Leyden Jars

[Flashzone]

I cant seem to get them to work! I have look all over the place and asked people how to make them and what could be wrong with mine. I cant figure it out.

 

If there is anyone with any knowlege on how they work, please post back with some feedback on how to make them.

[_DB_]

Don't know if this will help, but - http://home.earthlink.net/~lenyr/stat-gen.htm

 

That's the tutorial I used to make my first and only Leyden Jar. It's quite simple and mine worked like a charm, although the spark generated from it is not all that impressive. I used the static from my TV screen to charge it. I might make a bigger one soon after seeing _Po_'s Sparky.

[al93535]

It depends on the insulator and conductors used, but mostly on the insulator. I made one from a 5 gallon water jug from sparkletts, and got horrible results. The best I have made was a tupperware type of container. About 2 quarts. I used aluminum tape on both the inside and out. I used the lid to hold a steel rod, and used a few wires from that to touch the inside foil tape. this gave excellent results.

 

Also, this is from my own idea, and it gave spectacular results. Get a thin plastic film, say 20 mil thick, maybe a bit more or less. I was using this plastic from a optics shop I got from ebay. Make squares of this material, Then cut out aluminum foil squares. The al squares are naturally about 2/3 the size of the plastic squares to prevent spark over. So you lay a plastic square, then aluminum foil, attach a thin piece of foil strip (or HV wire) to the foil to lead it to the next foil sheet (of course you use one side for alternating strips. IE, positive on one side of the cap, negative on the other) then another layer of plastic. Now you do another layer of foil, but now for the opposite voltage, so the strip or HV wire, goes out the other side. Place another layer of plastic and then a aluminum sheet, pull the foil strip from the bottom foil over onto this sheet and make another strip to go to the next al sheet. And keep going. Then with the final two layers use a wire to go to the top and charge and spark from there. The more layers the larger a charge you can hold. And believe me, this thing can hold A HUGE charge. You need to test at what voltage your plastic can withstand, AND at what voltage it will arc around the plastic square. After you get an arc through the plastic, your cap is fucked, so test before you build a full sized one!

 

Hope that makes sence.

 

Anyways you need to experiment until you find a good plastic basicly.

 

A word to the wise. Conduct these experiments in a safe place. I was across the room happily charging and discharging a jar when my computer fucked up! Looks like the spark hit the same frequency the CMOS operated at, and erased it completely! No reset, no flash, it was GONE! hahaha the computer still worked in a basic mode though.

[Flashzone]

I made one out of a glass jar and it had a metal lid on it, will this effect the charging of the leyden jar? The one I made looks very nice and it seems like it would work. I just need to upload the pictures and you could tell me if it would work.

[al93535]

A metal lid would cause the charge to arc over. Use plastic. But ya post a few pics.

[Flashzone]

OK This one I made has a metal lid:

( I also made a nice tiny one out of a film can, but I cant find it oh!!! I know where it is HAHA):

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/Aut...me/DSCN1195.jpg

[al93535]

I see, nice construction, you have that bit down well. Also, your center rod IS touching the metal foil on the inside right? But I Think the glass is killing your potential. Sure it will work, but it is usually to thick for our pourpose here. We want those two metal plates/sheets to be as close as possible to eachother.

 

You need as thin as is possible plastic, that is very good at holding the two opposing charges from eachother. Try some tupperware, I think you will have alot better results. But keep with your design.

 

Let me know!!

 

btw, what are you charging with?

[Flashzone]

I have a tubber ware container I will make it out of tonight. And yes the metal wire is tuching the inside foil. I'm charging it wih a PVC pipe and a wool glove. Is there a better way to charge it up?

[al93535]

That will charge it pretty good, a bit slow though. The best way is to get an old TV, pull out the cicuit boards and cut all the wires to the TV, then use the flyback transformer to charge it. If you are interested I can give you more details. PC monitors also work. The larger the CRT the high voltage you will get from the xformer.

[Flashzone]

Ya that would be great, But What is a better way to charge it without looking for a TV or Monitor?

[al93535]

Well, that is the easiest way to get 25 - 40 Kilovolts DC real fast. Your PVC and wool will get a good charge going as well, not quite as high because even though static CAN build up that much voltage, you will lose some after every charge due to corona leakage.

 

There are other ways to make high voltage DC, but they are more involved then just finding a TV.

[Flashzone]

How do you take out the flyback transistor out of the TV?

[xxMIKExx]

A compacitor may also work from a crt tv/monitor or flash camera. The voltages inside a TV/Monitor are VERY dangerous so I wouldnt use it to charge the stuff with (but go ahead and have fun at your own risk).

[brainfever]

I'm also pretty interested on how to go about getting the flyback transformer out of a CRT device without damaging it or frying myself ...

 

First off ... what does it look like?

Where do I connect the 220~ and where will the high voltage DC come out?

Is any other electronic junk from the tv needed or does it work on it's own?

[FrankRizzo]

You can also "harvest" the static charge that's left on the outside of a TV screen after you turn it on or off. Just move the collector wire around on the surface of the glass; those tiny crackling noises are the discharges into your collector.

 

Obviously, be careful with a charged Leyden jar. I've received some nice jolts from a mason jar affair like Flashzone's.

[al93535]

Its not so easy as to just say how to remove the flyback. There are a few considerations.

 

First of all, take the TV back off. Wearing gloves, pull out the circuit board. Make sure the TV is unplugged obviously. Now find all the large capacitors and short them out with a screwdriver or pair of pliers, WHILE STILL WEARING GLOVES! This is probably the most dangerous part. Even though the flyback can give you a nasty shock, it cannot deliver the amperage the capacitor can. The cap CAN kill you!

 

Cut all the wires to the monitor, speakers ect. Pull the board free. Now the big thick wire that was attached to the back on the monitor is the HV wire. Use it as +, and then the metal plate that the flyback is mounted to as ground.

 

Plug in the board, and have fun!! Extended pulling of arcs will fry the resistors on the board, but sometimes the fuse will blow first. If you are using this only to charge lyden jars, it will last a long long time!

 

If you intend to draw arcs, or anything other then charging caps you need to build a flyback driver curcuit.

 

I advise anyone attemping this to read at HVforums first. http://4hv.org/news.php

 

Also, powerlabs has a few good ideas.

[_Po_]

Ahh, you're a bunch of weaklings.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/kakkak/real_mans_jar.jpg

 

As it's charging it sucks the foil in and makes a crinkling noise. Would it be more efficient if the foil was wrapped tightly? On a good day I can get spraks jumping over 20mm just from rubbing wool on PVC pipe.

 

And something I tried the other night, I put a film cannister l-jar inside an ice cream container l-jar. It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the spark improved a bit.

 

Can anyone say what effect putting one jar inside the other would have? Both jars are connected in parallel. Would more jars store a bigger charge? Like those doll things with one inside the other...

 

Also, how does glass compare to plastic?

 

My lounge chair is really awesome for making charges. You just rub your arm hair over one seat once and collect it in a jar and it's enough for a spark about 3mm. Sometimes I rub my back over about 3 seats and collect it as I rub past. So I rub my back on the chair and drag the collecing wire on the chair after me. It charges it up really well.

 

Another question, would foil thickness or make any difference? I've seen jars for use with wimshurst generators usually use thick copper foil. I can get some copper sheet tomorrow from school, so I might see if it makes a difference.

[h0lx]

I still can't get any success in charging a jar. Do you just keep the electrodes close and then create static near it? I tried like that and tried grounding one electrode too... nothing happened. I suck when it comes to electronics so don't laugh too hard.