the best ignition coil driver

today I'm going to show you how to make (in my opinion) the best ignition coil driver ever! it doesn't need any special electronic parts, it doesn't need a special power supply like 12 volts 4 amps, and it works with the push of a button(moddable)! This is going to be entered into the halloween contest. you can make a miniature electric chair for barbie girl or Lego man! please rate high and leave lots of comments!

Step 1 Parts you'll need

1) An ignition coil from a car.
2) Some kind of momentary switch rated at least 110 volts, .1 amps. I got mine from a microwave oven.
3) A disposable camera any one that puts out 300 volts will work.
4) A 1 uf 2000 volt capacitor from a microwave oven.
5) some wires with spade connectors also from the microwave oven.
6) Optional: An SPST rocker switch, I got mine from an old computer power supply.
7) A 2AA battery holder from radio shack.
8) A battery clip to fit your holder(no need if yours comes with wires).

See? no special parts! ;-)

Comments

[aquadog90]

also what gain has got you ignition coil? how many turn on primary and secondary cheers

[ConnorY71]

I googled the number of windings and I found it should be in a ratio of 1:100 for primary to secondary.

[lasermaster3531]

i havent got a clue.

[aquadog90]

hi what camera make did you use for this project? I am looking at kodak cameras.

[lasermaster3531]

any camera with a flash. you will have to figure out what wires go where. the round thing with two wires coming out of the end is a large capacitor. if you touch it and it has a charge it will hurt like hell and make you go pale. carefully discharge it with an insulated screwdriver by shorting the leads together after removing the batterey. you may get a loud spark and two small pits in your screwdriver from the spark.
(i'm assuming that you know next to nothing about camera guts so if you already know any of this just ignore it.)
you will need to cut off the cap and attatch two wires in its place. same thing with the little battery clip. also, solder longer wires to the pads under the little metal button on the circuit board that makes it start charging if its a kodak. if you use a fujufilm solder the wires to the two little solder-covered patches that a piece of metal touches when you press the charge switch. attatch a pushbutton momentary switch to the kodak and a slide switch that stays on for the fuji.

[Jimmy Proton]

where is the coil in a car

[lasermaster3531]

you don't really want to use the coil from a working car, because it will cease to work. the best way IMO is to either go to a junk yard with a multimeter and test every one you can find until you get one that doesn't show an open circuit, or go to an auto repair shop or something and ask politely. the placement of the coil in a car's engine compartment varies greatly depending on the make and model.

[Jimmy Proton]

actually i did go to the junk yard, very few cars have engines with coils in them but i found one and took it and i could get it to work so i destroyed it and it had a lot of copper in it.

[isetmyselfonfirefollowinginstructables]

also, what exactly is a flash charger? i understand you get it from a camera but is it the entire board or just a specific component because yours appears to be covered in tape? or paper? please help!!!!! i really wanna make this :)

[lasermaster3531]

sorry for not being more clear. the charger is the whole board with wires replacing the flash cap and the built in battery clippy thingy. the tape is to prevent premature electrocution.

[ARJOON]

it is the board entirely. IT is just that there are 4 wires soldered to it. 2 for battery input and the other 2 for capacitor output

[Nitrato]

Thank you for sharing that great instructable. I actually was under the impression that the device would work continuously, but after looking the circuit with attention I realized that this isnt a "real" driver, e.g. it can make the ignition coil work but only at the moment of capacitor discharge. I was wondering if l can connect the ignition coil/cap directly to AC part of circuit (the final voltage of that circuit is a >300V DC that feed the photoflash capacitor), but I guess that the current is far too low to work.. So discharging the caps is a much better way... Anyway, great instructable.. Thank you!

[lasermaster3531]

you might want to look into thyristors as a way to make it repeat. just connect the thyristor where the momentary switch would go and a fast diode going the other way in parallel with it to protect it from reverse voltage surges. when the cap voltage reaches the breakdown voltage of the thyristor, it will conduct electricity like a zener diode but it will stay 'open' until the voltage reaches zero, instead of stopping when the voltage drops back below the trigger voltage like a zener. you may also want to look into SCRs coupled with those small neon lamps found on some charger boards.

[isetmyselfonfirefollowinginstructables]

would this one work? 4.7uF 450V HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITOR or is this one better? 1.05 uF 2100V?

[lasermaster3531]

they will both work but the one with the bigger uf rating will always make a more energetic spark.

[isetmyselfonfirefollowinginstructables]

hey lasermaster, if found a capacitor (finally :P) and it has this written on it... 1.05 uf 2100V would it be sufficient? or do i need to keep looking? thanks for the help.... :)

[lasermaster3531]

that one will work, but only barely. the sparks might be kinda thin, but the charge time will be almost instantaneous.

[Nitrato]

Just to show, I made a video some hours ago and is there:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQurku6MQ4 I didnt edited anything in the video yet (even the title).. All the credit goes to this instructable.

[Nicola Tesla]

can u use a capacitor from a old tv or crt?

[lasermaster3531]

 before I could tell you, I would have to know : a) the capacitance, b) the voltage rating, and c) whether it is AC or DC rated. If you can figure out that and the answer is a)around one micrifarad, b) over 300 volts, and c) ac rated, it will work It might  work if it is DC rated but it is a little on the unknown side.

[Nicola Tesla]

the numbers/letters are; 364j  dh
                                             250 sa v

[lasermaster3531]

that means the voltage is 0.36 of a microfarad, and the voltage is 250 volts. the voltage is high enough(barely), bur the capacitance is a little low. this one will make some sparks and whatnot, but not that well. the best capacitance i have found is 3-5 microfarads at 250+ volts from a fan. the capacitor is used to start the motor. this gives you the best trade-off of charge time(2 seconds or less with 1.5 camera circuit) and spark size(long enough to jump from the HV terminal to either of the LV terminals with no help.). so, to recap, yours might work but the capacitance is a bit too low.

[Nicola Tesla]

what about this?

[lasermaster3531]

I can't tell for sure, but i'mm guessing that is a film capacitor rated a 1,600 volts and a minuscule amount of capacitance. no, that one won't work.

[isetmyselfonfirefollowinginstructables]

where could i get one of these capacitators? could i perhaps buy one becaus ei don't have any broken microwaves or tv's sitting around :(                                       any ideas? please help...

[lasermaster3531]

 i suggest checking your local landfill or transfer station for dead ones. you could also check a thrift store, or maybe you could buy one online but I don't know.

contrary to popular belief, microwave capacitors have a resistor built into them that discharges them slowly if you leave them charged, hence the warning on some instructables(i'm not naming names, you know who you are) is false information.

[cammel8]

Is this merely for entertainment purposes only or is there a practical use for this?  Not that it wouldn't be fun.  Just wonder if there is something that this could be used for like an igniter for exhaust flame shooter or something.

[lasermaster3531]

think hot spark generator for stubborn fuel-air mixes in potato cannons. you would have to somehow reduce the size and weight somewhat, but this thing packs some serious power.

[mr. clean]

to make it smaller aside from the capicitor use a coil from a dirt bike

[lasermaster3531]

thanks! good idea. another way to reduce the size is to use a smaller capacitor. the one I used is from a microwave and is rated for 2000 volts ac, but you can use any thing rated above 300-350 volts. the higher the capacitance, the more energy in the spark, but the longer the charge time.

[mr. clean]

your welcome glad i could help :)