Accessing a mySQLi database object from a method

I am trying to create a class with various methods that will need to interact with a database, so I am trying to create a database object using mySQLi in the __construct, depending on if I still have a db connection or not, but I am unsure of how I can access the db object from within a method as I am new to object oriented PHP, here is my code,

class my_class
{

    private $db_host = '';
    private $db_user = '';
    private $db_pass = '';
    private $db_name = ''; 

    function __construct() {
            $myconn = new mysqli($this->db_host,$this->db_user,$this->db_pass,$this->db_name);
            if($myconn) {
                $this->con = true;
                return true;
            } else {
                return false;
            }
    }
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    private function my_function(){
        //not sure how I can access the database object from here to run a query
    }
}

any advice on how I can improve this, or approach this in a better way, will be appreciated!

Please excuse my ignorance on the subject!

Thanx in advance guys!

Store the object ($myconn) in an member of the object.

$this->oConnection = $myconn;

Then you can simply use $this->oConnection to access your object.

Mind the deceleration in of your new member private $oConnection at the top of your class.