Alex writes –
“Here’s the schematic, it works as a voltage converter to draw just 20mA from a 1.5V cell to light that white LED. The term ‘Joule Thief’ is used because the circuit will work from a cell which would otherwise be considered spent. I found that if the batteries in my Gamecube Wavebird controller stopped working, the same “spent” batteries will quite happily run this torch for a couple of weeks. Continuously.” – Link.
Related:
- HOW TO – Make a Joule thief – Link.
12 thoughts on “The Joule Thief (or just another white LED torch)”
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This is a great idea to make them for all the dead Batt. you have around!
Big Clive has a joule thief which is tiny enough to fit in the case of an old torch bulb!
http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/joule.htm
I should have checked the HOW TO link at the bottom of this post, as it already mentions Clive’s circuit. Whoops! :D
That image reminds me: I found a ghetto way to make a “circuit board” with friendly plastic and copper wire. When the plastic is still soft–or after you’ve softened it with a lighter (actually a hot air blower would be ideal)–you can press wire or components into it. Using this method you could make both the battery case and the board for small projects.
The Web site mentioned in this article has moved… http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/alxsmith/HowTo/011JouleThief.html
New Link is: http://www.alxsmith.talktalk.net/HowTo/011JouleThief.html