Joule Thief Circuit. 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. A joule thief is a simple voltage booster circuit.
In effect the 4 legged ic replaces the clunky toroid. A joule thief is a minimalist self oscillating voltage booster that is small low cost and easy to build typically used for driving small loads. 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.
In effect the 4 legged ic replaces the clunky toroid.
But now there are several very small 4 legged ics available that do the job using only a simple inductor single cell battery and a led. It can use nearly all of the energy in a single cell electric battery even far below the voltage where other circuits consider the battery fully discharged. A joule thief circuit is basically an efficient self oscillating voltage booster circuit built using a single transistor resistor and an inductor which can boost voltages as low as 0 4 v from any dead aaa 1 5 cell to much higher levels. A joule thief is a minimalist self oscillating voltage booster that is small low cost and easy to build typically used for driving small loads.