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Cheap/free capacitor bank and charger

Step 5The actual bank

The actual bank
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Alright, now that we have a sweet charger in a cool looking box, let's get something to connect it to.

Remember all those disposable cameras? Pull the capacitors out, I got 4 caps rated at 330volts and 120µFarads. Make sure the gray stripes are all pointing in the same direction, and get out some of that 12AWG wire. As you can see in the picture, I stripped only part of the wire. To do this, make the circular cuts like you usually would, then take a razor blade and slice down the middle. Then just peel off the rubber, it's way easier than it sounds.

Now using a small screwdriver, push throught the copper strands making a slot the capacitor leads can go through. Put em through, and then solder, it's that simple. I reccomend making both wires first, then soldering all the caps onto one wire, and then the other wire. It's easier that way.
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21 comments
Oct 28, 2006. 2:19 PMbigpinecone says:
ALWAYS, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, DISCHARG EACH CAPACITOR BEFORE DOING ANYTHING WITH IT. I SHOCKED MYSELF WHILE MAKING A FLASHGUN, AND IT HURT LIKE HELL, WITH ONE CAP.
Sep 18, 2009. 4:23 PMdemonxkid says:
what is the best way to do this
Sep 18, 2009. 6:33 PMbigpinecone says:
screwdriver on the leads.
Sep 20, 2009. 9:57 AMdemonxkid says:
like 1 screwdriver connecting the leads or just touch 1 then the other
Sep 20, 2009. 4:44 PMbigpinecone says:
'cross the leads.
Apr 6, 2010. 9:00 AMPunkguyta says:
 With your finger
Aug 27, 2010. 2:40 PMfreerunnin1 says:
lol id laugh if someone actually did that and kept trying like "for some reason my capacitors aren't discharging"
Sep 20, 2009. 7:31 PMdemonxkid says:
is how much it holds the v or uf on the side of the conductor
Sep 21, 2009. 7:09 PMbigpinecone says:
uF is how much it can hold. stands for micro farads. V is the max voltage it will operate at.
Sep 23, 2009. 6:07 PMdemonxkid says:
sorry for all the questions but can u draw a pic or something for the complete wiring (like a schematic)
Sep 24, 2009. 1:40 PMbigpinecone says:
just go back through the instructable it's explained very well.
Sep 10, 2009. 8:43 AMhack3rboy says:
yeah i found out 330v really hurt...haha
Jan 5, 2007. 11:19 PMElectricJ says:
the scars on my left hand agree with you
Jan 7, 2007. 2:27 PMbigpinecone says:
lol now i took 3 of 'em and make a bank but i still have to test it also, do you know what the leads on a laser diode are? i have one salvaged from a boombox
Nov 29, 2010. 3:25 PMcoindude says:
I found some high-voltage capacators from old adapters to computers and video consules and one of them reads 400v and 68 uf
Sep 4, 2010. 1:47 PMfundash says:
be carfull with this, those wires are pretty close!
Oct 19, 2009. 5:13 PMfishpie23 says:
 try getting shocked be several thousand volts and several million microfarad my thumb was sad that day...... think of it like holding a match under your thumb for an hour or two 



...............................DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!................................................

but if your going to do this project use it on a coil to make a coil gun

 TIP: if your going to make a coil gun with several capacitors IT MUST SWITCH FROM PARALLEL TO SINGULAR or the full power of the cap wont be released
Oct 19, 2009. 5:17 PMfishpie23 says:
 feel free to do this project its a useful tool for high voltage experiments
Jul 1, 2009. 11:26 AMMudbud says:
how many capacitors can I put in the bank? I got 10 fuji cameras from wal-mart.
Sep 17, 2009. 2:44 PMhonsoworld-bro says:
hell yea me and my bro made a tazer out of ten of them
Sep 10, 2009. 8:48 AMhack3rboy says:
I'm using 8 capacitors not 4 will I need to wire anything differently?
Sep 17, 2009. 2:43 PMhonsoworld-bro says:
i dont think you do me and my brother made a disposable camera tazer and used 10 compacitors (awsome) and its basically the same wiring
Jun 2, 2009. 10:43 PMLightbulbjb says:
would 100uF 330V caps work in a coilgun? thanks.
Aug 6, 2009. 8:51 PMMrRodrigez says:
yes, just make sure they are parallel, and and use a relay instead of a switch ;D
Apr 9, 2009. 1:12 PMfrixx says:
plz help me! i conected caps as told, started to charge them and the diode was on in about 10 secounds i tried to fire my coilgun and the nail just stayed in the barell how many volts i have to use??? when i tried 6 the flash card was burned and anything under that had no effect
May 10, 2009. 9:26 PMmoshee says:
How many volts are the capacitors rated for? If it's below 200 then you probably need to get higher voltage ones. 300-350 volts seems to be the most common.
Dec 20, 2008. 9:41 PMseabeepirate says:
Ok, so I actually did almost exactly the same thing for my cap bank before I read your instructable, but I still can't find some answers I'm looking for on the web, I was hoping you might know the answer. I have several different size caps from 8 different cameras, I have five 120uF caps, one 160uF cap and two of them are unmarked (still looking for a resource to help ID them.) the 120's and 160 are all 330v, will it be a problem to attach the different rated caps in the same bank? I know if they were different voltages I wouldn't be able to attach them. I haven't been able to get the small unmarked caps to charge on the board, so I can't test their voltage.
Apr 6, 2009. 1:24 AMElectronics111 says:
I think it should be as long as the voltage is the same. Your just increasing the capacitance.
Dec 18, 2008. 11:08 AMMicRoelelectronica says:
YEAH agreed i couldn't move my fingers for about ten minutes and it feels like.... welll.... REALLY PAINFUL! the next time i used a wire but this time the capacitor was fully charged and it roasted my wire in flames. the first time it was 100 microfarad second was a 470 microfarad killer.
Jul 28, 2007. 6:24 PMmoza says:
the 2 wires connecting the capacitors, does one end connect together???
Jul 29, 2007. 2:44 PMmoza says:
i thought that u connect wat ever u want to zap to the flash
Jul 4, 2007. 2:53 PMjonrb says:
are all the +'s of the capacitors joined together or does it go + - + - + -
Jul 6, 2007. 7:40 AMpyrophotographer says:


Jul 6, 2007. 7:41 AMpyrophotographer says:
sorry - - - + + +

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