Wireless Power: Transmitter as Flyback Driver, High Voltage, Jacob’s Ladder, Fish Fry
WARNING: HAZARDOUS VOLTAGES. PROFESSIONAL IDIOT IN CLOSED ROOM. DO NOT ATTEMPT. YOU CAN BE KILLED IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE. DISCHARGE ALL CAPACITORS BEFORE SHOCKING YOURSELF SILLY. I was driving around on the East side and found a discarded television set, big one, Mitusbishi kind, already ripped open. So I stopped and saw that the motherboard was still in it, with the flyback transformer intact. Ripped it out on the spot, pit bulls barking at me and people wondering why. A few hours later and I’ve got a neat little HV system started. The Wireless Power transmitter, with a few extra caps, makes a serviceable flyback driver and gives me good effects on only 12 – 13 VDC input. I used the transmitter output directly to drive an 8-turn primary wound around the open part of the flyback’s yoke, in place of the transmitter’s output loop. I added 120 nF of capacitance to the transmitter to lower the frequency somewhat. For safety and longevity I put the whole flyback into a jug of mineral oil. To identify the HV ground pin on the bottom of the flyback I just used my function generator to drive a three turn loop around the flyback yoke with 50R in series. Set to square wave at 20 kHz. Positive DC voltmeter lead to the HV output, and probe the pins with the negative lead. All of them will give near zero except the ground pin, which might give you six hundred volts this way. SO be careful.
