How to make an energy-saving lamp last forever. We use old energy-saving lamps. Pulse transformer for power supply

The failure of the battery of a cordless screwdriver or other power tool is not the most pleasant event, especially considering that the cost of replacing this element is comparable to the price of a new device. But perhaps unplanned expenses can be avoided? This is quite possible if you replace the battery with a simple homemade energy-saving pulse-type power supply, with which the tool can be charged from the mains. And the components for it can be found in an affordable and ubiquitous product - this.

Energy saving light bulb ballast source

DIY UPS from a fluorescent lamp

In most cases, to assemble a UPS, the electronic choke of the epra should only be slightly modified (with a two-transistor circuit) by using a jumper, and then connected to a pulse transformer and rectifier.

Some components are simply removed as unnecessary.

Homemade power supply

For weak power supplies (from 3.7 V to 20 watts), you can do without a transformer. It will be enough to add a few turns of wire to the magnetic circuit of the choke lamp in the ballast, if, of course, there is room for this. A new winding can be made directly on top of the existing one.

MGTF brand wire with fluoroplastic insulation is perfect for this. Typically, little wire is required, while almost the entire lumen of the magnetic circuit is occupied by insulation, which determines the low power of such devices. To increase it, you will need a pulse transformer.

Pulse transformer

A feature of the described version of the UPS is the ability to adapt to some extent to the parameters of the transformer, as well as the absence of a feedback circuit passing through this element. This connection diagram allows you to do without a particularly accurate calculation of the transformer.

The transformer is made on the basis of the same inductor, on which the secondary winding is wound from varnished winding copper wire.

In this case, it is important to pay special attention to the inter-winding insulation made from a paper gasket, because the “native” winding of the inductor will operate under mains voltage.

Even if it is covered with a synthetic protective film, it is still necessary to wind several layers of electrical cardboard or at least ordinary paper with a total thickness of 100 microns (0.1 mm) on top of it, and the varnished wire of the new winding can be laid on top of the paper.

The diameter of the wire should be the largest possible. There will not be many turns in the secondary winding, so their optimal number can be selected experimentally. Using the specified materials and technology, you can obtain a power supply with a power of 20 or a little more watts.

In this case, its value is limited by the area of the magnetic circuit window and, accordingly, by the maximum diameter of the wire that can be placed there.

Rectifier

To avoid saturation of the magnetic circuit, only full-wave output rectifiers are used in the UPS. In the event that the pulse transformer operates to reduce the voltage, the most economical is the zero-point circuit, but to implement it you will need to make two completely symmetrical secondary windings. When winding manually, you can wind it in two wires.

A standard rectifier assembled using a “diode bridge” circuit from ordinary silicon diodes is not suitable for a pulsed UPS, since out of 100 W of transmitted power (at a voltage of 5 V), about 32 W or more will be lost on it. Assembling a rectifier using powerful pulse diodes will be too expensive.

UPS setup

After assembling the UPS, you need to connect it to the maximum load and check how hot the transistors and transformer are. The limit for a transformer is 60 - 65 degrees, for transistors - 40 degrees. When the transformer overheats, they increase the cross-section of the wire or the overall power of the magnetic circuit, or perform both actions together. If the transformer is made from a lamp ballast choke, it will most likely not be possible to increase the cross-section of the wire and you will have to limit the connected load.

How to make an LED power supply with increased power

In order to implement your plan, you will have to get a computer power supply, which turned out to be unclaimed for some reason. The power transformer along with the R4C8 chain should be removed from this block, which performs the function of protecting power transistors from overvoltage. The power transformer should be connected to the electronic ballast instead of the choke.

It was experimentally found that this type of UPS allows you to remove power up to 45 W with slight overheating of the transistors (up to 50 degrees).

To avoid overheating, it is necessary to install a transformer with an increased core cross-section in the transistor bases, and install the transistors themselves on a radiator.

Possible mistakes

As already mentioned, including a conventional low-frequency diode bridge in the circuit as an output rectifier is impractical, and with increased power of the UPS it is even less worth doing this.

It is also pointless to try to wind the base windings directly on the power transformer for the sake of simplifying the circuit. In the absence of load, significant losses will occur due to the fact that the maximum current will flow into the bases of the transistors.

As the load current increases, the transformer used also increases the current in the bases of the transistors. Practice shows that when the load power reaches 75 W, saturation occurs in the magnetic circuit of the transformer. This leads to deterioration in the performance of transistors and their overheating.

To avoid this, you can wind the current transformer yourself by doubling the cross-section of the core or by folding two rings together. You can also double the diameter of the wire.

There is a way to get rid of the base transformer that performs the intermediate function. To do this, the current transformer is connected through a powerful resistor to a separate winding of the power heater, implementing a voltage feedback circuit. The disadvantage of this option is that the current transformer constantly operates in saturation mode.

The transformer cannot be connected in parallel with the choke present in the ballast converter. Due to the decrease in the total inductance, the frequency of the power supply will increase. This phenomenon will lead to increased losses in the transformer and overheating of the output rectifier transistors.

The increased sensitivity of Schottky diodes to exceeding the reverse voltage and current values should be taken into account. Trying to install, say, a 5-volt diode into a 12-volt circuit will likely result in the element failing.

Do not try to replace transistors and diodes with domestic ones, for example, KT812A and KD213. This clearly leads to deterioration in the performance of the device.

How to connect a UPS to a screwdriver

The power tool must be disassembled by unscrewing all screws. Typically, the screwdriver body consists of two halves. Next, you should find the wires that connect the engine to the battery. These wires can be connected to the UPS output using soldering or heat-shrink tubing; twisted wires are not recommended.

To enter the wire from the power supply, a hole must be made in the tool body. It is important to take measures to prevent the wire from being pulled out in the event of careless movements or accidental jerks. The simplest option is to crimp the wire inside the housing near the hole with a clip made from a short piece of soft wire folded in half (aluminum will do). Having dimensions exceeding the diameter of the hole, the clip will not allow the wire to come off and fall out of the housing in the event of a jerk.

As you can see, an energy-saving light bulb, even if it has served its intended life, can bring considerable benefits to its owner. A UPS assembled on the basis of its components can be successfully used as a source of energy for cordless power tools or a charger.

Video

This video will tell you how to assemble a power supply unit (PSU) from energy-saving lamps.

While visiting the sites of foreign homemade craftsmen, I noticed that the so-called life hacking. This literally translates as “hacking of life.” Don’t think anything bad, life hacking has nothing to do with computer hacking! This is just the name for useful tips that help people use seemingly completely unnecessary things - empty cans, PET bottles, burnt out light bulbs, damaged household appliances. They are not thrown away, but simply change their role or are used as spare parts for other useful devices. I would like to offer something similar.

Energy-saving lamps are gaining popularity. The European Union generally already prohibits the production of conventional incandescent lamps. But unfortunately, energy-saving lamps also sometimes fail. You can, of course, throw them away and forget about them. Or you can subject it to hacking. So, let’s disassemble a burnt-out energy-saving lamp. Because, as a rule, only the filaments in the bulb itself burn out, and the electronic components in the lamp base are operational with a probability of 99.9%.

To see what color the inside of an energy-saving lamp is, you need to open it. To avoid injuring your hands on the glass tubes (they are made of thin glass and can burst at any moment), wrap the flask in a plastic bag and secure it with tape. The place where the body is glued is obvious and we are trying to separate its parts using a screwdriver or a powerful knife. If you do this carefully, it will take about 2 minutes.

When the energy-saving lamp breaks into three parts, the following picture will appear to us:

As you can see, the main parts are a bulb, a board with electronic elements (radio components) and a lamp base. Now let's figure out what and how we can apply.

Energy saving lamp bulb. To be honest, I haven’t figured out what to do with it yet. The flask is a sealed glass shell coated on the inside with a phosphor. It is unlikely that it will be possible to open it painlessly. But using it as some kind of float is unreliable - it’s glass after all.

Basement. This item is already more attractive. It can be given a second life. After all, this is actually a small case, with a contact that can be screwed into any standard E27 or E14 socket.

The simplest application is to make an extension cord from this base (low-power, of course). Only it will be possible to plug it into any socket rather than into a socket. Perhaps the oldest generation remembers such devices. For some reason they were called “rogue”. This is a kind of “lamp-socket” adapter. By the way, it can be very useful in our time. Especially when traveling abroad. Since the design system of sockets may be unique and original in the country, it is not always possible to purchase or select an adapter for it, but you need to charge a mobile phone, laptop, navigator, or camera.

The author of the article clearly showed how to disassemble and what can be obtained for reuse from an old energy-saving lamp. In this way, you can “return” part of the money paid for this lamp in due time. If you manage to save the case with the base, then it can be used to make other lamps. Nowadays it is fashionable to make LED lamps with your own hands using improvised materials.

Burnt out energy saving lamp

Hi all,

Today I want to show you how you can make the most of that money you invested in an energy saving lamp by extracting its useful parts after it has burned out.

Target:

The purpose of this Instructable is to show you a source of free parts you can use for the following projects and reduce energy waste.

You can get these parts from energy saving lamps:

Capacitors
Diodes
Transistors
Reels

Required tools:

flat screwdriver or saw/cutting tool
desoldering pump
soldering iron

Please read the following text for your own safety. I don't want people to get hurt so read and please be careful.

Readme file:

Before you start, make sure the glass body of the energy-saving lamp is broken! If it is broken, you need to seal it in a bag or some kind of container to avoid exposure to the mercury inside the lamp.
Be very careful not to damage the glass and the lamp body! Do not try to open the lamp by turning the glass body or trying to break it or anything like that.
Do not try to open the lamp immediately after it has burned out. It contains a high voltage capacitor, which must perform first! Do not touch the circuit board unless you know if the capacitor remains charged or you may receive an electric shock!

I think the best advice to dispose of burnt out or broken energy saving light bulbs is to put them in a container (like a bucket with a lid or something) and keep the container in a safe place until you find a place to recycle them.
Please do not throw energy-saving lamps in the trash! Energy-saving lamps are environmentally hazardous and can harm people!

Step 2: Open the lamp housing

Disassembling an old energy-saving lamp

OK. Let's begin. Let's look at things first. Most cases are either glued or pinned together. (Mine was cut together, as are most of the other lamps I still have open.)

You should be able to open the case by prying it open with a screwdriver or by cutting it open with a saw.

In both cases you must be careful not to damage the glass body! Be very careful.

Once you have opened the case, you just need to cut the wires leading into the glass case so that you can put it in a safe place to get rid of this danger.

Step 3: Remove the PCB from the case

Sometimes the case cannot be saved.

The driver board for the energy-saving lamp is ready for wiring.

Now you need to remove the board from the case.

Be very careful not to touch the PCB with your bare hands! There is a high voltage capacitor (a large electrolytic capacitor can be seen in the photo) on the board, which could still be there! Try removing it from the circuit by cutting the stem and putting it in a safe place. (Make sure you don't touch your feet!)

Once the high voltage capacitor is removed from the board there will be nothing left to fear. Now you can begin to unsolder all useful elements.

Step 4: Unsolder all useful parts

Parts that we managed to unsolder

Now take your soldering iron and desoldering pump and spare parts.

As you can see in the picture there are a lot of useful parts on the PCB, so you should be able to assemble a large number of useful parts for your project :)

OK it's all over Now. I hope I was able to provide you with some useful tips and I hope you enjoyed my Instructable :)

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Despite the small size of energy-saving lamps, they contain many electronic components. In terms of its structure, it is an ordinary tubular fluorescent lamp with a miniature bulb, but only rolled into a spiral or other compact spatial line. It is therefore called a compact fluorescent lamp (abbreviated as CFL).

And it is characterized by all the same problems and malfunctions as large tubular light bulbs. But the electronic ballast of a light bulb that has stopped shining, most likely due to a burnt-out filament, usually remains operational. Therefore, it can be used for any purpose as a switching power supply (abbreviated as UPS), but with preliminary modification. This will be discussed further. Our readers will learn how to make a power supply from an energy-saving lamp.

What is the difference between UPS and electronic ballast

Let us immediately warn those who expect to receive a powerful power source from CFLs - it is impossible to obtain more power as a result of simply altering the ballast. The fact is that in inductors that contain cores, the working magnetization zone is strictly limited by the design and properties of the magnetizing voltage. Therefore, the pulses of this voltage created by the transistors are precisely selected and determined by the circuit elements. But such a power supply made from electronic ballasts is quite sufficient to power an LED strip. Moreover, the switching power supply from an energy-saving lamp corresponds to its power. And it can be up to 100 W.

The most common CFL ballast circuit is based on a half-bridge (inverter) circuit. This is a self-oscillator based on a TV transformer. Winding TV1-3 magnetizes the core and performs the function of a choke to limit the current through the EL3 lamp. Windings TV1-1 and TV1-2 provide positive feedback for the appearance of voltage that controls transistors VT1 and VT2. The diagram in red shows the CFL bulb with the elements that ensure its launch.

Example of a common CFL ballast circuit

All inductors and capacitances in the circuit are selected so as to obtain precisely dosed power in the lamp. The performance of transistors is related to its value. And since they do not have radiators, it is not recommended to try to get significant power from the converted ballast. The ballast transformer does not have a secondary winding from which the load is powered. This is the main difference between it and the UPS.

What is the essence of ballast reconstruction?

To be able to connect the load to a separate winding, you must either wind it on inductor L5, or use an additional transformer. Converting ballast into a UPS involves:

To further convert the electronic ballast into a power supply from an energy-saving lamp, you need to make a decision regarding the transformer:

use the existing throttle by modifying it;
or use a new transformer.

Transformer from choke

Next we will consider both options. In order to use the inductor from the electronic ballast, it must be desoldered from the board and then disassembled. If it uses an W-shaped core, it contains two identical parts that are connected to each other. In this example, orange adhesive tape is used for this purpose. It is carefully removed.

Removing the tape holding the core halves together

The core halves are usually glued together so that there is a gap between them. It serves to optimize the magnetization of the core, slowing down this process and limiting the rate of current rise. We take our pulse soldering iron and heat the core. We apply it to the soldering iron at the junction of the halves.

Having disassembled the core, we get access to the coil with the wound wire. It is not recommended to unwind the winding that is already on the reel. This will change the magnetization mode. If the free space between the core and the coil allows you to wrap one layer of fiberglass to improve the insulation of the windings from each other, you should do so. And then wind ten turns of the secondary winding with a wire of suitable thickness. Since the power of our power supply will be small, a thick wire is not needed. The main thing is that it fits on the coil, and the halves of the core are put on it.

Having wound the secondary winding, we assemble the core and secure the halves with adhesive tape. We assume that after testing the power supply it will become clear what voltage is created by one turn. After testing, we will disassemble the transformer and add the required number of turns. Typically, the modification aims to make a voltage converter with a 12 V output. This allows you to obtain a battery charger using stabilization. At the same voltage, you can make a driver for LEDs from an energy-saving lamp, and also charge a flashlight powered by a battery.

Since the transformer of our UPS will most likely have to be rewinded, it is not worth soldering it into the board. It is better to solder the wires sticking out from the board, and solder the leads of our transformer to them for the duration of testing. The ends of the secondary winding leads must be cleared of insulation and covered with solder. Then, either on a separate socket or directly at the terminals of the wound winding, you need to assemble a rectifier using high-frequency diodes according to a bridge circuit. For filtering during voltage measurement, a 1 µF 50 V capacitor is sufficient.

UPS testing

But before connecting to a 220 V network, a powerful resistor must be connected in series with our block, converted from a lamp with our own hands. This is a safety measure. If a short circuit current flows through the pulse transistors in the power supply, the resistor will limit it. In this case, a 220 V incandescent light bulb can become a very convenient resistor. In terms of power, it is enough to use a 40–100-watt lamp. If there is a short circuit in our device, the light bulb will light up.

Next, we connect the multimeter probes to the rectifier in the DC voltage measurement mode and apply 220 V to the electrical circuit with the light bulb and the power supply board. Twists and exposed live parts must be insulated first. To supply voltage, it is recommended to use a wired switch and place the light bulb in a liter jar. Sometimes they burst when turned on, and fragments scatter to the sides. Usually the tests go without problems.

More powerful UPS with separate transformer

They allow you to determine the voltage and the required number of turns. The transformer is modified, the unit is tested again, and after that it can be used as a compact power source, which is much smaller than an analogue based on a conventional 220 V transformer with a steel core.

To increase the power of the power source, you need to use a separate transformer, made similarly from a choke. It can be extracted from a higher power light bulb that has burned out completely along with the semiconductor ballast products. The basis is the same circuit, which differs by connecting an additional transformer and some other parts shown in red lines.

The rectifier shown in the image contains fewer diodes compared to the bridge rectifier. But for its operation it will require more turns of the secondary winding. If they do not fit into the transformer, a rectifier bridge must be used. A more powerful transformer is made, for example, for halogen lamps. Anyone who has used a regular transformer for a lighting system with halogens knows that they are powered by a fairly large current. Therefore, the transformer turns out to be bulky.

If transistors are placed on radiators, the power of one power supply can be significantly increased. And in terms of weight and dimensions, even several of these UPSs for working with halogen lamps will be smaller and lighter than one transformer with a steel core of equal power. Another option for using functional housekeeper ballasts would be to reconstruct them for an LED lamp. Converting an energy-saving lamp into an LED design is very simple. The lamp is disconnected, and a diode bridge is connected instead.

A certain number of LEDs are connected at the bridge output. They can be connected to each other in series. It is important that the LED current is equal to the current in the CFL. Energy-saving light bulbs can be called a valuable mineral in the era of LED lighting. They can be used even after their service life has expired. And now the reader knows the details of this application.

I bought 10 W 900 lm warm white LEDs on AliExpress to try. The price in November 2015 was 23 rubles per piece. The order arrived in a standard bag, I checked everything was in good order.

To power LEDs in lighting devices, special units are used - electronic drivers, which are converters that stabilize the current rather than the voltage at their output. But since the drivers for them (I also ordered on AliExpreess) were still on the way, I decided to power them from ballast from energy-saving lamps. I've had several of these faulty lamps. whose filament in the bulb burned out. As a rule, the voltage converter for such lamps is working properly, and it can be used as a switching power supply or LED driver.
We disassemble the fluorescent lamp.

For the conversion, I took a 20 W lamp, the choke of which can easily deliver 20 W to the load. For a 10W LED, no further modifications are required. If you plan to power a more powerful LED, you need to take a converter from a more powerful lamp, or install a choke with a larger core.
Installed jumpers in the lamp ignition circuit.

I wound 18 turns of enamel wire around the inductor, solder the terminals of the wound winding to the diode bridge, apply mains voltage to the lamp and measure the output voltage. In my case, the unit produced 9.7V. I connected the LED through an ammeter, which showed a current passing through the LED of 0.83A. My LED has an operating current of 900mA, but I reduced the current to increase the resource. I assembled the diode bridge on the board using a hinged method.

Remodeling scheme.