The bedini rejuvenator

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JustSomeDude
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Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:41 pm

The bedini rejuvenator

Post by JustSomeDude » Sun Sep 16, 2012 1:45 pm

Hello

Some time ago I was trying to revive my nicad battery pack and stumbled over your schematics for battery rejuvenator, circuit seemed easy even to me (I'm not really good at that stuff), so it took a while till I got all the needed parts but I did finally and built one according to the simple circuit posted in here. Only thing was that in one schematic the resistor was 10 ohm and in another 680 ohm so I decided to get a 1k logarithmic pot instead and just try it all the way around. But what I decided to bother you about is that I can't get it to work. It's built exactly as the circuit only difference being the pot, 1N4148 diode instead of 1N914, poorly wound welding rod core coil, my soldering iron is dead so everything is just hooked up and it's connected to the old nicad battery pack for testing. So if you have any suggestions on what could be wrong, maybe you had some problems with it too and know what it might be, or pretty much anything you can suggest, I'd be really grateful. here is the pic of the (poor) setup.

Image

techman
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Re: The bedini rejuvenator

Post by techman » Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:46 am

Use the proper diode. Bedini suggests following his schematic perfectly in your first build. Is there a diode on the collector of the transistor and going to the charging battery? If not, please add one there as well. Double check all of your wires with the schematic.

Maybe your coil wires are backwards? Make sure. The trigger and power coil have to be connected in the proper way. It is important to make sure they work together instead of against eachother.

Make sure your wheel spins freely. Give it a spin by hand. If it spins very nice and loosely then it should be fine. If not, I have sometimes sat watching TV while oiling, cleaning and spinning my wheel for a few hours until it gets free.

Also put your resistor to a very low setting or even to 0 while adjusting at first. Try to also move the coil closer or farther away from the magnets. Give the wheel a good, hard spin and try adjusting the coil spacing to see it it makes any difference.

If none of these points work for you, please let me know. Do not give up, I always got mine to work eventually.

JustSomeDude
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:41 pm

Re: The bedini rejuvenator

Post by JustSomeDude » Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:45 pm

Thank you for the advice, I tried following your tips simplest to hardest and as it turned out coil was too far from magnets. Moved it about 5 mm closer and it went on like a charm. Left it overnight and it was not spinning in the morning, investigated a little and resistance track was melted in the pot, apparently need to get a higher power rating one, or maybe just 2-3 watt resistor set 100-1000 ohms. Also your tip about the diodes got me thinking for a while and then I realized you referred to the two battery setup (first picture on your SSG page) but for starters I tried the single battery one (third picture on the page), immediately after success I wanted to rebuild it to the next in complexity schematic but I couldn't find 1N4001 diodes in the only components shop around. Do you think I could use 1N4007 diodes in both places instead? Your coil also seems quite a bit bigger than mine, how many wounds do you have on it, or did you just use the lower gauge wire? And the last question I got is how long did you find out it takes to revive a battery from lets say 10V? If at any point I get too annoying with question do hint and I'll try to get a bit better at researching stuff online instead :D

techman
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Re: The bedini rejuvenator

Post by techman » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:34 pm

I have also burnt out a few Pots as well. Dont always know why, but use a higher wattage one.

Depending on which of my machines you are referring to, the one that follows the Bedini schematic has about 850 winds of wire. The little one made of scrap, who knows whats in the relay coil. Just used it and it worked.

Try the 4007s and let me know how it works. Change nothing at all but that first and see what happens.

Battery restore time depends on a lot of factors. The size of your machine, its output, the battery condition and battery size. It is just not possible to estimate. Some batteries take me a day or two and others take months. Large, high amp batteries take a very long time. Little alarm type batteries charge pretty fast. But do not be discouraged to see it take a few days to weeks. And sometimes you may want to take it off the charger as it reaches higher voltages and let it rest a few hours. Then discharge it a little with a small 15 watt car light bulb. Repeat this for a few cycles or until the battery no longer increases in voltage. This is called "conditioning" the battery.

The more often you cycle a battery, the more capacity it gains as well. It can also have more capacity than off the shelf when new. A brand new battery starts to build up sulfate right away before you buy it.

Happy to hear you got it working anyway.

I never tire of helping people. No problem. That is the purpose of this forum.

JustSomeDude
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Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:41 pm

Re: The bedini rejuvenator

Post by JustSomeDude » Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:43 am

Back with some updates and some questions :D

Well first thing is that apparently 1N4148 diodes (lower current leakage version of 1N914) works just fine in place of 1N4001.

Also I did get the size fever and slapped another bigger bifillar coil to the setup with both wires being power lines, so long works fine, except that apparently at that only electronics shop in the country they didn't think a wattage rating was important for pots so I have to simulate pot with bunch of regular resistors.

Now about the questions:

How important do you think it is for winds to be in a near vicinity of 850? Because I had no means of counting them so could be anywhere from 800 to 1300, upper limit being more likely. Do you think it will have any negative effects?

Also I did try recharging regular AA and 9V block batteries, worked perfectly, 9V one is now holding stable 10.4V. But that road brought me eventually to Li-Ions, I haven't tried that yet because I know they are a whole new fruit, but I thought maybe you tried and have some experience with that?

techman
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Re: The bedini rejuvenator

Post by techman » Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:31 pm

Great to hear about your success. Sorry it took me a few days to respond. I was away for the weekend.

The amount of turns on the coil doesnt necessarily need to be precise as long as the thing runs well. I have no idea how many turns are on my coils. John Bedini posted the rules so that people could make one that worked the first time and no longer complain that he was a fake. After you get it running, its a free for all.

But keep track of your changes and results with each change. I have made many changes only to regret it later and not remember exactly how to get it back how it was.

Li-ions are touchy critters. They sometimes have circuitry inside them to protect from overcharging and fast discharge. This may interfere with your radiant energy charging. But if the battery is bad anyway, I say why not.

I have a few that I want to try one day soon. From the rechargeable power tools.

Please let me know how things go. And especially if you start recharging the li-ions. I know they can be recharged in theory, but just havent tried it yet.

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