How To Make a 3 Penny Battery. Vampire Flashlight. The Joule Thief (Wikipedia) is a well-known “instant gratification” hobby circuit that uses just a handful of components to pull off a pretty impressive parlor trick — using a single 1.5V battery, the Joule Thief can light a high-voltage blue or white LED that normally requires 3.5V or greater to turn on.
Even more impressive, it can do so using a battery that is so drained of energy as to be counted “dead” for almost all other purposes. I have not measured this value myself, but it is commonly claimed that a Joule Thief can light a white LED from a battery with an open-circuit voltage as low as 0.6. Even a new 1.5V battery will not light a white LED by itself.
The fresh AA cell to left had an open-circuit voltage of 1.62 right before I connected it. At least 3 volts, for instance from the two AAA cells shown to right, are needed to turn the LED on. Give Dead Batteries Another Life with the Vampire Flashlight. We’ve all been there: You attempt to power up a project and it just won’t start.
You grab for your multimeter to examine the voltage of each battery, and there’s always that one culprit that isn’t exactly “dead” but simply doesn’t have enough juice to be viable any longer. You could recycle it, but what if there was a project that could still squeeze every little ounce of power out of the “dead” battery and also provide you with a useful tool? Enter the joule thief circuit and the Vampire Flashlight project. With just a few common components, combined with a toroid that can be salvaged from junk electronics or purchased new, you can build your own flashlight that squeezes a bit more life from all your exhausted batteries. Even a fresh battery with full-charge won’t light “high flux” LEDs, and yet “dead” batteries will with a little ingenuity. Maker Juan Garcia saw the project and decided to first breadboard the circuit to test it: And the real-world application?
Related. Advanced Air Saltwater Battery Set. Air/ Saltwater battery. Air Battery or Saltwater battery. Air Battery Make a battery that works with air and saltwater Introduction: We all know that the world is now facing an energy crisis and everyone is trying to do something about that.
Now you can show everyone that electrical energy or electricity can be made from air and saltwater. After all, both the air and the saltwater are freely available everywhere. These are the two things that we have plenty of them. The concept is easy. I don’t know if this method of producing electricity is economical and cost effective. No mater what is the results, I am proud that I can make an emergency battery for myself if I need it. It took me a long time to make the first working battery using the salt water; however, you don’t have to waste that much time. List of materials: Additional optional materials you may use: A wooden board to mount the miniature base (light holder) Plastic container about 4" x 4" x 4" Hydrogen Peroxide Procedure: How can I get more light? Note: Steel is about 98% iron. Make a Joule Thief. Ferrite Toroids / Ferrite Rings. Weekend Projects with Bre Pettis: Make a Joule Thief. In this week’s Weekend Projects video podcast, Make Magazine’s Bre Pettis and I show you how to make a Joule Thief.
The PDF file that goes with the podcast is here (450 kB PDF file). So whatsa Joule Thief? It’s a little wisp of a circuit that allows you to drive a blue or white LED from a low voltage. Normally, if you want to light up a blue or white LED you need to provide it with 3 – 3.5 V, like from a 3 V lithium coin cell. But a 1.5 V battery like a AA cell simply will not work. The original site where we learned about the Joule thief shows you how to make a miniature version of this circuit, such that you can fit it in a tiny flashlight. After the jump, some detailed photos of how the coil is wound in case you need more detail than in the video. It’s a little hard to see through my fingers in the video, so here’s the detailed view of the coil and winding your own. To wind your own coil, start with two colors of insulated wire and a bare ferrite toroid. Clip the wire leads down. Make a Joule Thief – Weekend Projects Video Podcast. Check out my salt water battery.
Aluminum Can, Saltwater and Charcoal Battery. We'll need: An aluminum can.
I use a soda can.A piece of sandpaper. I happen to have some sticky sandpaper for a sanding block. Very convenient. This is used to remove the surface treatments from the can. Britta disposable filtersAquarium filter charcoal1 gallon plastic garbage bagRolling pin or short piece of pipe for crushing charcoalDuck Tape - That's right its called Duck Tape, not Duct Tape. Some copper wire or copper mesh. I am using copper mesh and foil from K&S Metals to obtain connectivity. Hammer.