Joule Thief

[TinselKoala]

Beauty!

I think you have a commercially viable product there, Bill, and you should go for it, get rich! Seriously, man, look at what that fellow telsatronix (iirc) did with Slayer's exciter. Before he knew what hit him he had thirtysix thousand dollars worth of orders.

[Pirate88179]

Beauty!

I think you have a commercially viable product there, Bill, and you should go for it, get rich! Seriously, man, look at what that fellow telsatronix (iirc) did with Slayer's exciter. Before he knew what hit him he had thirtysix thousand dollars worth of orders.

Thanks TK.  The surplus boards are cheap enough but, I only have 11 of them left and who knows how many goldmine actually has on hand?  Even though the boards are cheap, and the box is only a few bucks, by the time you add the neos for the battery holder and universal connectors, and the LOA bulbs (which I would use in a commercial version) and the switch, it adds up.

I have no desire to be rich but, some extra money for supplies and gadgets would be a nice thing.

Thanks,

Bill

[TinselKoala]

Take a look at teslatronix's process. He is selling kits at all levels, from just circuit boards, to parts packages, to completed boards, all the way to the high-priced fully completed units.
If you design a PC board with the necessary circuit you could get them made in bulk for cheap, then sell parts kits or whatever level of completion you like. Let the customer supply the LED bulb and the box! Or make-to-order the highpriced fully completed units.
The advantage of the Goldmine boards is that you have a really cheap and easy source for the components, but even if you have to source the parts on the commercial market they will still be cheap if you can buy in bulk.

[Pirate88179]

Take a look at teslatronix's process. He is selling kits at all levels, from just circuit boards, to parts packages, to completed boards, all the way to the high-priced fully completed units.
If you design a PC board with the necessary circuit you could get them made in bulk for cheap, then sell parts kits or whatever level of completion you like. Let the customer supply the LED bulb and the box! Or make-to-order the highpriced fully completed units.
The advantage of the Goldmine boards is that you have a really cheap and easy source for the components, but even if you have to source the parts on the commercial market they will still be cheap if you can buy in bulk.

TK:

Hmmmmm....I had not considered the kit approach.  I just figured that I could never compete with the Chinese circuits already built into products. (Like my 3" Plasma Globe in my last video....$6.00!!!)  The circuit board would be easy, if I can find a source for those small transformers...just the transfo, the transistor and a resistor.  A kit might not be a bad way to go here.  Thanks.

Why have you not done this already with some of your excellent projects?  Heck, I know I would buy some.

Thanks,

Bill

[goku_092966]

Thanks to this forum, i have modified the two LEd lanterns with JT circuit. The gutted CFL is powered using a flash circuit from a film camera. Disposable cameras are scarce here so I looked around for some film cameras at a Japan surplus store.