The Art of Creating an Electric Arc Lighter: A DIY Experiment

In this article, we'll delve into the world of electric arc lighters and explore how to create one using everyday components. The process involves understanding the principles behind electric arcs and experimenting with different circuit designs.

When it comes to creating an electric arc lighter, there are a few options available in the market. However, for the sake of this experiment, we'll be focusing on building an arc glider from scratch. To start, let's take a closer look at how an arc glider works. An arc glider typically consists of two electrodes with a distance of 5 mm that possess a high voltage difference of around 15,000 volts. This creates an electric arc or easier put a current path through the area that consists of plasma which can reach very high temperatures and thus can easily ignite our firework.

Upon disassembling an existing arc glider, it became apparent that the manufacturer didn't want to share its circuit secrets with us. However, by examining the components and the circuit layout, we can make educated guesses about how it works. One possible solution is to create an electric arc using a CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) inverter. This type of device is commonly used to power cold CA out fluorescent lamps but can also be repurposed to create an electric arc.

To begin, we need to understand the basic principles behind CCFL inverters. The circuit consists of a handful of components and relies on the transformer to generate high voltages. By carefully removing the transformer from the circuit and analyzing its internal structure, it became clear that it uses a center tap primary coil with 14 turns each. Additionally, there's a feedback coil consisting of four turns.

The CCFL inverter works by using transistors to create an oscillating current path through the primary coil. As the current increases, it induces a voltage into the secondary and also into the feedback coil. This creates a sine wave with a frequency determined by the resonant circuits in the circuit. The output voltage of the transformer is mainly determined by the turns ratio, which means that to achieve a high voltage on the secondary, we need fewer windings on the primary.

For our experiment, we'll be using 0.85 mm enamel copper wire to create the four turns and connect them directly to the output of my square wave inverter circuit from my wireless energy project. After soldering two wires to the secondary coil of the transformer and adjusting the distance between the electrodes to 5 mm, we cranked up the input voltage to 6 volts. To our surprise, an electric arc was established, confirming that our theory was correct.

The next step involved replicating the voltage boost by creating a new center tap primary coil with reduced turns. After double-checking the pin connections and soldering in the transformer, we removed the capacitors from the secondary coil since they're not suited for such high voltages. We added two output wires and adjusted the distance between them to one another before finally starting to rise the input voltage at a level of 12 volts.

The results were impressive – an electric arc was established which could easily ignite fireworks. If we check the voltage on the primary coil, we can still see the beautiful sine wave with a higher frequency due to the lower inductance. However, it's essential to note that this circuit is only a prototype and not a proper AR glider yet. Stay tuned for an upcoming project video where I'll build one until then don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ensince it is almost time to celebrate New Year's Eve you probably already started stocking up your lighter Supply in order to ignite all your fireworks but if you are tired of the disadvantages of a classical lighter then you can always get yourself an arc ligher if we look closely we can see that it basically consists of two electrodes with a distance of 5 mm that possess a high voltage difference of around 15,000 volts and thus create an electric Arc or easier put a current path through the area that consists of plasma which can reach very high temperatures and thus can easily ignite our firework but after taking this AR glider apart it was easy to figure out that the manufacturer doesn't want to share its circuit secrets with us now the only circuit that I have lay around and can reach high voltages of around 2,300 volts is a ccfl inverter AKA a cold cathode flourescent lamp inverter like the name implies it is used to power cold CA out fluorescent lamps but we can also create an electric Aqua it by bringing the output wires awfully close together and then pulling them apart but in order to create an arc without almost shorting the output wires we would need around 3,000 Volts for 1 mm distance between the electrodes so the question is can we modify the circuit to achieve that let's find out since the circuit only consists of a handful of components I follow the PCB traces in order to create a rough schematic of the circuit the only mystery here were the windings of the utilized Transformer so I had no choice but to remove it carefully from the circuits and remove its protective tape on the insides we can see a secondary coil with a lot of windings and two primary coils with fewer windings after removing two solder joints and slowly unwinding the wires I realized that the Transformer uses a center tap primary coil which consists of 14 turns each the last remaining inconspicuous primary coil is a feedback coil that only consist of around four turns and now that we successfully identified the circuits as a called Ro converter how does it actually work well let's say transistor One conducts first which means that the current through one half of the primary coil will increase this creates an increasing magnetic flux which thus induces a voltage into the secondary and also in the feedback coil which therefore hinders the second transistor to become conductive once the current maximum is reached the induced voltages become lower and thus the second transistor turns on and repeats the same procedure just in reverse and since there's also a capacitor attached in parallel to the primary coil the created oscillation through the primary is sinos sodial with a frequency determined by the resonant circuits in this case around 37.5 khz while all that sounds rather complicated the output voltage of the Transformer is still mainly determined by the turns ratio at an input voltage of 12 Vols DC the oscillator creates a sine wave with a voltage of 27 volt RS at the primary which should create the 2,300 volt ninal voltage on the secondary that means we need around four windings on the primary to get around 15,000 on the secondary for first tests I used 0.85 mm enamel copper wire to create the four turns and took it up directly to the output of my square wave inverter circuit from my wireless energy project after soldering two wires to the secondary coil of the Transformer adjusting the distance to 5 mm to one another and cranking up the input voltage to 6 volts the electric Arc was established which means our Transformer theory was correct so I went ahead and created a new center tab primary coil with the reduced amount of turns in order to replicate the voltage boost we experienced a second ago afterwards I double checked well of the pin connections were the same as before solded in the Transformer remove the capacitors on the secondary coil since they're not suited for such a high voltage added two output wires adjusted that distance to one another and finally started Rising the input voltage at a level of 12 volts the electric Arc was established which could also easily ignite fireworks and if we check the voltage on the primary coil we can still see the beautiful sine wave just with a higher frequency because of the lower inductance but needless to say this circuit is only prototype and not really a proper AR glider yet so stay tuned For an upcoming project video in which I will build one until then don't forget to like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next timesince it is almost time to celebrate New Year's Eve you probably already started stocking up your lighter Supply in order to ignite all your fireworks but if you are tired of the disadvantages of a classical lighter then you can always get yourself an arc ligher if we look closely we can see that it basically consists of two electrodes with a distance of 5 mm that possess a high voltage difference of around 15,000 volts and thus create an electric Arc or easier put a current path through the area that consists of plasma which can reach very high temperatures and thus can easily ignite our firework but after taking this AR glider apart it was easy to figure out that the manufacturer doesn't want to share its circuit secrets with us now the only circuit that I have lay around and can reach high voltages of around 2,300 volts is a ccfl inverter AKA a cold cathode flourescent lamp inverter like the name implies it is used to power cold CA out fluorescent lamps but we can also create an electric Aqua it by bringing the output wires awfully close together and then pulling them apart but in order to create an arc without almost shorting the output wires we would need around 3,000 Volts for 1 mm distance between the electrodes so the question is can we modify the circuit to achieve that let's find out since the circuit only consists of a handful of components I follow the PCB traces in order to create a rough schematic of the circuit the only mystery here were the windings of the utilized Transformer so I had no choice but to remove it carefully from the circuits and remove its protective tape on the insides we can see a secondary coil with a lot of windings and two primary coils with fewer windings after removing two solder joints and slowly unwinding the wires I realized that the Transformer uses a center tap primary coil which consists of 14 turns each the last remaining inconspicuous primary coil is a feedback coil that only consist of around four turns and now that we successfully identified the circuits as a called Ro converter how does it actually work well let's say transistor One conducts first which means that the current through one half of the primary coil will increase this creates an increasing magnetic flux which thus induces a voltage into the secondary and also in the feedback coil which therefore hinders the second transistor to become conductive once the current maximum is reached the induced voltages become lower and thus the second transistor turns on and repeats the same procedure just in reverse and since there's also a capacitor attached in parallel to the primary coil the created oscillation through the primary is sinos sodial with a frequency determined by the resonant circuits in this case around 37.5 khz while all that sounds rather complicated the output voltage of the Transformer is still mainly determined by the turns ratio at an input voltage of 12 Vols DC the oscillator creates a sine wave with a voltage of 27 volt RS at the primary which should create the 2,300 volt ninal voltage on the secondary that means we need around four windings on the primary to get around 15,000 on the secondary for first tests I used 0.85 mm enamel copper wire to create the four turns and took it up directly to the output of my square wave inverter circuit from my wireless energy project after soldering two wires to the secondary coil of the Transformer adjusting the distance to 5 mm to one another and cranking up the input voltage to 6 volts the electric Arc was established which means our Transformer theory was correct so I went ahead and created a new center tab primary coil with the reduced amount of turns in order to replicate the voltage boost we experienced a second ago afterwards I double checked well of the pin connections were the same as before solded in the Transformer remove the capacitors on the secondary coil since they're not suited for such a high voltage added two output wires adjusted that distance to one another and finally started Rising the input voltage at a level of 12 volts the electric Arc was established which could also easily ignite fireworks and if we check the voltage on the primary coil we can still see the beautiful sine wave just with a higher frequency because of the lower inductance but needless to say this circuit is only prototype and not really a proper AR glider yet so stay tuned For an upcoming project video in which I will build one until then don't forget to like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next time