Remote Ignition System: Camera Flash Method

video Remote Ignition System: Camera Flash Method

This is an instructable to help you make yourself one of these babies. Charge the capacitor and flip a switch for it to discharge 300V of electricity from 1 AA battery through some steel wool for a nice spark and endless pyro-activities. Have fun, stay safe, enjoy! Watch the end for results!

skelly7447 says: May 3, 2010. 8:15 PM

steel wool not needed just the spark ignites most every thing

squiggy2 in reply to skelly7447Jun 16, 2011. 8:00 AM

but you wouldn't get an electrical arc from 300V. you need the steel wool because its high resistance makes it get really hot, but you can't actually produce a spark with such low voltages

sjoobbani says: Sep 2, 2010. 8:31 PM

Wouldn't it be better if you had reversed the switches, so that the Toggle would arm, and the pushbutton would fire?

napalm008 says: Jul 30, 2010. 9:33 PM

Does this actually work, if so then i am seriously considering making this.

adam-rawrrr says: Jun 4, 2010. 11:53 AM

where did you get the wire connectors from?

sas223 says: Dec 25, 2009. 9:32 AM

if i,am using two 9 volts in series do i still need the capacitor? thx in advance

funkymunky says: Jul 24, 2008. 9:25 PM

i dont get the part where i have to sauder things

Masteroffencing in reply to funkymunkyJul 31, 2008. 8:22 PM

its spelled solder and pronounced like soder

cornflaker in reply to MasteroffencingOct 16, 2009. 6:13 AM

in australia we spell and say it as solder lol makes much more sense, now i know why people keep writing sauder

wedgekahr in reply to MasteroffencingJun 16, 2009. 4:03 PM

Its = Possessive (it has)
It's = Contraction (it is)

as long as we're being grammar nazis ;)

jakesllama in reply to MasteroffencingAug 3, 2008. 9:15 AM

Thats spelled with capitals and full stops. Mr know-it-all!

Masteroffencing in reply to jakesllamaAug 16, 2008. 9:58 AM

I know how to spell i was just telling him and besides i copied it right of the package for it so now what

jakesllama in reply to MasteroffencingAug 17, 2008. 1:02 PM

Still... No capitals.

mexoplex in reply to jakesllamaSep 18, 2009. 11:45 AM

lmao! youre right /funny!

jakesllama in reply to mexoplexSep 19, 2009. 11:36 AM

lol

n00b001 in reply to jakesllamaOct 29, 2009. 6:41 AM

Spelt: Solder
Pronounced: (America - [saw-der]) (Everwere else (Including England and aparently Australia) - [sol-der])

TheParacorder in reply to n00b001Apr 13, 2012. 3:03 PM

lol look at the reply after reply and now i added on to it! SOMEONE REPLY SO ITS A BIGGER PYRAMID

mr_goodbytes says: Jul 18, 2009. 5:33 PM

check out my detonator
http://www.instructables.com/id/Super-Cool-Electronic-Detonator/

milamber says: Jan 2, 2009. 2:49 AM

dude swap the push buton and the switch so u press to fire much cooler and less holding

pdub77 in reply to milamberJun 11, 2009. 9:17 PM

I gotta go with milamber on this one. Flip the toggle on to close the circuit and charge the cap, then press the momentary switch to dump it. I did this with a coil gun I was working on. Nice video, btw, but it is hard to hear your voice over the tunes. Good work, though.

zach12 says: Dec 13, 2008. 2:17 PM

do you need to attach steel wool or can i just put the electrodes closer together. I wanted to use this on my spud gun.

TheDeviant13 in reply to zach12May 14, 2009. 4:59 PM

Make a voltage multiplier using one charging circuit and some diodes and capacitors off of camera circuit boards so that you have a nice good spark coming off of it to ignite it without steel wool or anything else for that matter.

bballchamp1 (author) in reply to zach12Dec 14, 2008. 8:06 PM

steel wool helps a bigger spark, smaller the steel wool piece accross the leads the better. I haven't tried putting them close together to create a spark gap but you could experiment with it and see what result you get.

ilias says: Feb 11, 2009. 5:11 AM

the 300 volts can hurt you badly?

Miel-jean in reply to iliasMay 7, 2009. 3:16 PM

Volts don't directly cause the pain... it's the combination of volts and amps that hurts a lot. The thingo that causes the spark in an electric lighter (piezo-thingo) can actually generate up to 20 kV! doesn't hurt too bad though...

imkwl12345 says: Dec 23, 2008. 12:22 AM

um... u only kneed 9v too ignite steel wool... not 300

Mattrox in reply to imkwl12345Jan 13, 2009. 1:47 PM

this ways better and faster

bballchamp1 (author) in reply to imkwl12345Dec 23, 2008. 10:34 AM

The idea was to have some fun, not make gradeschool circuit.

imkwl12345 in reply to bballchamp1Dec 23, 2008. 10:14 PM

hey chill all im sayin is u dont kneed to go buy urself a camera

omnibot in reply to imkwl12345Jan 3, 2009. 1:27 AM

You BUY your cameras?

imkwl12345 in reply to omnibotJan 12, 2009. 7:33 PM

did i say i brought any cameras? dumass... anyway what do u do... flog them?

omnibot in reply to imkwl12345Jan 14, 2009. 2:04 PM

No, you're right. I must've been to tired and missed that. Sry I usually just drop by a photoshop on my way home or buy used flashes on ebay, much worse caps *muah ha ha*

bballchamp1 (author) in reply to omnibotJan 3, 2009. 3:32 PM

Was that a rhetorical question?... (always better to answer a pointless question with another pointless question)

omnibot in reply to bballchamp1Jan 4, 2009. 10:23 AM

Yes ;)

ubr.bzkr in reply to omnibotJan 26, 2009. 7:35 PM

Ha Ha Ha I get all my cameras for free. I just go to the photo department of my local grocery store and tell them I need a few used disposable cameras for a "science project" and vola, free cameras. they just throw them out any way so they will give them to you for free.

tehpwnz0r says: Nov 13, 2008. 11:31 AM

please do this again but don't use the music because it's extremely hard to hear especially when your vocal instructions are then only thing we're paying attention to. very nice tho (: and make a step by step instructable too, damn you (:

bballchamp1 (author) in reply to tehpwnz0rDec 14, 2008. 8:07 PM

sorry i've been quite busy with school. If i get the time I'll be making something up. Also the website is back in production as it never got off the ground. Give it a week and the site should be up with a .com domain instead of ca. The site will have a full instructable too and will copy it over here as well.

tehpwnz0r in reply to bballchamp1Jan 11, 2009. 2:42 PM

fantastic. thank you

RDX HMX says: Aug 27, 2008. 12:46 PM

I was wondering if a 9V (square) battery could replace the AA.

imkwl12345 in reply to RDX HMXDec 23, 2008. 12:31 AM

hey dont tell any 1 but u dont kneed the camera lol u can just rig this up with a 9v because its powerfull enough too light the steel wool. so u wouldnt kneed the push button or LED. jst a small box and a swich