SpudFiles

Hi all.

I was about to go run around looking for old TV's to pull some flyback wire out of, but then got turned off by all the rain we're getting.

Anyways, I wondered to myself how far back the SGTC archives went back, and pulled a search for all posts by "_latke" (BurntLatke's owner).

I found about two I remember, and then found some dating back to 2003.

Anyways, I found this little gem:

_latke wrote:The red wire originally on the L1 was salvaged from a TV flyback. The new wire used on the L3 is test probe wire from radio shack. It says that it's only rated for 1000 volts but but works great with 65k stunguns. No shocks or leaks. I have not tested it with 100,000+v zappers though as 65k is plenty.
The radioshack test probe wire is supple and flexible in red or black. Cheap too.

So anyways, I picked some up (from Home Depot, though) and tried it out with my homebrew CDI module and coil.

Even with the wires touching, there were no shorts. This is most likely what I'm going to use in my new project, as the wires will be pretty close to each other.

I pulled my multimeter out (with it's intact test leads ) and got a resistance too low to read for about 4' of the stuff.

Just thought I'd share.

Are you talking about this?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062651

I'll keep this in mind if I ever use anything higher voltage than the piezo igniter, good find mark.

When using lower rated wire, you have corona issues. Don't be surprised if you find a static build up on your (especially PVC) gun.

theBOOM wrote:Are you talking about this?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062651

Yep, although I've found the stuff at Home Depot has slightly more insulation and is a lot more supple (although more expensive).

rp181 wrote:When using lower rated wire, you have corona issues. Don't be surprised if you find a static build up on your (especially PVC) gun.

Won't eliminating sharp bends in the wiring reduce a lot of that, or am I thinking of something else?

Just some notes on wire insulation;

The rated voltage is the working AC voltage of the insulation where it does not degrade over time due to the voltage (normal time based deterioration does not change). The wire can and is rated to withstand normal expected system surges, spikes, etc that your home surge suppressor are supposed to protect against. At elevated voltages, ozone and other breakdown components can attack the insulation and conductor leading to an early failure.

In high voltage systems with high frequencies (stun guns, flybacks, etc) the amount of capacitance the insulation will AC couple out of the wire becomes important so insulation qualities including Dielectric Constant, Dielectric loss, and voltage punch through all become important. The center insulation used in RF coaxial cable is designed with low loss and low dielectric constant in mind. Many are rated for high voltage. S300 a rigid coax used by the cable TV industry is a good choice for rigid applications and RG-8 foam core is an excellent choice for other high frequency high voltage applications. It is often used in ignition systems where the ignition has to be 100% shielded against radio noise such as in millitary applications for powering radio communications.

For low frequency applications, the high voltage wire used to connect neon signs to their high voltage transformer are a great wire. A neon sign shop should sell it to you by the foot.

My last comment is for TV flyback transformers and the red wire. Most modern TV flyback transformers contain an internal high voltage diode and the picture tube acts as a filter cap. As such this wire is often not suitable for high voltage AC applications. The wire may have high deilectric constant with high corona discharge as a result of coupling the ac voltage to the outside of the wire. Think safety and be aware no all high voltage wire is created equal.