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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!

60 comments

1-40 of 60

May 3, 2010. 8:15 PMskelly7447 says:

steel wool not needed just the spark ignites most every thing

Jun 16, 2011. 8:00 AM

squiggy2 says:

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

Sep 2, 2010. 8:31 PMsjoobbani says:

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

Jul 30, 2010. 9:33 PMnapalm008 says:

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

Jun 4, 2010. 11:53 AMadam-rawrrr says:

where did you get the wire connectors from?

Dec 25, 2009. 9:32 AMsas223 says:

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

Jul 24, 2008. 9:25 PMfunkymunky says:

i dont get the part where i have to sauder things

Jul 31, 2008. 8:22 PMMasteroffencing says:

its spelled solder and pronounced like soder

Oct 16, 2009. 6:13 AMcornflaker says:

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

Jun 16, 2009. 4:03 PMwedgekahr says:

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

as long as we're being grammar nazis ;)

Aug 3, 2008. 9:15 AMjakesllama says:

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

Aug 16, 2008. 9:58 AMMasteroffencing says:

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

Aug 17, 2008. 1:02 PMjakesllama says:

Still... No capitals.

Sep 18, 2009. 11:45 AMmexoplex says:

lmao! youre right /funny!

Sep 19, 2009. 11:36 AMjakesllama says:

lol

Oct 29, 2009. 6:41 AMn00b001 says:

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

Apr 13, 2012. 3:03 PMWorldOfTanks says:

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

Jul 18, 2009. 5:33 PMmr_goodbytes says:

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

Jan 2, 2009. 2:49 AMmilamber says:

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

Jun 11, 2009. 9:17 PM

pdub77 says:

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.

Dec 13, 2008. 2:17 PMzach12 says:

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.

May 14, 2009. 4:59 PMTheDeviant13 says:

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.

Dec 14, 2008. 8:06 PMbballchamp1 (author) says:

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.

Feb 11, 2009. 5:11 AMilias says:

the 300 volts can hurt you badly?

May 7, 2009. 3:16 PMMiel-jean says:

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...

Dec 23, 2008. 12:22 AMimkwl12345 says:

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

Jan 13, 2009. 1:47 PM

Mattrox says:

this ways better and faster

Dec 23, 2008. 10:34 AMbballchamp1 (author) says:

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

Dec 23, 2008. 10:14 PMimkwl12345 says:

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

Jan 3, 2009. 1:27 AMomnibot says:

You BUY your cameras?

Jan 12, 2009. 7:33 PMimkwl12345 says:

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

Jan 14, 2009. 2:04 PMomnibot says:

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*

Jan 3, 2009. 3:32 PMbballchamp1 (author) says:

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

Jan 4, 2009. 10:23 AMomnibot says:

Yes ;)

Jan 26, 2009. 7:35 PMubr.bzkr says:

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.

Nov 13, 2008. 11:31 AMtehpwnz0r says:

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 (:

Dec 14, 2008. 8:07 PMbballchamp1 (author) says:

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.

Jan 11, 2009. 2:42 PMtehpwnz0r says:

fantastic. thank you

Aug 27, 2008. 12:46 PMRDX HMX says:

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

Dec 23, 2008. 12:31 AMimkwl12345 says:

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

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