Since you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably heard of “joule thief” circuits – a clever way to boost a low voltage – that allow an LED to run on the last little bit of juice in an otherwise dead battery. It’s possible, however, that you’ve never actually built one, perhaps because you may not keep the appropriate tubular ferrite bead around, or know exactly how to wire it up. Or maybe you don’t have a good AA battery holder, or one of a million other reasons.
Whatever that reason is, if you want to try your hand at LED lighting from waste (or new) batteries, then this “Easy Joule Thief Soldering Kit” is your ticket to luminescence. The base of the device is a PCB designed in KiCAD, and manufactured by OSH Park, both of which are staples here at Tindie, and explicit assembly instructions are available on Instructables.
The kit includes a transistor, resistor, and ferrite bead, along with a 10mm white LED (which can be subbed out if you so desire) and AA battery clips. You’ll just need to supply a soldering iron and other simple tools, along with a bit of actual solder and a battery to get things working.
Of course, this isn’t the only energy thief available on Tindie. I talked about a few options some time ago here, and the LiTTLe Thief night light looks like a lot of fun!
