High Voltage Joule Thief Circuit Lighting a 250V Neon Bulb

I was asked if I could modify one of my Joule Thief circuits to light a 125V neon bulb. I took the challenge and spent some time in the shop. I went to look for a 120V neon bulb but could not find one, all I had was disposable camera flash units that had ~250V neon bulbs. So I set to work on modifying the JT to light one of these 250V neon bulbs. I wound a tertiary winding onto a working JT using 30 AWG magnet wire, I wound about 34 turns and stubbed out a tap, then continued winding about another 50-60 turns and connected a neon bulb. I had to remove the LED from the circuit since drawing down the peak voltage. The neon bulb lights with about 900 millivolts at 150 milliamps into the circuit. The circuit works great!

Видео High Voltage Joule Thief Circuit Lighting a 250V Neon Bulb канала Mad Scientist Hut