Recently bought a CK Classic Piezo Electric Gas Lighter for lighting our
gas rings on the cooker. Worked like a charm for a couple of weeks then
it has, twice now, stopped working and after 24 or so hours starts
working again.

When it's not working it feels like the lever you press isn't squeezing
the piezo material - there is no "friction" feel. At first I thought
something had slipped inside, but was loath to take apart as I might
need to return it as faulty. I'm baffled by the erratic behaviour.

Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

Jim

Jim Jackson wrote on 15/10/2020 :
Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

As you squeeze the trigger, it should feel very springy, then the
tension should suddenly release with a loud click. Piezo generates high
voltage when it is distorted, which basically what happens when struck
suddenly by a tiny hammer - that is the click.

If it doesn't click every time, it is faulty, many are. Damp can short
out the high voltage, but it would still give a sharp click even if it
didn't generate the voltage and spark.

On 16/10/2020 09:00, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 16 Oct 2020 08:45:41 +0100, Harry Bloomfield, Esq.
wrote:

Jim Jackson wrote on 15/10/2020 :
Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

As you squeeze the trigger, it should feel very springy, then the
tension should suddenly release with a loud click. Piezo generates high
voltage when it is distorted, which basically what happens when struck
suddenly by a tiny hammer - that is the click.

If it doesn't click every time, it is faulty, many are. Damp can short
out the high voltage, but it would still give a sharp click even if it
didn't generate the voltage and spark.

Now you mention it, when mine was kept outside in the shed, it didn't
click, but when kept inside, it did. Perhaps the higher humidity
affects the springiness of the spring, but I don't know why it should.

I have had some which seemed to have some kind of pneumatic linkage from
a wedge shaped lever on the side - so rather than there being a single
click and spark, it generated a succession of multiple sparks on both
push and release.

The most reliable one we had seemed to be a Junkers pistol shaped one,
that gave a loud single click each time you pulled the trigger. Like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOn8m81So5o




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Cheers,

John.

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Normally they work a bit like a toggle switch, IE putting a sudden
compression on the crystal, so you get a sharp pulse to the step up device.
Two things, either its not doing that sharp pulse or damp is getting into
the transformer. I prefer the invertors driven ones. OK you need a battery,
but they keep on sparking as you hold your finger on the button. I used to
hate those filament ones on the top of a giant 1.5v cell, what a was of time
they were!

Brian who nowadays has no gas!


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Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Oct 2020 21:02:30 -0000 (UTC), Jim Jackson
wrote:

Recently bought a CK Classic Piezo Electric Gas Lighter for lighting our
gas rings on the cooker. Worked like a charm for a couple of weeks then
it has, twice now, stopped working and after 24 or so hours starts
working again.

When it's not working it feels like the lever you press isn't squeezing
the piezo material - there is no "friction" feel. At first I thought
something had slipped inside, but was loath to take apart as I might
need to return it as faulty. I'm baffled by the erratic behaviour.

Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

Jim

I used to have one that lived in a shed, for lighting a gas kiln.
Except that it never worked out there, whereas it did work indoors. I
assumed it was damp out there. Kept it indoors, eventually. But I
can't remember if it 'felt' different to use.

--

Chris

Thanks for the comments.

On 2020-10-16, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 16 Oct 2020 08:45:41 +0100, Harry Bloomfield, Esq.
wrote:

Jim Jackson wrote on 15/10/2020 :
Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

As you squeeze the trigger, it should feel very springy, then the
tension should suddenly release with a loud click. Piezo generates high
voltage when it is distorted, which basically what happens when struck
suddenly by a tiny hammer - that is the click.

If it doesn't click every time, it is faulty, many are. Damp can short
out the high voltage, but it would still give a sharp click even if it
didn't generate the voltage and spark.

Now you mention it, when mine was kept outside in the shed, it didn't
click, but when kept inside, it did. Perhaps the higher humidity
affects the springiness of the spring, but I don't know why it should.

This behaves as you describe. When it is not working there is no click,
when it works there is a click and spark. I'm beginning to think that
damp/humidity is affecting the operation. I'm now keeping it well away
from damp/humidity. Will see if it behaves itself better.

Happy to hear more experiences of these things.

cheers and thanks
Jim

Brian Gaff (Sofa) brought next idea :
Normally they work a bit like a toggle switch, IE putting a sudden
compression on the crystal, so you get a sharp pulse to the step up device.
Two things, either its not doing that sharp pulse or damp is getting into the
transformer.

Brian, there isn't any transformer in a piezo igniter. They are just a
piezo crystal, which generate a pulse of high voltage when suddenly
distorted. The sudden distortion is provided by a tiny hammer like
mechanism, fired by a spring, as you hear the click on squeezing the
trigger.

On 16/10/2020 19:43, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Brian Gaff (Sofa) brought next idea :
Normally they work a bit like a toggle switch, IE putting a sudden
compression on the crystal, so you get a sharp pulse to the step up
device. Two things, either its not doing that sharp pulse or damp is
getting into the transformer.

Brian, there isn't any transformer in a piezo igniter. They are just a
piezo crystal, which generate a pulse of high voltage when suddenly
distorted. The sudden distortion is provided by a tiny hammer like
mechanism, fired by a spring, as you hear the click on squeezing the
trigger.

https://www.americanpiezo.com/piezo-...enerators.html


--
€œPuritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.€�

H.L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy

On Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:02:34 UTC+1, Jim Jackson wrote:
Recently bought a CK Classic Piezo Electric Gas Lighter for lighting our
gas rings on the cooker. Worked like a charm for a couple of weeks then
it has, twice now, stopped working and after 24 or so hours starts
working again.

When it's not working it feels like the lever you press isn't squeezing
the piezo material - there is no "friction" feel. At first I thought
something had slipped inside, but was loath to take apart as I might
need to return it as faulty. I'm baffled by the erratic behaviour.

Anyone got any insights into what these devices do? Could it be
damp/water etc affecting the workings?

Jim

I've got a Dremel gas soldering iron. The most incredibly good lighting mechanism - seems to always work.

Yes - I do use it in the kitchen. But for lighting puddings at Christmas. (Induction, not gas, so no need.)