Product information "The OwlThief - A Golden Owl with Glowing Orange Eyes (Joul Thief circuit in THT version)"
The gold-black owl with bright orange eyes is a simple soldering kit with the right WOW effect!
A self-wound coil on the back ensures with a few other components that even dead batteries still give the last and two orange LEDs in the eyes of the owl to light up. The circuit is based on the so called
Joul-Thief circuit and therefore our owl is named
OwlThief.
The eyes of the owl and also the circuit board is a real eye-catcher. The gold plated front is not pierced at any point by a hole for the THT components. The outline of the owl and its wings and feathers are perfectly printed. Instead, the components are soldered onto the back. What is special about the Paltine is that both THT and SMD components work. This is the THT version with the slightly larger and easier to solder THT components. Of course everything is perfectly described in our instructions!
Attention: The batteries are really used to the absolute minimum. Please do not use rechargeable batteries! These will be destroyed.
The battery is inserted into a battery holder at the bottom of the board. This makes the owl stand on its own and watch over you with its Orange LED eyes. A beautiful board perfect for the desk or nightstand. A quick touch to its head and the switch will light it up.
What exactly does a joule thief do?
The name Joule thief is a pun on jewel thief and is meant to illustrate that the circuit squeezes ("steals") the last bit of electrical energy out of a battery that is already useless for other purposes, with the term joule standing for the name of the unit of energy.
The circuit was published in 1999 by Z. Kaparknik published. The circuit was so simple and so elegant that it hit like a bomb. Since then it has been used in many variations in various kits.
The circuit works in such a way that the low voltage still available in the battery is converted to a higher voltage. The self-wound coil on the OwlThief stores the necessary energy periodically magnetically. This energy is used to then induce the higher voltage and the LEDs light up. This happens so often that it looks to your eye as if the LED is permanently lit. We also added a special Z-diode and a capacitor to ensure that the LEDs do not break.
The owl in the media
Target group
The electronics kit for soldering is designed for beginners. Adults and children alike can have fun with the owl soldering kit, although you should of course not let children solder alone. We wanted to create a little focus on resources with this kit and how much energy is still in many an empty battery. Relatively large components are used, making it easy to learn how to solder. There are 9 components to solder on. This can be done in a reasonable amount of time even by absolute beginners.
We also want the kit not to disappear in the drawer after finished soldering and initial playing. That's why we chose an owl soldering kit, which looks really great as a work of art in your own room. Due to the clever arrangement of the battery, the board stands upright by itself. It's best to order a kit or two at the same time, because the owl makes a perfect gift for friends, family, and siblings. Who does not want to have his own light owl? :)
The components in the OwlThief soldering kit
In our kits are always all the components you need for soldering. Unfortunately we can't send the batteries with the kit. We have installed a AA or Mignon battery holder, these are the most common batteries in the household and there should be enough "empty" batteries. The soldering kit includes
The circuit board
The circuit board is the heart of the owl. It forms the outline and the space to solder on all the components. The board is made of fiberglass material which is coated with a gold alloy. On top of that comes a black lacquer layer. Some parts of the board are slightly transparent. This creates the great effects in the eyes of the owl. You will also find two areas on the board: THT and SMD. Only one area has to be soldered on each. Because of the two areas you have the choice if you use SMD or THT parts. To make soldering a little bit easier, we send you THT parts.
The coil
On this solderboard the coil is really the heart. A ferrite core and two about 30cm long wires are wound as described in the instructions and this results in a coil that is exactly suitable for this circuit. At the end the coil has to be soldered to the board with four solder pads. Do not be afraid of this step. We have described everything with high resolution pictures and in the text in the instructions.
Some "chicken" or "owl" food
This time we won't send you any chicken food. Chicken food jokingly refers to all the smaller components. In this kit we have a
resistor, a
capacitor, a
Z-diode and a
BC547 transistor. If you want to know more about the components, you can read a bit on Wikipedia. We have linked you to the respective Wikipedia entry. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to send us an email. We are happy to help!
Orange LEDs
Two orange LEDs on the back provide the magic eyes of the owl. The circuit sucks the last energy from the batteries and pushes the electrons towards the LEDs. Through the slightly transparent circuit board, the LEDs shine through to the front and make the owl's eyes glow.
The AA battery holder
The battery holder for AA or Mignon batteries is included in the kit and is placed on the bottom edge of the board so that the center of gravity is at the feet of the owl. This way the owl stands on its own and does not need an extra stand or to lean against. By the way, there are also adapters from AAA or micro batteries to the battery holder used here.
A switch
Of course, there is also a switch included! The switch is easy to use and therefore ideal for children (and adult hands). The switch locks in place and stays in the position (on or off) you want the switch to be in. A great noticeable "click" provides tactile and audible comfort.
Required tools
In addition, a pair of tweezers is especially helpful for this kit :)
Instructions and help
To make it easy for you to solder the kit, we have built a detailed instruction with many pictures and single steps for each of our kits. There you will be guided step by step through the assembly and there are many tips and tricks on how to solder correctly. For most of our soldering kits there are also interactive circuits with names of the components and the traces. All instructions are available in German and English.
For environmental reasons we do not print our instructions. In fact, it is better to view them on screen, as you can then zoom into the high-resolution photos to see details. On each kit you will find a QR code or link to the instructions.
Just click on "DE" or "EN" at the right kit and you can download a PDF.
Lovingly packed for you by hand
All soldering kits are lovingly packed for you by hand in Germany. Unfortunately it happens from time to time that a component is packed too much or too little. If something is too much: No problem! Keep the parts and use them for your creations! If something is missing: No problem! Just send us an email and we will send you the missing parts.
Show us your JoulThief owl
We at blinkyparts are super excited to know what happened to your owl soldering kit. Did you add a sticker to your owl? Did you do some creative soldering? Did you paint your kit? Share your photo with us at
- Twitter/Mastodon: #SolderConnects
- Instagram: #SolderConnectsoder or follow us at @blinkyparts_com
Help others with your feedback
Often it is hard to judge if the soldering kit is something for you. Help others by giving us a rating, feedback. How did it work? What equipment did you have? What did you like most about it? What makes your owl soldering kit special? Just leave a review here on the product page under "Reviews".