Joule Thief Surplus Flash Circuit Lights
These are two JT lights I made utilizing a no name surplus flash circuit I obtained from Electronics Goldmine for $.69 each (US). These boards were designed for an AA battery and appear to be almost as good (not quite) as the AA Fuji boards, which I find very hard to find around here anymore. These look very similar to a Kodak board but I did not find any matching schematics. Hacking these boards turned out to be simple. Just make sure to discharge the large cap prior to modification by using an insulated handled tool. These boards put out high voltage so, if you do not know what you are doing, do NOT attempt this at all. The high voltage can cause serious injury or death.
More information at Overunity.com in the Joule Thief topic area. So, this is very cheap to make: $.69 for circuit board, $7.00 for the 27 chip Lights Of America LED bulb, $2.00 for the box and a little wire, an on-off switch, some neos and a little paint. They operates on free “dead” depleted batteries and put out a lot of light for a very long time. Avast.
PS The LOA bulbs do not require gutting or modification.