using a car ignition coil for a really hot sparkl

[taranathicus]

I made a really simple drawing of how to wire a car ignition coil for use in a spud gun. I have tried this to great success. though it did take me a few tries to get the wiring right(you dont want to be in the circuit if ti doesnt work right, i have its a damn good shock). also you may want to get a solenoid as firing of it pits up metal pretty good

reasons to use a car coil:
-you can spark multiple times a second even if you want to.
-more amps for the spark than a stun gun
-it shoots discreet sparks so there is no way possible to have a malfunction in the on position.
-at least 20,000 volts
-these sparks are made to burn and will arc through a piece of paper stuck between contacts making a little burned spot

if anyone want to redo this in a not sucky fashion go right ahead


explanation of wiring diagram:
-the slash in the grey line signifies the switch
-the blue square is the condenser
-the thing that looks like a battery is a battery
-the thing in the middle is the coil, as a side note the terminals are usually labeled 1 on the negative side and 15 on the positive, i dont knwo why
- the circle in the lower right is the barrel and contacts i reccomend they be a little closer than 1/4 inch

[Rambo]

I zaped my self many times with a car coil but I suppose it is nothing comperad to a stun gun.What is the capacitor for?

[taranathicus]

thats the condenser not capacitor

The purpose of the condenser is to reduce arcing on the contacts of the relay, and to improve the performance of the ignition coil. If you remove the condenser, the contacts will wear away quickly, and get very hot, and the ignition coil will give off weak sparks. You can find the condenser at just about any auto parts store.

i found that on a webpage, i honestly didnt know why it was there, but it works in my experience better with than without it. also i think a coil might have more hurt than a stun gun, but the coil only fires for a very short amount of time compared to a stun gun.

[FiveseveN]

1. Condenser, capacitor - same thing. Trust me.
2. Do you use a car battery for this system? You could use two 9v batteries and spare yourself from having to carry a two-ton lead-acid battery.
3. It doesn't fire for a short amount of time. If anything, because of the way the ignition coil works, it has a less abrupt power drop. The stun gun fires many times per second. That's another story. You could use a timer circuit instead of your switch and you'd basically have a stun gun. Take care, though: it carries more power than a stun gun so you could lose a finger or two.

[Benny]

yea, last time i messed with one of them i got shocked and it felt like i got kicked in the chest, also it went accros my heart, that was close, its still a good story to brag about.

[taranathicus]

i find also that the larger the battery ie higher amperage the hotter the spark. so i use a full sized car battery. also, im fairly sure that though it feels like a good kick theres almost no way to have it be permanentl damaging to you. unless you put electrodes through your skin the electricity goes across the oils and crud on your skin. unless of course you stuck electrodes in yuorself, and if you do, well i rather think you have it coming to you.

[pyrogeek]

What if you used a battery for a riding lawnmower, or a sealed lead acid battery? Would that be sufficient?

[taranathicus]

i started with a mower battery, it works just fine, i just think i get a slight increase from a larger battery, and since i fire from my lawn i dont need portability

[jrrdw]

12 volt battery for 12 volt eletronics, all has to be 12v negitive ground, or all has to be 12 volt possitive ground. Do not mix the 2 up or else you will short the coil beond use.

[FiveseveN]

Lol... what the heck are you talking about? Inductive coils work either way. The only thing that could get damaged is the capacitor, and only if it's polarized, which I doubt it is.

As a side-note: since you fire from your lawn, you could use a mains to 12V DC adapter instead of a battery. Careful not to go wild on the amps, though. I'm not sure how much a car battery can output, but you should probably start out with 3 amps or less and go up if the spark isn't hot enough.

[taranathicus]

the only batteries ive tried have been 12 volt, but the battery i use has the potential to generate 600 amps cold cranking power, its out of a crown vic and not more than 3 years old. when i got it workeing it was with a car battery charger and it seemed to work fine on the 2 amp 10 amp and 55 amp jump setting. i think it will only pull as much as it can. its entirely possible that my thoughts on the spark as relating to the amperage is just in my head.

[FiveseveN]

It's not just in your head, it's perfectly true. The more amps, the more strenght the magnetic field in the coil has, thus bigger the spark.
Yet the more amps, the more energy you lose due to resistance (and you finally come to a point when it gets too hot and burns out).
You also have a capacitor in the circuit. The more amps, the faster it charges, but it's output will be the same, no matter if you input 10 or 100 amps. If you used the coil without the cap, you'd see more obvious differences between different current settings.

[jrrdw]

It's easy to kill a coil. Yes they are inductive, but if you understand polarity, then you will know what i meant. 12 volt negitive ground is different then 12 volt possitive ground, you can't mix them together. Europen auto's usely use 12 volt possitive ground, older american farm machinery usely use 12 volt possitive ground, now days it's normal for all to have 12 volt negitive ground. I hope that helps.