How to make an authentic Joule Thief.

Comments · 1.4K

• AD

  @adzib1823 · 9 years ago

  I don't think I'll ever work out how he holds about 5 things at once, his dexterity game is on point

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• RO

  @RobertAhrens52 · 11 years ago

  Hi Clive.  I have been soldering for 50 years and I am impressed each time with the dexterity you show with your left hand.  I wish I had seen these videos back when I was in high school - they would have inspired me to strive for such skill myself.  Thank you for your wonderful videos.  They are most interesting and educational!

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• AN

  @AndrewWood_UK · 11 years ago

  And suddenly the penny drops, electronics components that seemed to be unfathomable, even magic to me, especially transistors now seem fathomable with this fantastically simple yet amazingly useful circuit. Thank you very much Clive.

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• SC

  @scottk3292 · 3 years ago

  This looks very similar to a circuit which uses inductance to increase voltage from a battery, somehow piling the inductor discharge on top of the battery voltage.  I really love that Clive teaches this stuff.  The part I have trouble understanding is the back-flow surge from the transistor.  It seems like a lot of what I'll call side-effects of electronics become really useful design ingredients.  Very simple, really cool, and yet still a little elusive for full understanding.

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• AR

  @arcadeuk · 11 years ago

  Impressive, didn't realise you were the man behind the joule thief name

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• BI

  @binaryglitch64 · 8 years ago

  Wow... I feel slow I knew Clive Mitchell was responsible for the name and I knew I watched a YouTube channel that I always read as big-c-live... 'C' live really self, really? Clive! dumba$$... wow I feel slow. Well Clive it's an honor to finally realize who you are.

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• SU

  @Suesses-Einhorn · 6 years ago

  As a kid i somehow found your homepage and made a joule thief myself. I fiddled myself a whole lot of pocket lights with it. The smallest uset a printbutton and a single cell from a 9V battery (I have it to this day). This brought me into electronics, because i could make a very useful thing myself, and i tried to understand the circuit. Very good work!

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• CR

  @crocellian2972 · 9 years ago (edited)

  You never cease to amaze me. I had no idea you put the name to it. On climbing trips, I collected everyone's dead batteries to use in my head lamp. Under false environmentalism, I don't recall buying a battery for years.

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• OM

  @omniverideus · 3 years ago

  Kudos on the name! "Joule Thief" really did take off,  it stuck really well in education; was as mnemonic to me as  the "Op-Amp" and "555 Timer" when I was learning electronics 20 years back.

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• GE

  @gertbenade3082 · 4 years ago

  Suddenly three decades (or more!) of memories comes flooding back in. Everyday & Practical Electronics was what I grew up with until it became too expensive for the importers to bring to South Africa. Thank you Clive! Keep up the good work!

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• JE

  @JerryEricsson · 9 years ago

  I think I finally understand how to build this, which is a good thing, as back in SD I have several failures laying in boxes and about a dozen or so ferite cores taken from old pc power supplies that I have torn down most have had the wire removed from them, and I also have a small shipping box filled with various sizes of laquered copper wire from the same teardowns.  Thanks a  million. For some reason I have it in my old brain that if I can just learn something new, every day, then I may well keep going with a whole mind till the end of my days.  Being 65 now, and still thinking with a relaivly clear mind and watching my 90 year old mother still playing Pinocle with the best of them gives me hope.  The fact that dad passed away at age 63 does worry me a bit, but it was the booze that took him, and I  try to avaoid that at all costs.  So thanks again, for keeping me educated, and in that process young at heart.

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• MC

  @MCgranat999 · 4 years ago

  For some reason I&apos;m flooded with your videos form 6 years ago.<br>I&apos;m not complaining but it feels weird when I can see the change in your setup but your voice is exactly the same.

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