It can increase the voltage of a power source by changing the constant low voltage signal into a series of rapid pulses at a higher voltage. A conventional joule thief, showing components and how they are connected. Its input is connected to the middle point of variable resistive voltage divider placed between the regulated supply voltage and the common ground node. Also, the electronics has to be removed from the cfl so that the joule thief circuit is powering the fluorescent tubes directly. In the november 1999 issue of epe everyday practical electronics, a small and intriguing circuit was published in the ingenuity unlimited section by z. I chose the older, more compact version, and it was easy and fun to build. May 29, 2014 after finishing the original joule thief, i have created the additional circuit, which controls the output voltage. Joule thief kit this kit is a version of the popular joule thief circuit, it uses power that would normally be wasted from used aa batteries to power a bank of 6 hi brightness white leds. That third coil and the cfl are the only additions to the regular joule thief circuit. Its an easy toy circuit to demonstrate an electronics principle and it can even be useful for producing a small amount of light from a dead battery a joule thief will keep running right the way down to. Its primary intent is to squeeze the remaining juice of dying batteries to light a led. The two components shown in grey in the schematic are there to protect leds that might have an inbuilt circuit from ex cessive voltage, such as single colour. Today i am showing you how to make a very simple joule thief. With a couple of extra components, you can take your joule thief to the next level.
A simple blocking oscillator circuit can be used to step up voltage using properties of coil inductance v l didt. The joule thief makes a great little light for field day, night light, camping light, and even one missionary intends to use them in africa. Get the last bit of life from those supposedly dead batteries. Experiment with joule thief circuit do it easy with scienceprog. The circuit designed by steve can be seen in the above figure, which is a modified variant of a joule thief circuit based on blocking oscillator principle. Keep in mind also that most modern high energy density batteries do not tolerate a very deep discharge and would be damaged if left on an joule thief circuit to the. The circuit diagram for a joule thief is shown on the right. A suitable driver transistor, like the 2sd965, 2sc2500, 2sc2655 must be used. The joule thief as designed seems to be a power circuit to use the energy in a battery to drive a small load like an led.
Joule thief pcb, 1x 3mm led kit contains white, c1. In this mode, an lc network can be seen operating with the base of the bjt which you usually wont find in regular blocking oscillator designs. The normal joule thief circuit has only two coils, but as you can see in the above circuit diagram, this one has three. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. The joule thief is the simply way of driving a led, it relies solely on the high voltage inductive kickback and will burn out the led over time as these spikes can be in the hundreds of volts. Pdf the alternative energy such as battery as power source is.
A joule thief has many applications, the best gadget that i made with was a water powered lamp, soon im going to post on a guide about it but first i need to post this guide. To improve the performance of the joule thief circuit for larger power requirements, the use of a ferrite toroid with a larger diameter or more winding can be proposed together. Circuit diagram for jeannas light variation of joule. The joule thief circuit is a voltage booster circuit which converts a constant low. If you arent familiar with the infamous joule thief, check out weekend projects with bre. The pdf file that goes with the podcast is here 450 kb pdf file so whatsa joule thief. This circuit can be most often seen lighting an led with an almost dead aa battery. Joule thief detailed construction north fulton amateur radio league. Feb 18, 2015 the joule thief as designed seems to be a power circuit to use the energy in a battery to drive a small load like an led.
One of the penlites is going to be replaced by the joule thief. See more ideas about joule thief, electronics projects and arduino projects. Mitchells newer circuit is essentially the same as kaparniks older circuit, except for component values. Joule thief circuit how to make and circuit explanation. From left to right, top to bottom you see all the components used in the led circuit. It is based on the use of bipolar transistor schmitt trigger. This circuit is also known by other names such as joule thief circuit, blocking oscillator, joule ringer.
This circuit used in this project is a modified joule thief. This is probably the 1001 flashlight with a joule thief, but then again this is mine. The joule thief circuit is a voltage booster circuit which converts a constant low voltage input into a periodic output of a higher voltage. The switch allows me to switch between the conventional joule thief and the supercharged joule thief. Theres also one change and thats to change the normal low power transistor for a power transistor. This circuit boosts the peltzier output up to 14 volts by. Mosfetbased joule thief steps up voltage use arduino for. Such a circuit is shown in figure 1, which is more commonly called a joule thief. You might find this kinda driver in the cheap noname chinese garden lights with a solar panel on top.
The output voltage of joule thief circuit can be adjusted to the led load and it does not cause damage to the leds. The kaparnik schematic showed a resistor value of 10k. Oct, 20 the joule thief is the simply way of driving a led, it relies solely on the high voltage inductive kickback and will burn out the led over time as these spikes can be in the hundreds of volts. I assembled my joule thief in about 45 minutes, and i was taking my time. Its a little wisp of a circuit that allows you to drive a. This cool sounding circuit is astonishingly simple just a coil which you could wind yourself, a resistor, and a transistor. To improve the performance of the joulethief circuit for larger power requirements, the use of a ferrite toroid with a larger diameter or more winding can be proposed together. Make a joule thief this weekend, make a super little circuit called the joule thief. Joule thief circuits, crude to modern it seems that many joule thief circuits depend on a clunky bulky and heavy toroid or donut that has to be carefully wound with copper wire. The instructions were thorough and easy to understand. It was a very small implementation of a typical transformer feedback single transistor invertor.
Sep 07, 2018 friends in this video i will show you how to run 18 led by a single 1. This circuit is a variant of the joule thief in that it contains 2 transistors and a simple standard 2 lead inductor instead of a hand wound 2 wire inductor. Aluminiumair batteries are also interesting they can be made from throwaway materials. But now there are several very small 4 legged ics available that do the job using only a simple induc. Although this circuit is low power, it produces enough light to be a usable torch. It takes a steady low voltage signal and converts it into a series of high frequency pulses at a higher voltage. Mr karparnik wound his coil with just a short length of wire, making just a few turns on a tiny, scavenged toroid. The components required are a npn transistor, a 1k. Pdf joulethief circuit performance for electricity energy saving. Its an easy toy circuit to demonstrate an electronics principle and it can even be useful for producing a small amount of light from a dead battery a joule thief will keep running right the way down to about 0. The joule thief doesnt care about that, its going to take whatever juice is in that battery, and jack it up to 3 volts with this circuit. A joule thief is a circuit that allows you to use the energy the joules still left inside a battery that is dead. While this circuit isnt particularly useful other than draining dead batteries, its a good starting point for building more advanced circuits powered by a joule thief.
You can use a fresh aa battery, but the circuit is special in that it accepts empty batteries. High efficiency regulated joule thief use arduino for. Dec 04, 2011 to make a joule thief battery charger is a quick and easy project. Joule thief circuit is popular among electronics enthusiasts. In this weeks weekend projects video podcast, make magazines bre pettis and i show you how to make a joule thief. See more ideas about joule thief, electronics projects and diy electronics.
Pdf joulethief circuit performance for electricity energy. A ferrite toroid is wound to form a coil with primary white and feedback green windings. Joulethief circuit testing is made from several part of components in circuits. Most joule thief circuit schematic specify the use of 1 or 2 coil. Mar 10, 2012 a highpower joule thief type circuit to drive a 1watt led from a 1. Its not a complex circuit, but it really doesnt need the 2n3904 after it. Experiment with joule thief circuit do it easy with. Friends in this video i will show you how to run 18 led by a single 1.
High efficiency regulated joule thief use arduino for projects. Aug 15, 2017 a joule thief is a simple voltage booster circuit. The joule thief makes a great little light for field day, night light, camping. This tree may be small in stature, but its featurerich. Technically it may seem impossible to illuminate a 3. A highpower joule thief type circuit to drive a 1watt led from a 1. It produces a similar amount of light as the led torch on a smartphone. Heres a joule thief powering a compact fluorescent lightbulb cfl by adding an extra coil of wire to the toroid core. Joule thief circuit powering a compact fluorescent lightbulb. Since a pile of dying batteries keeps growing, i decided to give it a try. To make a joule thief battery charger is a quick and easy project. Question 1 instead of using a transformer or winding a toroid coil. The multivibrator output is taken from the collector of transistor q2. Flashlight with joule thief electronic circuit projects.
It has many implementations but probably most common is very minimalist voltage booster based on npn transistor, coil, resistor, and led. Is it possible to use ready made inductor, those that look like surface mount resistor. The circuit oscillates automatically and it generates a much higher voltage than that of the supply. Download ltspice iv and then load white led circuit joule thief schematic. After finishing the original joule thief, i have created the additional circuit, which controls the output voltage. After boot, the micro takes control of the joule thief circuit and milks it whenever the voltage falls below 3. The joule thief is a fascinating and simple circuit that is able to produce a usable voltage from a low voltage source. Patent 3783550 novelty electric motor by roger wayne andrews, jan 8, 1974 includes what amounts to the joule thief circuit, but instead of using a battery it gets the transistor base drive from a magnet moving past a coil. I was looking for a simple voltage boost circuit for one of my projects, when i came across a circuit called the joule thief. A single aluminiumair cell cannot produce a large enough voltage to drive an led, thats where the joule thief comes in. A joule thief circuit is basically an efficient, selfoscillating voltage booster circuit, built using a single transistor, resistor and an inductor, which can boost voltages as low as 0. Joule resurrection circuit may be defined as a boost mode switching supply circuit which is powered by a drained battery.
Easy joule thief soldering kit from makersbox on tindie. However, the led appears to be constantly lit to the human eye due to the persistence effect. In the circuit diagram for the joule thief, the common point of the toroid is the connection at the top of the handwound ferrite toroid, in the upper right of the diagram. Joule thief questions on the transformer inductor all. Pdf joulethief circuit performance for electricity. If you need a regulated positive output voltage from a 1. A joule thief is a selfoscillating voltage booster. The joule thief circuit is very, very simple, using just one transistor, one resistor and one coil. Joule thug a joule thief bug bacteriophage hackaday.
The name joule thief is coined by clive mitchell and a tutorial is. The same reason goes for regulating the output voltage. Here is how a basic joule thief works, step by step. It turns out that theres a strong similarity between the joule thief circuit and some motor circuits. Jul 8, 2016 circuit diagram for jeannas light variation of joule thief circuit. Joule thief led night light juneau economic development. None of these parameters would require a 1 ghz oscillator. Many variation in the prototype is applied by changing the number of windings and the t ype of transistor. There seems to be several variations of this nifty little circuit on the. The peaks in voltage occur rapidly, causing the led to flash at a very fast rate. Science project joule thief circuit made from cfl lamp.
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