That old CRT monitor isn't as worthless as you might think!
Don't throw it away, hack it!
This instructable will show you how to turn that old dusty monitor into a personal electric fence!
WARNING: I shouldn't have to tell anyone working inside a monitor that there is a very real danger of being electrocuted if you touch the wrong thing. (You did unplug it first, right?)
SECOND WARNING: If you have a heart condition or a pace maker, you obviously should steer clear of this hack.
THIRD WARNING: The monitor I used for this hack was a small one. The voltage was quite high, but the current is not enough to harm you. It's enough to get your attention, but could potentially have the same effect as a very powerful stun gun.
Watch the video for the overview:
Don't throw it away, hack it!
This instructable will show you how to turn that old dusty monitor into a personal electric fence!
WARNING: I shouldn't have to tell anyone working inside a monitor that there is a very real danger of being electrocuted if you touch the wrong thing. (You did unplug it first, right?)
SECOND WARNING: If you have a heart condition or a pace maker, you obviously should steer clear of this hack.
THIRD WARNING: The monitor I used for this hack was a small one. The voltage was quite high, but the current is not enough to harm you. It's enough to get your attention, but could potentially have the same effect as a very powerful stun gun.
Watch the video for the overview:
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Materials
For this hack, you will need:
- One used but working monitor.
(Size doesn't matter, regardless of what SHE says.)
- Some non-insulated wire.
Steel or aluminum will work.
- Some insulated ceramic posts.
Get these at the hardware store in the same section where the electric fences are.
- Some wire mesh.
Chicken wire works fine too.
- One used but working monitor.
(Size doesn't matter, regardless of what SHE says.)
- Some non-insulated wire.
Steel or aluminum will work.
- Some insulated ceramic posts.
Get these at the hardware store in the same section where the electric fences are.
- Some wire mesh.
Chicken wire works fine too.
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
VOLTAGE DOES NOT KILL YOU, ITS THE CURRENT. Voltage= the number of electrons flowing in a wire, Current= the speed of those electrons.
Imagine standing in a creek with just a foot of water, eg a low voltage, now if that water is flowing very, very fast, just that foot of water can knock you down or run a car right off the road, (The current)
uA is fairly safe and can give a shocking experiance, once you get into mA however, above 30mA there is a risk of cardiac if you touch a wire with your hand, depending on how that current travels across your body and nerves ground, if your heart is along that path just 30mA can potentially be lethal. mA also tend to hurt, espescially at high frequencies where you can also get an RF burn. Once you get into Amps, espescially at 60HZ, grabbing a wire, the contractions in your hand make it impossible to let go and you will be electrocuted to death. Flybacks cycle at higher frequencies that tend to cause a violent repulsion from the device if you touch it, meaning you wont have a deathgrip on such a device. Why most injuries from flybacks are the injury from when a person flings their hand back in pain and slamming it into another object, falling off a stool or chair after getting a shock, etc.
Such injuries can be avoided by keeping your hands away from the thing when its energized if you are drawing arcs, etc. Use a long wooden rod to manipulate the wire attached to it, and HV can be a fun thing to play with. And
if removing a flyback from a TV, insure that any potential is discharged, which a CRT acts like a big capacitor and can hold a significant shock hazard long after its unplugged from mains. Use a resistor 1000 ohms clamped to a wire connected to ground and touch the resistor while gripped from an insulated tool to the CRT. A screwdriver connected to ground with an insulated handle will work as well, but will cause an instant arc, which can make UV light, damaging to eyes, and vaporise some of the metal in the screw driver which is not safe to breathe. Which caps tend to discharge very violently if shorted.
If you do get shocked from a flyback, you can learn from your mistake, (a very painfull one) and you will learn not to do what you did again (hopefully, unles you enjoy pain). Make a mistake playing with an MOT though, no second chances and you will be getting a ride in a hearse to a place 6 feet under.
Have you ever had the visual experience of about 1600watts running up one arm through your implanted neck plate "titanium" down the other arm and to ground?
I was messing around with a 1600 watt inverter last year cracking water "HHO"
and got a bit careless with excitement, That water instantly became foam, like opening a shook up hot can of beer in the middle of summer in Pheonix Arz!
So I was trying to bring it down a bit on the next try, had a bit to many beers myself and whollah! I saw a bright flash of white cover my eyes, will be a bit more careful now,, blew out the fett arrays and the microprocessor on that inverter, didn't kill me but did make me more cautious and curious,,,12 volt auto battery turned powerful?
and i have 2 cats that i love very much(even thoug 1 piss's everywhere)
BUT i still think that is funny as hell
awesome awesome instructable.
thanks,
>G
I tried in 3 different browsers
For those who are a little new to electronics:
This may do you a lot of harm. To explain: Voltage is the size of the hammer, Current is how fast it is swung.
This means that someone may hit you in the head with a normal hammer (small voltage) but if they swing really hard (big current) it will kill you. If someone swings a hammer the size of the empire state building (big voltage) it makes no difference how slow they swing (really small current) its still going to kill you.
Colour tubes can have in excess of 30 000 Volts and the flyback transformer can be capable of delivering over 0.05A so thats a power of 1500 Watts Peak
A 240V power point supplying 10A only gives you 2400W. So now consider what happens when you stick your fingers in a toaster then think about what the tv power supply could do to you.
The other (and more important) danger is the frequency output of the flyback transformer, they very often go up into the RF frequency range. When you suffer an electric shock from these types of supplies it can give you an RF burn, what that means is that it can burn you not only at the entry and exit but the whole way down the path that the electricity took (read heart, lungs, and any other internal organ you like) this is obviously bad for your health.
Lastly even if that has not made you reconsider be aware of the live shasis found in televisions and if possible use an isolation transformer to protect yourself from electrocution.
Good hack, but extremely ill advised for anyone who does not have experience in this field to try.
btw. I know that the sums used above are not entirely accurate but they illustrate the point of power.