Some New Information for the Wiki
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:32 pm
When I was looking at the Wiki, I noticed the small section about the internal spark electrodes on a stungun. I am not referring to the test electrodes on the outside, but rather the VERY small spark gap on the INSIDE. The funny thing was, I've been reading a tiny bit about Tesla coils, and this struck me as similar to a generalized tesla coil. The real Wikipedia also supports this theory, saying that they may be run off an oscillator, resonant circuit, and step up transformer.
Basically, I am postulating that a standard stungun makes use of a resonant electronic circuit like a tesla coil, (diagram below), to produce the high voltages relatively quickly. Instead of mains power across the step-up transformer going to the primary circuit, though, you would have something along the lines of a 555 oscillator to produce the proper driving current.
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.markfh11q.net/images/tesla.gif"></div>
Except, the output from the primary circuit would then be used to drive something along the lines of an autotransformer, to step the voltage either up or down, (depending on the primary circuit's output).
What do you electronic geniuses think? I've googled to no end but nothing has any real specific information on the circuitry of a stungun.
EDIT - BUMP. C'mon guys. This actually has quite a bit of relevance. By switching out things like the capacitor in the primary circuit, or the charging transformer, or the control resistors and capacitor on the 555 oscillator, you can change the frequency of the output from the retarded "click click click click click", (~ 5 Hz from my count), to somewhere in the range of a few kilohertz.
This means we can mod a stungun to provide a continuous spark, like a flyback transformer... except with about half the headache, (I still haven't been able to find the primary and secondary ground leads on my flyback. Only the secondary + lead and feedback leads are marked with wires, and there's 12 leads on the bottom. With a few minutes and a multimeter I bet I could find the right leads, but as for now, I'm kind of screwed here. Also need to find a good enough switching transistor. Only type transistors that are available are the MOSFET switching ones, and the crappy power transistors that will burn out in two seconds switching the high-frequency off the feedback.)
I guess I'm going to have to break down and just buy one myself. That throws my plans for ordering a bunch of crap from AllElectronics to make some junk out the window, though.
Basically, I am postulating that a standard stungun makes use of a resonant electronic circuit like a tesla coil, (diagram below), to produce the high voltages relatively quickly. Instead of mains power across the step-up transformer going to the primary circuit, though, you would have something along the lines of a 555 oscillator to produce the proper driving current.
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.markfh11q.net/images/tesla.gif"></div>
Except, the output from the primary circuit would then be used to drive something along the lines of an autotransformer, to step the voltage either up or down, (depending on the primary circuit's output).
What do you electronic geniuses think? I've googled to no end but nothing has any real specific information on the circuitry of a stungun.
EDIT - BUMP. C'mon guys. This actually has quite a bit of relevance. By switching out things like the capacitor in the primary circuit, or the charging transformer, or the control resistors and capacitor on the 555 oscillator, you can change the frequency of the output from the retarded "click click click click click", (~ 5 Hz from my count), to somewhere in the range of a few kilohertz.
This means we can mod a stungun to provide a continuous spark, like a flyback transformer... except with about half the headache, (I still haven't been able to find the primary and secondary ground leads on my flyback. Only the secondary + lead and feedback leads are marked with wires, and there's 12 leads on the bottom. With a few minutes and a multimeter I bet I could find the right leads, but as for now, I'm kind of screwed here. Also need to find a good enough switching transistor. Only type transistors that are available are the MOSFET switching ones, and the crappy power transistors that will burn out in two seconds switching the high-frequency off the feedback.)
I guess I'm going to have to break down and just buy one myself. That throws my plans for ordering a bunch of crap from AllElectronics to make some junk out the window, though.