On 12/17/2010 01:32 PM, Harvey Norris wrote: > [...] Unfortunately the choice > of a neon bulb may not satisfy that criteria, so the circuits are being > re-engineered to show ferrite incandescence as a load.
Depends on whether you're just trying to fool people, or actually trying to measure something. If you're trying to measure something, a static load -- like a big power resistor -- and a power meter measuring how much it's actually consuming would be a plausible choice. If you don't have a power meter, a simple resistive load with a digital scope across it would be a reasonable first step, with current computed from the voltage and resistance. Of course you need something equivalent at the front end, so you actually know, for sure, how much power's really being drawn from your power supply -- in short, you need measured power in, and measured power out. (Power, not just voltage.) And, of course, you need to measure the drain at the supply, not at some intermediate point in the circuit; otherwise cute effects like inductive coupling may be overlooked. Once you've got real power measurements of some sort which show something interesting, then you can start wondering about making more *precise* measurements and seeing if the effect holds up. And once you've got actual power numbers, showing total power drawn from your supply is less than power going into the load, then watching your videos will be an interesting exercise. But lighting a lightbulb or just measuring voltages is kind of useless for showing anything about power out versus power in. In short, it shows *nothing* -- it's like Newman's trick of showing his motor could pump water, but never saying how much power that required. It's, like, so what? (I guess, really, all I've done is echo what Fran said, using more words.)
