Hokay, some measurements of the circuit posted here a few days ago.
The circuit is LED_regulator2.png.
Input V = 1.50VDC.
Input I = 16.3 mA.
Assumed LED V = 3.5V (This is the approx forward voltage of the LED. I tried measuring the V but it measures a few tenths of a volta with a DMM, so I know that most of the current thru the LED is during the flyback pulse across it.
Measured LED current = 4.4 mA. (This is across a 1 ohm resistor placed between the junction of the LED and 4.6 uf cap and the rest of the circuit.
LED power = 3.5V * .0044 mA = 15.4 mW.
Efficiency = 14 mW / 24.5 mW = 62%
and so, despite the use of the LED itself as the rectifier, the efficiency of the circuit is not very good at all. This is the efficiency that I got from many of the circuits I built using the circuit on the left of the pic at
For an inductor for this circuit I used a 100 uH inductor that I bought from Mouser. Then I used a 100 uH toroidal inductor I made from a RFI suppression sleeve that I took off a keyboard or mouse cord. I've found that the inductor should have low DC resistance.
I put a 100 uH toroidal inductor across the 560 uH, and the LED current increased by less than a mA, but the total current increased to 22 mA. The increase in brightness was barely perceptible, but at reduced efficiency. So this is apparently not the way to go.
I'll have more experiment results later.