2mm) Magnet wire. 2x 22nF unpolarised capacitor, I used ones out of a camera flash. 22 ohm resistor (red red black gold) OR a variable resistor. 470 ohm resistor (yellow violet brown gold) OR a variable resistor. A BD243C or similar NPN transistor. A fluorescent light to drive. A battery or power supply of your choice.

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

Image Notes 1. Fluorescent light to be driven... 2. Magnet wire 3. Ferrite cored transformer to be dismantled. 4. 22nF capacitors. 5. BD243C or similar NPN transistor. 6. Variable resistors, To fine tune your driver. 7. Resistors

Step 2: Dismantling the ferrite-cored transformer

Try to pull the two "E" cores apart. Usually they have a little glue between them which makes it extremely hard to dismantle without breaking the ferrite core. Mine broke at the ends which still gave me space to wind/unwind it. If your ferrite core breaks at the end, You can usually glue them back together with little performance degradation.

Image Notes 1. Where my ferrite core broke 2. Where my ferrite core broke 3. Primary and feedback coil wound

Image Notes 1. Ferrite core glued back together after winding. 2. Secondary coil wound and core glued back together 3. Nearly finished transformer 4. Once winding polarity is right, you can solder the wires to the original terminals on the core.

Step 3: Wind the transformer

The hardest step if you can't count to 250... Use AWG28 (~0.3mm) wire to form primary and feedback windings and AWG32 (0.2mm) wire to form secondary. Make out a smooth winding for maximum performance and easy fitting. Place primary and feedback windings on opposite sides of the frame. Primary winding will run over on feedback in this case but it is not so important. It also isn't important in which direction the windings are made, you just have to change two wires' places to make circuit work, But for a problem less first run and make the transformer to fit on the PCB right, follow these instructions: Start by numbering the four slots on your transformer 1, 2, 3 and 4. Start by winding the feedback. Put wire at slot two (leaving a bit of wire free to connect to the pins easily) and wind 18 cycles clockwise, When done put the wire in slot three. Start on slot 4 for primary, wind 25-30 cycles clockwise and end in slot 1. Wind secondary with AWG32 wire and wind 250 cycles turns from the other end of the transformer If you make a mistake at this point or just confused, it does not matter at all. Allow wires came out 2cm or more long from the frame, then you will be able to swap feedback (or primary) connections in case of wrong phase polarity.

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

Step 4: Put the transformer back together

Put your transformer back together, Making sure that if you broke the core that it goes back together the right way. There should be thin spacers made out of adhesive tapes, between the contact points of core parts. If you got your ferrite core with this spacers on it, do not remove them. If there isn't any spacers, you can use very thin adhesive tape to make them. If you don't use any, performance of the transformer will be degraded. You should manually move two core parts relative to each other in order to find the best operating point which can be determined from the brightness of the lamp.

Image Notes 1. Ferrite core glued back together after winding. 2. Secondary coil wound and core glued back together 3. Nearly finished transformer 4. Once winding polarity is right, you can solder the wires to the original terminals on the core.

Step 5: Make the driver circuit

WARNING, Only use the driver circuit when there is a fluorescent tube connected to the output or you can damage your transistor. Using the schematic, Put together the driver circuit, You should use a breadboard at first to make sure everything works because it is very hard to trouble shoot a part on a PCB. Once tested and working, you can make a PCB for it using the included PCB layout, Change it to match your transformer.

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

Step 6: Is your circuit not working?

If it isn't try: Reversing the feedback wires Check all your connections Does your transistor work, If not get a new one. Has your circuit got power, If not, FIX IT! Enjoy the pics of the 12 volt driven fluorescent lights. F8T5 tubes can be easily light up with the inverter. Just take this advice: as the tubes get old, they draw more current from the inverter. So always use a tube that lights up well and consumes less current. Remember to comment and rate!

Image Notes 1. A Black light lit up

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 164 comments

coilsinamotor says:
could i wind say 500 or so turns to get a higher voltage out put.... thankx

Jan 12, 2011. 5:02 PM REPLY

markee2 says:
tis inverter project is very similar to this from this site http://electronician.blogspot.com/2009/09/15w-flourescent-inverter-project.html

Oct 28, 2010. 7:11 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

red eyes says:

in this project not guaidance and you need more simple guaid ok . thanks you

Oct 10, 2010. 1:21 AM REPLY

red eyes says:

that cool

Oct 9, 2010. 1:00 AM REPLY

ARJOON says:

Aug 25, 2010. 12:33 PM REPLY mine don't work it has something to do with the transformer. what if i use bigger transformer and 10w resistors will it work if i connect more than 2 lamps together for example if i use 2 15W lamps in paralell

joinaqd says:

Jan 30, 2009. 5:07 PM REPLY hey,do you think that an LCD monitor inverter might be able to run fluroscents?becuz i have a monitor that i dont use anymore cuz the screen is cracked..

thermoelectric says:

Jan 30, 2009. 6:30 PM REPLY Usually, Yes but you won't get full brightness out of the lamp because those inverters don't supply enough current to do a big tube while keeping the inverter from overheating...

flying pie says:

try to use heat sink for the transistor and use a cpu fan

May 5, 2010. 7:07 AM REPLY

thermoelectric says:

May 24, 2010. 1:38 AM REPLY You should just use a bigger transistor, instead of getting a smaller one, if you were to need a cooler that big on it.

joinaqd says:

Mar 11, 2009. 5:51 PM REPLY the ferrite was hard to get unstuck, so guess what i did?..I put that piece of **** in a cooking pot with water and let it boil for 20 minutes, and it came off freakin so easily! I have destroyed soo many ferrite transformers trying to take the glue off, i lost count. And the answer was sooo obvious! HOT WATER DEFEATS GLUE OF ANY KIND! Maybe i should put an instructable on how to unstick ferrite transformers LOL. (THIS MESSAGE IS FOR ALL YOU LOSERS OUT THERE ! THIS IDEA IS PROTECTED BY AMERICAN PATENT NUMBER 633488 SO Y'ALL BETTER NOT BE USIN IT! YA HEAR ME?!?! )

thermoelectric says:
Lol, I broke nearly every transformer in the house trying to get it unglued...

Mar 11, 2009. 10:09 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:

Mar 16, 2009. 2:51 PM REPLY it also works for iron cored transformers too... i unwinded the iron core and modified the coil and now i get a lot of volts from it.

thermoelectric says:
Yeah, But iron cored transformers only work with lower frequencies...

Mar 18, 2009. 2:32 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:

Jan 31, 2009. 10:43 AM REPLY i dont get it why use ferrite?transformers can also use iron right?my transformers are all iron frame...is ferrite better than iron?

Plasmana says:
Iron core transformers are design to operate efficiently on low frequencies, (20Hz to 1000Hz). Ferrite transformers are design to operate efficiently on high frequencies, (1KHz to 100KHz) You can get ferrite transformers from newer electronic devices or switch mode power supplies.

Jan 31, 2009. 12:54 PM REPLY

flying pie says:

can i use a ferrite trorde insted of the ferrite transformer

Apr 30, 2010. 11:35 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

joinaqd says:

Jan 31, 2009. 5:29 PM REPLY DARN MAN!! YOU ARE SMART FOR A 15 YEAR OLD !!! Are you related to Albert Einstein?or Thomas Edison or are you an Alien from a planet millions of light years away? Your instructables are my favourite though (whoever you are)...My favourite is the Smallest Electronic Shocker,i did it and it works (i connected 2 thin wires and put em behind my door-knob and my sister got shocked!LOL!)...I want to take out flyback transformers and microwave guts but my parents say that its too dangerous.I cant wait to be 18 and get out man...

Plasmana says:
No, I am just a normal kid who has Asperger syndrome .

Feb 1, 2009. 5:05 AM REPLY

LOL, shocking other people can be fun... And my parents were like yours when I first got into high voltage, they got freaked out when I built a 330v power supply and they told me I am not to experiment stuff with voltage over 9v. But I disobeyed them and continued messing with high voltage. After many months, they now feel safe me dealing with high voltage, but still, I am not allowed to exceed 100Kv... Right now, the highest voltages I can go up to is 60Kv from my marx generator.

carebare47 says:
Hey =)

May 12, 2010. 11:24 AM REPLY

I thought I was the only 15 year old on here with Aspergers. Just built a variable DC power supply and am now looking for a basic inverter schematic to modify to hopefully power a CFL which in turn will drive a fly back. I did have my suspicions of other 15 year olds who actually knew what they were talking about with electronics but I thought it rude to ask if they also had AS. Thank you, for making me feel less alone =)

computerman299 says:

Mar 4, 2011. 11:53 PM REPLY actualy, i thought i was the only one on here with aspergers lol. although im not a kid (im 23) its realy cool to find 2 other people with the same battle and with the rarety of aspergers it realy dose make you feel less alone.

carebare47 says:
There are more of us than you think. Why not check out the ASD forums? http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/ Welcome to the team xD

Mar 5, 2011. 4:00 AM REPLY

joinaqd says:
lol do you really have asperger syndrome, or are u just kidding?(i looked up asperger syndrome on wikipedia)

Feb 7, 2009. 9:34 AM REPLY

Plasmana says:
I really do. If I don't have asperger syndrome, I would be a noob on electronics now...

Feb 11, 2009. 2:41 AM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
He does, He is not the type that lies a lot I think.

Feb 7, 2009. 4:26 PM REPLY

DELETED_Noah feasey-kemp says:

(removed by author or community request)

Mar 25, 2009. 2:05 PM

thermoelectric says:

Mar 25, 2009. 2:09 PM REPLY Well once again, That is dependent on a lot of other factors, Wire size, Load from bulb etc.. But if your fluorescent bulb is big it will probably get hot..

flying pie says:

u can try heat sink it might stay cooler and a cpu 12v fan

Apr 30, 2010. 1:46 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:

Feb 1, 2009. 5:02 PM REPLY awesome.....wish i had your parents instead of mines,they are always telling me "dont blow up the house" or "dont burn the house down" and other parenty stuff...?

flying pie says:

funny u said that because my dad said the same thing

Apr 30, 2010. 11:30 AM REPLY

Plasmana says:
Don't get all jealous and that, my parents are like yours too... :-( They have so many harsh rules on me, I will tell you some...

Feb 4, 2009. 3:55 PM REPLY

I am NOT allowed do do electronic experiments in my house. I am threatened to be banned from my workshop if I have a source of flame or hazardous chemical or experimenting with

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

dangerously high voltage (100Kv+) in my workshop. I am also limited how much power I can have going to my workshop (240v at 5A) which prevents me doing high power projects... :-(

flying pie says:

why. my dad let me work with electronic experiments

Apr 30, 2010. 1:49 PM REPLY

thermoelectric says:

Feb 4, 2009. 9:24 PM REPLY Same here, I'm not allowed to play with mains electricity, No fire in the house, No soldering on the floor..... But 240v at 5A is a LOT of power, A normal 60 watt incandescent only uses about .1A on 240v I think.....

Plasmana says:

Feb 5, 2009. 10:08 AM REPLY Oh yes, I am not allowed to experiment with mains power too... :-( 240v at 5A may seem like a lot of power, but when you get to the big stuff, 5A is puny...

thermoelectric says:
Big stuff? What do you mean The power points over here can only supply 10A max...

Feb 5, 2009. 12:38 PM REPLY

Plasmana says:

Feb 5, 2009. 5:48 PM REPLY Microwave transformers, tesla coils (coming soon hopefully), power tools, lighting and some other experiments that requires over 5 amps of power.

thermoelectric says:

Mar 25, 2009. 2:14 PM REPLY Hehehe, I just got a MOT, It works, I'm just modifying the resistive current limiter... Because i'm using a heater as a current limiter, The fan doesn't get the full mains voltage to run it, so I keep blowing the resettable temp switch... I will just put another power lead for the fan of the heater...... Feb 5, 2009. 10:09 PM REPLY Oh, Now I understand, Just don't touch the output of your Tesla coil, MOT and don't use a drill/power tools to scratch your nose.........

thermoelectric says:

joinaqd says:

Feb 4, 2009. 5:19 PM REPLY oh!thanks for the flyback driver!i also didnt know that it cant run on AC mains directly...I guess you learn something new everyday eh? :-) ?

Plasmana says:
Haha! Yeah, we all learn something new everyday...

Feb 5, 2009. 10:09 AM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
Yep

Feb 5, 2009. 12:43 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:
lol wow,i never knew that.i guess your parents and mine are normal then, eh?

Feb 4, 2009. 5:17 PM REPLY

Plasmana says:
Yeah.

Feb 5, 2009. 10:09 AM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
Yep.

Feb 5, 2009. 12:36 PM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
Yeah, My parents only tell me not to burn down the house because I nearly have in previous experiments.

Feb 1, 2009. 9:40 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:

Feb 2, 2009. 7:54 AM REPLY lol i just turned 15 this month on January 20...(we dont own our house because we pay rent thats y my parents worried we have to pay the landlord if anything happens to house)

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-simple-low-voltage-inverter-for-fluorescent-lam/

thermoelectric says:
Oh, we own our house..............

Feb 2, 2009. 12:56 PM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
If you make a Tesla coil you could make over 100kv :-)

Feb 1, 2009. 1:02 PM REPLY

thermoelectric says:
Yeah, What Plasmana said :-)

Jan 31, 2009. 2:38 PM REPLY

joinaqd says:

Jan 31, 2009. 5:38 PM REPLY yo thermo you pretty smart too...i like this instrctable and i want to make it but got no ferrite tranmsformer.My parents say they gonna throw out our old TV cuz it wont work with DTV converter-box.I opened the TV when they went shopping and i saw a transformer similar to yours(plus the FlyBack transformer!) im gonna get both of em real soon...Just gotta wait till February 17... ? ? ? ? ? ? The old smileys are soo old man do the new ones!! :-( ????????? (to make smileys press Alt+1 for white smiley and Alt+2 to make black ones)

Plasmana says:

Feb 1, 2009. 4:55 AM REPLY Great! Make sure you get that large flyback transformer! And save it, don't destroy it, because flyback transformers are capable of generating very high voltages, about 10,000 volts to 40,000 volts. If you are lucky, you might be able to get 100,000 volts!

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