I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?

On 10/30/2011 7:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?


Unless you want the entire pumpkin burning, you'll need to add internal
wiring, and some sort of metal points on facing sides. Like maybe grind
the head of a 16d nail shiny, cover shaft with shrink wrap, and shove
through the face, and connect the ends inside the pumpkins. Set the
pumpkins on some sort of insulating material, like dry wood.

Recommend you put the setup out of the reach of young fingers, lest the
parents hiding in the bushes start calling the cops on their cell
phones. Dunno how far the sparks will jump- been decades since I played
with one of those transformers. Ask over in one of the electronics
groups- those guys know everything.

--
aem sends...

On 10/30/2011 8:08 AM, aemeijers wrote:
On 10/30/2011 7:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?


Unless you want the entire pumpkin burning, you'll need to add internal
wiring, and some sort of metal points on facing sides. Like maybe grind
the head of a 16d nail shiny, cover shaft with shrink wrap, and shove
through the face, and connect the ends inside the pumpkins. Set the
pumpkins on some sort of insulating material, like dry wood.

Recommend you put the setup out of the reach of young fingers, lest the
parents hiding in the bushes start calling the cops on their cell
phones. Dunno how far the sparks will jump- been decades since I played
with one of those transformers. Ask over in one of the electronics
groups- those guys know everything.

How about one of those toys that uses a rough wheel to rub against a
piece of flint?
It could probably be motorized easily.

On Oct 30, 8:09*am, Art Todesco wrote:
On 10/30/2011 8:08 AM, aemeijers wrote:



On 10/30/2011 7:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?

Unless you want the entire pumpkin burning, you'll need to add internal
wiring, and some sort of metal points on facing sides. Like maybe grind
the head of a 16d nail shiny, cover shaft with shrink wrap, and shove
through the face, and connect the ends inside the pumpkins. Set the
pumpkins on some sort of insulating material, like dry wood.

Recommend you put the setup out of the reach of young fingers, lest the
parents hiding in the bushes start calling the cops on their cell
phones. Dunno how far the sparks will jump- been decades since I played
with one of those transformers. Ask over in one of the electronics
groups- those guys know everything.

How about one of those toys that uses a rough wheel to rub against a
piece of flint?
It could probably be motorized easily.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Art's idea is MUCH safer, the neon transformer will kill very readily,
that's what they use in bug zappersa, only on a much smaller/lower
scale. You don't want to have to explain on national tv how you
killed a trick or treater.

On 10/30/2011 11:14 AM, hr(bob) wrote:
On Oct 30, 8:09 am, Art wrote:
On 10/30/2011 8:08 AM, aemeijers wrote:



On 10/30/2011 7:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?

Unless you want the entire pumpkin burning, you'll need to add internal
wiring, and some sort of metal points on facing sides. Like maybe grind
the head of a 16d nail shiny, cover shaft with shrink wrap, and shove
through the face, and connect the ends inside the pumpkins. Set the
pumpkins on some sort of insulating material, like dry wood.

Recommend you put the setup out of the reach of young fingers, lest the
parents hiding in the bushes start calling the cops on their cell
phones. Dunno how far the sparks will jump- been decades since I played
with one of those transformers. Ask over in one of the electronics
groups- those guys know everything.

How about one of those toys that uses a rough wheel to rub against a
piece of flint?
It could probably be motorized easily.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Art's idea is MUCH safer, the neon transformer will kill very readily,
that's what they use in bug zappersa, only on a much smaller/lower
scale. You don't want to have to explain on national tv how you
killed a trick or treater.

A neon transformer has high voltage, but almost non existent amperage.
They will ring your chimes if you are grounded, a bit like a spark plug
wire but I wouldn't classify them as deadly.

If the OP could rig one to spark and arc intermittently, it could be
quite showy.

On 10/30/2011 11:15 AM, DanG wrote:
On 10/30/2011 11:14 AM, hr(bob) wrote:
On Oct 30, 8:09 am, Art wrote:
On 10/30/2011 8:08 AM, aemeijers wrote:



On 10/30/2011 7:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?

Unless you want the entire pumpkin burning, you'll need to add internal
wiring, and some sort of metal points on facing sides. Like maybe grind
the head of a 16d nail shiny, cover shaft with shrink wrap, and shove
through the face, and connect the ends inside the pumpkins. Set the
pumpkins on some sort of insulating material, like dry wood.

Recommend you put the setup out of the reach of young fingers, lest the
parents hiding in the bushes start calling the cops on their cell
phones. Dunno how far the sparks will jump- been decades since I played
with one of those transformers. Ask over in one of the electronics
groups- those guys know everything.

How about one of those toys that uses a rough wheel to rub against a
piece of flint?
It could probably be motorized easily.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Art's idea is MUCH safer, the neon transformer will kill very readily,
that's what they use in bug zappersa, only on a much smaller/lower
scale. You don't want to have to explain on national tv how you
killed a trick or treater.

A neon transformer has high voltage, but almost non existent amperage.
They will ring your chimes if you are grounded, a bit like a spark plug
wire but I wouldn't classify them as deadly.

If the OP could rig one to spark and arc intermittently, it could be
quite showy.

Two words...well, three ( ) -- electric fence charger...already
rigged up.

--

On Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:03:56 -0600, jw wrote:

I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks jumping
between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats rated around
25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this transformer) to one
pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin, will sparks jump
between them? How far will they jump?

Doing the math in my head, as I "grew up" knowing this in cm, but I think
around 80kV/inch in air is around the right sort of number.

It's possible to 'draw' the spark out to a much longer distance (e.g.
Jacob's Ladder) - and a neon sign transformer or TV/monitor flyback
should work well there, but that's not really the effect you're after...

I agree with others, though, there's a fire hazard here - not to mention
that HV can be pretty painful; if you do make something, make sure it's
not 'accidentally' accessible.

I remember making a spark-gap generator when I was about 15; I built a
waveform generator running from a 9V battery and used the HV transformer
from an old camera flash for the step-up. It was reasonably effective for
zapping friends with and gave quite a jolt (ahh, the days of being young
and foolish, rather than old and foolish!), but based on the spark length
I was only getting about 10-15kV out of it.

cheers

Jules

On 10/30/2011 4:03 AM, wrote:
I want to have two pumpkins kissing each other, and want sparks
jumping between them. I have an old neon light transformer thats
rated around 25,000 volts. If I connect one wire (from this
transformer) to one pumpkin and the other wire to the other pumpkin,
will sparks jump between them? How far will they jump?

25K will get you about an inch. If you keep the pumpkins moist. May
**** anyone who touches them off though.


--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email