Joule Thief circuits have been around for a while, but I wanted to add a couple of things in the mix. Firstly it needed to be able to run from old "dead" batteries as per the classic Joule Thief. I also wanted to have the possibility of recharging a NiMH battery as the DC power source using a small solar panel. It needed to be breadboard friendly for prototyping.

The biggest single requirement was for a stable voltage output with a current large enough to reliably run a small AVR such as an ATTiny13.

After several development cycles and testing, there is now a PCB that meets all of these requirements.

Together with the parts provided, this PCB is easily assembled and can be used for projects that required minimal power. Depending on application, the PCB can either run for days on a "dead" single AA battery, or alternatively run during the night after recharging with an attached solar panel (not included in the kit).

What you get in the kit:

• 1 x Stable Joule Thief Breadboard Friendly PCB
• 1 x QX5252 ASIC Solar IC
• 1 x 330uH radial inductor
• 1 x 1N5817 Schottky Diode
• 1 x 5V1 Zener Diode
• 1 x 47uF electrolytic capacitor
• 1 x 10kΩ SMD resistor
• 1 x 100nF SMD capacitor
• 8 pin female header
• 12 pin male header

Please note that as of May 2020 international airfreight has effectively ceased from Australia and so I will only be taking domestic orders until this situation has resolved.

If you are overseas and wish to register an interest please contact me and I will let you know when the freight situation resolves.

Until then please stay safe everyone.