I was surfing Lidmotor's channel looking for simple circuits and spotted that he used a coil taken from the AC motor that powers the cooling fan in a microwave oven. I recognised it straight away as I have one in my bits box that I took out of a microwave oven I disassembled last year. Obviously I thought that would make a good subject for an evening project. I haven't followed through with the whole project as I don't have a suitable neodymium magnet for the next stage but it was fun just getting to this stage and I have my LED lighting from the 1.5v AA battery in typical joule thief style. You also get to see me disassemble the AC motor to extract the coil. If you want a circuit diagram you will have to watch Lidmotor's video.

In response to a question I am adding this information
If you flip the stator, so it sticks out the opposite side, the motor will spin in the opposite direction. This is an AC motor, AC = alternating current. So connecting the power wires either way will make it run. The one in this video is running on 240 volts in the UK. USB is DC (Direct current NOT AC) at 5 volts, so you cannot run this fan from a USB port.

Here is a Wikipedia link for details of this type of AC shaded pole motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaded...

Lidmotor's Light Multiplier    • Light Multiplier  
Johnydavro's replication    • Lidmotors light multiplier replication.  

For those of you who want to light LEDs from a single AA battery but don't want or have a scrap microwave here is a simple project using small axial inductors    • Let's make a Low Power Oscillator #2 ...   and here is one that uses garden twist ties    • Let's make a Low Power Oscillator  
BOTH are based on Lidmotor's videos and have links in their video descriptions to his videos.

Several people watching my video want to talk about Joule Thief circuits so here are a couple of excellent videos on the subject by RimstarOrg
How a Joule Thief Works    • How a Joule Thief Works  
Make a Joule Thief for Zombie Batteries    • Make a Joule Thief for Zombie Batteries  

Here is BigCliveDotCom on the same subject
How to make an authentic Joule Thief    • How to make an authentic Joule Thief.  

Here is a handy article on LEDs http://www.petervis.com/electronics/l...

Several commentators insist you can light a white LED with 1.5 volts and one sent me a link for a 1.2 volt white LED however a quick look at the datasheet shows this "LED" package actually includes a driver circuit that runs the LED https://static.rapidonline.com/pdf/53... this could indicate that these are being used in schools and colleges and misleading the pupils causing confusion. It is however an interesting item and may help people who need to run white LEDs from lower voltages.

I did this follow up video for those people who wanted me to make a fan from the fan What can I do with that old Microwave Oven Fan Motor #2    • What can I do with that old Microwave...  

Some links for related projects
Microwave Oven projects    • Microwave Oven projects  
Joule Thieves    • Joule Thieves  
Things you can make from an old DVD drive    • Things you can make from an old DVD d...  
Disassembly    • Disassembly/Tear down  
Let's disassemble a Microwave Oven    • Let's disassemble a Microwave Oven  
I made this crawlerbot tortoise and used the turntable motor from this microwave to power it
Bargain Store Project #45 Washing Up Brushes Tortoise Crawlerbot    • Bargain Store Project #45 Washing Up ...  

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