PillaDoubleG Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I'll be posting this to some other forums to see if anyone can identify what this thing is, thought i try here first. Recently i came across a seemingly old german transformer, and i have no idea where its from. I asked the guy who i bought it from if he knew where it was taken out of/found, he said that he has no clue. Its actually a really terrifying transformer, it claims to work on 220v AC an that it outputs 35kv AC!!! I know this is a pyrotechnic forum after all, but it would be cool if someone maybe recognized it. I will test this in the near future to see if its not lying about the output... Stay safe pyros!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 As a reasoned GUESS, it's part of the starter circuit for a 1200w discharge lamp capable of generating pulses of many thousands of volts. Maybe, possibly, perhaps it's from a cinema projector, it's a little under protected to be military surplus. If the wording is to be believed it looks HIGHLY DANGEROUS unless used inside the intended structure 35Kv doesn't need wires it tracks through fingers, arms etc and will kill. Add to that, you have come by this OTHER than in professional supply, it's possible that it works or has failed. It's untestable unless you have lots of HV test gear. Lots more research is needed before you show it power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PillaDoubleG Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 5 hours ago, Arthur said: As a reasoned GUESS, it's part of the starter circuit for a 1200w discharge lamp capable of generating pulses of many thousands of volts. Maybe, possibly, perhaps it's from a cinema projector, it's a little under protected to be military surplus. If the wording is to be believed it looks HIGHLY DANGEROUS unless used inside the intended structure 35Kv doesn't need wires it tracks through fingers, arms etc and will kill. Add to that, you have come by this OTHER than in professional supply, it's possible that it works or has failed. It's untestable unless you have lots of HV test gear. Lots more research is needed before you show it power. Now that you mention i have no clue if its pulse or continuous. The guy selling it labeled it as "High voltage generator" but that 35kv claim might be false as you said. Even if it isn't 35kv, its still 100% high enough to kill, and the frequency is super low so that really solidifies the lethality of this thing. I really don't have any equipment to measure that high voltage, so if i were to measure it would be off raw arc length, but even that would be debatable. Oh and it definetly isn't military surplus, I'm not that lucky The guy said that it was brand new (only like 100 years old!!! ) and unused. The unused part surprises me since it looks at least 50+- years old. The guy could also be lying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I know NOTHINK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrownBiscuit Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) PillaDoubleG based on the symbol on the far right on the diagram it is definitely a pulsed spark-gap device at any rate. I'm thinking perhaps a furnace ignition transformer, Arthur might also be right about the cinema projector. The voltage is a bit high for most ignition transformers as they mostly go up to the 20kV range, but maybe it was for use in much colder temperatures than normal and harder to ignite fuels than standard fuel oil. The circuit kind of resembles a spark gap radio transmitter but those have been in violation of international law to transmit on since 1934 due to jamming other radio frequencies. Richtee, I see you are trying to invent the better mousetrap, lol. Edited March 12 by ThrownBiscuit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edricorojo Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Just looking up the name "Jundgerat" online, it comes up with xenon lamp igniters. Which it would fall into that voltage range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 My guess is that this circuit is for the ignition of a Xenon discharge tube by a 35KV (ish) discharge through the quartz tube if the lamp, or by a discharge via the terminals of the discharge lamp. Accordingly I'd assume that correctly wired, inside it's own case, then inside a luminaire case and behind glass -therefore well protected- it's a normal part of the operation of a discharge lantern (which could be for cinema, disco or architectural or other purposes). ANY attempt at the indicated 35KV without due precautions is foolhardy. Get some wisdom and help to understand this device in your own (first) language before playing with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PillaDoubleG Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 I looked into these xenon lamp igniters, and they are cool, but have some problems. Their output is super ugly! The oscillations are super uneven and just plain messy. From my knowledge, feeding that input to some components can damage them. And the output is pulsed, not continuous, which doesn't work for me. Just my opinion though, someone else might like it. Because of this, I was thinking of taking out the transformer and just using that. Sadly, there is not enough information provided to tell what turn ratio it is, or anything really. If the transformer works ok standalone, I will definitely supply it with a higher frequency source, to get a safer and better output. Also wanted to know what others think about this idea? There are probably some issues that I'm not aware of. I'd like to know them before I shock myself or something I'm mentioning this in case it helps someone with their projects. 15 hours ago, edricorojo said: Just looking up the name "Jundgerat" online, it comes up with xenon lamp igniters. Which it would fall into that voltage range. Thanks for this! I somehow didn't think to search it up before. 8 hours ago, Arthur said: ANY attempt at the indicated 35KV without due precautions is foolhardy. Get some wisdom and help to understand this device in your own (first) language before playing with it. I won't be using/testing this thing anytime soon. I'm not nearly prepared enough, which is why I'm asking for additional information, just incase someone has some insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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