I built something just like this about 20 years ago and was damn near killed by it lol. I had no capacitor or other circuitry on mine, just the dimmer switch set to full power wired directly between line AC and the ignition coil, it could draw out 3-4 inch arcs that melted the electrode tips so it had gobs of current, and the last time I played with it (the _last_ time, I don't fool with lethal current anymore lol) two decades ago I just about electrocuted myself, I got caught on it for about five seconds going through my arms and chest when I disregarded the one hand rule, my legs kicking randomly was the only thing that saved me as I gripped the hot line in my left hand and the steel table it was sitting on with my right, AC current gives you a literal death grip, I ripped out a couple finger nails when I finally pulled away. Dumped about two quarts of used motor oil I was using as insulation and cooling all over myself and my shop too lol, the coil was in a big glass jar that went flying when I kicked away, which also luckily ripped one of the feed lines off and disabled it. Sketch stuff, I'm surprised I am still alive after my wild youth lol.
O my chat i typed too long and i cannot copy it to here. But usefull measurements you made there, and i am surprised about the hight of that currentpeaks. Thanks for uploading youre nice precise measurements on this circuitidea that me too always wanted to try. And now you did it, and better than i could have done it. Great ánd usefull, so thanx indeed
Yep, I had a similar circuit set up years ago. It was hooked up to 240v. I got a jolt from it that nearly dropped me and I never used line AC as a direct power source ever again. My favourite power source since then was 48v dc a much more user friendly voltage for HV generation.
The main power limiting is the 17uF cap, without that, the primary would not be happy. Regarding the open circuit voltage test, that is really bad for the secondary insulation, it will break down and eventually ruin the secondary insulation. Thanks for sharing.
What value are those two red hv-resistors? (And another question that Comes up is: is there a third little resistor between those two 10watt-hv's, or do they use the known inputresistance from the measuringdevice to devide?)
Good information sir got a question for you regarding a high tension auto coil winding as you mentioned the center Yao is conected so if I read a continuity test I should read ohms across positive terminal and high volt terminal ? Am I right ? Thanks again
Why dont they make the spark go from a positive and negative end of wire from the secondary only, why does it connect to the primary. It just seems weird
In an auto the negative is chassis grounded to the Car. If you examine a spark plug you see the arc jumps from the central electrode to the metal casing which is in contact with the engine block.
Have you tried putting a resonant (at the input frequency) capacitor in parallel to the primary, but V rated high enough to take the secondary output ? If the secondary inductance were set so that it's resonant at a lower* harmonic, that would be cool to see.
I've been thinking about doing a video where I measure the Resonant Frequency, then I might do a couple circuits that utilize this information... will post.
@@sparkstarter I rectified a mistake in my original statement, the secondary circuit would ideally be at a lower harmonic. I's weird but I'm getting a vibe that this is the proper schematic of a monopolar "Tesla air-coil".
@@sparkstarter Another variation could be to put a second capacitor in series with the hot side of the secondary, a lower capacitance so that the frequency is the same as the input. There could be a fatal flaw in these thoughts experiments but I don't see it right now.
If you don't mind me asking, would you sell that unit ( I would like use it as fence charger for my sheep here in Ireland )? Thank you very much for uploading this video! Kind regards, Dan George
@@sparkstarter strange, i tried both setups, with 100% brand new components and all i got was a weak millisecond spaerk when i closed my mains switch to start it up. any suggestions?
@@iseeyou7622 hmmm... do you have any kind of o-scope to measure the output of the dimmer? Should see clipped sign wave... there might be some fancy dimmers that do zero crossing switching or transient suppression... try using the cheapest triac dimmer switch you can find.
Why are you drawing your arc to the top of the primary winding instead of the to the common lead? You are feeding back high voltage to the coupling cap and back out onto the AC line. I saw that you have absolutely no line isolation or filtering. Your neighbors must love your RFI. I recommend a common mode choke on the input AC line as well as an isolation transformer. Your entire set up is a guaranteed lethal accident waiting to happen. I work professionally with high voltage power supplies all day and intentionally drawing an arc will get you fired. Or at least severely reprimanded. Not to mention all of the accident report paperwork!
Been playing with this setup for 30 years without incident, and I would bet I work on bigger high voltage supplies than you do... but hey, everyone has their own safety tolerance. If you don't feel comfortable with 100W of power at 25kv don't mess with it.
LADIES THIS IS COMPLETELY UNSAFE. Ridiculous. At least use an isolation transformer. Don't have one? THINK!! Gut out a pair of similar wally worts and use two transformers back to back, AKA 120Vin / 12V out-----12V in/ 120V out.
there is always a danger element (shock or fire) when working with any high voltage device. The capacitor serves to limit current flow through the circuit. Not sure what extra safety gain your getting by using an isolation transformer other than some EMI filtering...
