Joule Thief Circuit. 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. 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.
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. Hence the name which suggests the notion that the circuit is stealing energy or joules from. This circuit is also known by other names such as blocking oscillator joule ringer vampire torch.
A joule thief is a simple voltage booster circuit.
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. Hence the name which suggests the notion that the circuit is stealing energy or joules from. 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. 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.
