Joule thief upgraded
After seeing some new surface mount LEDs in the Rapid Electronics catalogue I tried one on my Joule Thief circuit. With an ebay special ping-pong ball as a diffiser it spreads a serious amount of light, almost TOO much for a night light!
I took the opportunity to make the board easier (more pupil-proof actually) to build and also added bigger pads for the SM led. At the same time I put three holes and track to suit a minature slide switch for on/off.
Its a remarkable little project with endless scope….