Ok no worries,I can help but forget about facetiming. I'm not comfortable with that level of familiarity and giving out my phone number.
You are looking for a boost ratio of 5/0.4 = 12.5, or 12/0.4=30. Both of these boost ratios are well outside the normal range for simple boost converters which top out at about 6-8. At those and higher boost ratios they become very difficult to control with any degree of precision. This points us in the direction of using a transformer in either a forward or flyback configuration. If neither of those configurations are practical there are more complicated topologies, but IMHO they are not suitable projects for a novice designer in switch-mode power supplies.Ok no worries,
I suppose with an absolute maximum of 4.5 Volts on Vout, that will get him close to 5V, but nowhere near 12V. It looks like a transformer is an integral part of the requirements for this circuit.You want an energy harvesting IC such as this.
What you want, if I understand correctly is to go from a source of 0.4 Volts at some unspecified power level to 12 Volts at SOME MUCH LOWER POWER level and then to your inverter to 240 VAC at some power level which will be vanishingly small. The reason your head hurts is because you are trying to do the impossible. Get you head out of the dark place it is in, and LEARN the basics of power conversion. In particular:Yes as much as possible 12v will be great enough for what I want to achieve as I have an inverter to 240v
Regards
James
No Bud! You have manifestly refused to specify an output power level or current requirement. AC or DC is completely irrelevant for the time being, and you were the one who mentioned an inverter which is a DC to AC converter.Thanks for trying but that's for ac bud need dc
ASSUMING, you have a process with 100% efficiency. Fat chance of that.You have also not characterized the input. You said 0.4V, but gave no current capability. Why is that important?
To boost 0.4V to 240V at 1A, which is 240 Watts, you would need 600A.
and you are alive!I was told nobody would help me electrocute myself.
Admittedly, I would have been fine. I was given my first oil burner transformer at age 10 and my first microwave transformer at 14, but yea, looking back, I appreciated the forums care for my well being for sure!and you are alive!