Make A Water Bottle Capacitor

Do you have loads of water or soda or frizzy bottles everywhere in your house and want to use them for something good?

Well, here is one good use of them, make a High Voltage Water Bottle Capacitor! The bottle capacitor is very similar to the Water Leyden Jar I made a while ago, but the only difference is it uses a bottle, not a jar.

Disclaimer:
The bottle capacitor is a high voltage capacitor, high voltage capacitors are one of the most dangerous things you could ever use in electronics. A large charged bottle capacitor is potentially lethal if you touch its live terminals, and a small charged bottle capacitor can cause injury and it still be lethal in some ways.
So, I am not responsible what ever you do with this information and bottle capacitor.

Step 1 What you will need...

What you will need are:

• A bottle of any kind
• Water
• Salt
• Stainless steel nail
• Aluminum foil (or even better, use AL foil tape if you have any!)
• Tape (you won't need it if you are going to use foil tape

Comments

[bshaikh]

can i use normal 1.2 volt battery to charge...........i dnt think it will be dangerous?plz reply.............thnx

[dariel24]

hmm it wont work.. i use 600ml bottle with 20g salt, cover it with aluminum foil and wrap it using black electrical tape.
but for a nail substitute i use the graphite core of a battery. is that my problem?
tested using 3v DC from my home-made Transformer, but it didn't store any electricity

[windstalker1992]

from what ive read a capacitor needs to be grounded while charging , you might want to check the wikipedia page on leyden jars

[ARJOON]

your voltage was too low. this capacitor won't store your charge for more than 3s

[dariel24]

kinda... epic my question took almost 1 year to be replied
thanks by the way, how much voltage should i use? 12?

[ARJOON]

no. maybe a few thousand volts will do.

[maz-zahra]

I have a task. I have to make a capacitor and its size must be 3cm X 3cm X 3cm. Would you like give me any suggestion for the materials that should be use?

[Samuri Squid]

This might be a stupid question, but, how do you charge it?

[hobbid hobbin]

I think they work using static electricity so if you don't have a spare vandergraph generator you could try using a friction rod or a TV screen (anything that builds up static). I think they can also charge themselves if you leave them.

[robot1398]

do we have to make a saturated solution of salt ???

[robot1398]

can i use a very! very! very! small bottle

[Betelgeus3]

I don't know much about the chemical properties of the capacitor, but would a more reactive salt (potassium chloride) increase performance of the cap? I've got some in bags of "IceMelt".

[NetReaper]

could these be used in a coil gun or are they too weak?

[Plasmana]

Unfortunately, those capacitor are too weak...

[tjk94]

What about if you connected several of them? ~also~ How big would you have to make it before it would work for a coil gun?

[Betelgeus3]

The problem with making a coil gun out of these isnt the potential (voltage) it's the speed. There are "fast" and "slow" caps, and bigger ones are generally slower. Fast big ones are pretty expensive, so I imagine this one is big, but slow. Not enough speed to cycle the coils without lingering.

[coilsinamotor]

could you charge it with a camera charger?

[Betelgeus3]

You could technically charge it with anything, but you only get out the potential of what you put in.

[SpeedSicks]

has anyone used one of these to help buffer the power surges in a car audio setup? i used to have a 1 farad power capacitor in my car, and it worked great for hitting the extra low bass, and stopped my headlights from dimming with the bass also. but they are expensive..this could be cheap, and made right could be safe ? lol

[Betelgeus3]

The problem with the homemade one is that it's not electrolytic, and therefore probably very low tolerance. It would also be very susceptible to temperature, impact, and air pressure. I have no way of knowing, but one bottle alone is probably not 1 farad. A bunch in parallel probably could be, but not just one.

[beehard44]

i dunno if they are safe, but i guess they are way more than 1 farad...

[qwertyboy]

I realize that these comments are old, but I would like to clear some things up. There is a reason that 1 Farad capacitors for audio systems are expensive. Capacitors that hold 1 Farad and above are expensive because that is a huge amount of energy to store. Capacitors are typically rated for MICROfarads, micro meaning one-millionth. Bigger does not always mean better in the world of capacitors. Although these capacitors may be relatively large, these only hold on the order of a few NANOfarads. You would potentially need one BILLION of these in order to add up to one Farad. The capacitor in this Instructable would typically be used for a Tesla coil, or something similar.

[slaserj]

I have 7 of these hooked up to a 30ma NST. They work wonderfully, but the water turns bluish when it is on. I think it may be arcing through the plastic. Is this supposed to happen?

[a_person]

whats the amps on this thing?

[greymatter21]

uhh... im kinda new to capacitors and resistors and technology stuff, so:...what are capacitors used for?
and also how could i charge my capacitor(without getting into big technological terms,etc...)

[mahdir24]

Hey, can u please tell me the voltage rating for this capacitor because i am planning to use it for my tesla coil. u c i need a capacitance of 17.2 nF, so i can connect 10 of these up in pararell with my 9kV NST?? Please post back!!

[skuitarman]

could I use a glass bottle

[Plasmana]

Yes you can.

[beehard44]

orignal ones are glass, tho

[killerclown]

if I use a hugh bottle will the discharge be bigger and longer

[beehard44]

i dunno but try with the huge 5 liter water bottles. the 1-gallon bottles are too thick

[Lance Mt.]

What is the point of a magnet and metal ball? I've made heaps of these without and they work great?

[beehard44]

the look of the original jar

[nqzdepofltr]

cool!

[Plasmana]

Thanks!

[HaCkXoR]

can i use this capacitor with 12kv 30mA 60Hz transformer??

Thanks!

[crashbash]

would the amount of salt effect capacity/voltage?

[woody558]

I made this and it worked really well the first time I charged it, but it didn't work after that. This happened to me both times I made this.

Any tips?

 

[mossimo3]

The best thing to remember while working with high voltages is to keep one hand in your pocket. This prevents you from accidentally making a connection through both arms (electricity flowing through one arm, through your !HEART! and down the other arm). Heart is in bold because it is very amp sensitive! One wrong move with anything that is above 100 mA and your a dead duck.

[impedance214]

will you help me please? we have project in physics and i want make this thing but i want to make it charged and glow too.... i would be glad if you help me..