Joule thief

[rawriano]

Hello, I'm making a joule thief and I want for someone to take a look if I've done the windings correctly. Thanks!

 

[(*steve*)]

Maybe.

"correct" means a number of things. In terms of the tapped winding it seems correct (you have kept the winding going in the same direction)

As to whether the core is OK, the number of turns is correct, or whether you will wire it into the circuit correctly, none of that can be easily determined.

 

[rawriano]

I did this somewhat by looking at a tutorial. And would a slightly bigger core would have any effect on it?

 

[(*steve*)]

The core is likely to be the least of your problems, unless you're operating at high currents. It looks like a pretty big code and I've seen joule thiefs (thieves?) with tiny inductors.

 

[rawriano]

Ah, well okay then. Also two more last questions. What would happen if I wounded my primary and secondary in different directions and what would be a good way to remove the enamel from the wire? I tried burning it off but still doesn't seem conductive.

 

[(*steve*)]

If one of the coils is wound the "wrong" way, you simply swap over the ends in your circuit.

It doesn't matter whether you wind the coil with turns going one way or the other. However if you have 2 coils they may need to be wound the same way or opposite ways. It's not at all uncommon to see advice which reads "If the circuit doesn't operate, swap over the leads to inductor X".

I can see you've tried burning off the enamel. It may be easier to scrape it off with a sharp craft knife or use some emery paper (fold it over, place it on the wire and pull it off the wire. Repeat until shiny.) After you've removed the insulating coating, tin the ends of the wire.

 

[rawriano]

Alright, thanks!