Charging a capacitor

[Makke]

Hello, I'm wondering if there's a simple yet effective way to charge a capacitor with rather low voltage. I got plenty of capacitor, including one camera flash capacitor, and lots of other high voltage caps.

I'm thinking more like a camera flash charges its capacitor, is it a way to replicate it? I'm not very good at electronics yet either, so a simple circuit would be best

Also, what does "uF" on the capacitors stand for?..

[john_g]

Hi Makke

There is a good overview here that should explain all:

Introduction

- one of many out there.

Regards

John

[Makke]

Hello John, thank you for your answer. Ill take a look at it, thank you

Edit: Hello again, I've gone through the whole tutorial now. And that doesn't quiet explain a simple circuit of how I would charge a capacitor like a camera flash does, using a small power source and still giving in power to the capacitor.

[stevend]

Edit: Hello again, I've gone through the whole tutorial now. And that doesn't quiet explain a simple circuit of how I would charge a capacitor like a camera flash does, using a small power source and still giving in power to the capacitor.

This page was one example:
http://www.matter.org.uk/schools/con...circuits1.html
Although you don't need the switch. Just get a small battery, doesn't matter what size, AA, AAA, ... I've attached some photos. I took the capacitor from a camera. It's an electrolytic capacitor. For electrolytic capacitors, the negative side of the capacitor, marked on the side with minus signs, must be connected to the negative of the battery and the other side, the positive, must be connected to the positive of the battery.
-Steve
http://rimstar.org http://wsminfo.org

[Makke]

This page was one example:
Incomplete capacitor circuits
Although you don't need the switch. Just get a small battery, doesn't matter what size, AA, AAA, ... I've attached some photos. I took the capacitor from a camera. It's an electrolytic capacitor. For electrolytic capacitors, the negative side of the capacitor, marked on the side with minus signs, must be connected to the negative of the battery and the other side, the positive, must be connected to the positive of the battery.
-Steve
rimstar.org - Solar/wind, composting, non-conventional energy/propulsion Wave Structure of Matter (WSM)

Ah, I see. Will this fill the capacitor to its maximum? thats what I want, be able to fill it to the max then uncharge it to make sparks.

[stevend]

Ah, I see. Will this fill the capacitor to its maximum? thats what I want, be able to fill it to the max then uncharge it to make sparks.

Oh, no it won't. Be careful. Once these capacitors are fully charged, the arc they produce is dangerous.

What I'd do is get a disposable camera, open it up, discharge the capacitor using the end of a screw driver or something, cut the connections to the capacitor and remove it, then solder wires to where the capacitor was connected so that you can have the capacitor be outside the capacitor for convenience. Just remember which connection in the camera is negative and which is positive so you can connect properly to the capacitor. The cameras are free. Just go to any store that develops film for these cameras and ask for one or a few. Once they've processed the film they send the cameras elsewhere for recycling. They're usually happy to give them to you instead. I've gotten 7 or 8 at a time, taken them home, removed the capacitors and any still charged AA batteries, and then returned the remains to the store. They were fine with that too.

Also, uF stands for microfarad. The farad is the unit of measurement for the capacitance of a capacitor. A microfarad is 0.000001 farads.
-Steve
http://rimstar.org http://wsminfo.org

[Makke]

Oh, no it won't. Be careful. Once these capacitors are fully charged, the arc they produce is dangerous.

What I'd do is get a disposable camera, open it up, discharge the capacitor using the end of a screw driver or something, cut the connections to the capacitor and remove it, then solder wires to where the capacitor was connected so that you can have the capacitor be outside the capacitor for convenience. Just remember which connection in the camera is negative and which is positive so you can connect properly to the capacitor. The cameras are free. Just go to any store that develops film for these cameras and ask for one or a few. Once they've processed the film they send the cameras elsewhere for recycling. They're usually happy to give them to you instead. I've gotten 7 or 8 at a time, taken them home, removed the capacitors and any still charged AA batteries, and then returned the remains to the store. They were fine with that too.

Also, uF stands for microfarad. The farad is the unit of measurement for the capacitance of a capacitor. A microfarad is 0.000001 farads.
-Steve
rimstar.org - Solar/wind, composting, non-conventional energy/propulsion Wave Structure of Matter (WSM)

Thanks alot Steve, that sounds interesting. the fun thing is, I had a camera flash (A sepparate one) and I broke it. Now I wanted to replicate it to keep charging my caps, sadly, I dont know how to.
And yeah, I have played with fully charged capacitors and flyback transformers before so I know the risks.

[gyula]

Hi Makke,

There is a Kodak camera flash circuit schematic in this link:
http://www.kitty.org/2600/Downloads/Kodak%20Zapper.pdf

Probably your flash is different but this may give you a starting kick...


Here is some more on simple higher voltage capacitor charger circuits, with schematics:

Various Schematics and Diagrams with

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/uc350vc.gif

or Various Schematics and Diagrams with
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/minips.gif

and several similar circuits in this same link like the strobe ones etc:
Various Schematics and Diagrams

rgds, Gyula

[Makke]

Hi Makke,

There is a Kodak camera flash circuit schematic in this link:
http://www.kitty.org/2600/Downloads/Kodak%20Zapper.pdf

Probably your flash is different but this may give you a starting kick...


Here is some more on simple higher voltage capacitor charger circuits, with schematics:

Various Schematics and Diagrams with

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/uc350vc.gif

or Various Schematics and Diagrams with
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/minips.gif

and several similar circuits in this same link like the strobe ones etc:
Various Schematics and Diagrams

rgds, Gyula

Hello Gyula, thanks alot! That looks like just what I've been looking for.
Ill take a closer look at it, then I'll return with my progress. Also, whats a n'inverter transformer' ? Are they the yellow small boxes?, Because I think I have one that I took out from my broken disposable camera flash before I threw it away.

[gyula]

I think the inverter transformer is the one which has a low number of turns primary coil connected to the collector electrode of the transistor and the positive battery pole, and which has a high number of turns secondary coil to create HV. IF you mean the yellow one in this picture shown as T2
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/kflashmp.gif
then it is not the inverter transformer but the so called trigger one to control the flash tube when to flash.
However if you have that yellow transformer you can use it as an inverter transformer too because it has also a HV coil output though not as high as an inverter trafo. (You may wish to study voltage multiplier circuits in this case, if this trigger type trafo does not give HV high enough for your purposes. It may have only 3 pins instead of 4, this only means you have to explore where inside its construction it had been connected, to use in its auto up-transformer function as shown in the pdf kodak file, last page.

[Makke]

I think the inverter transformer is the one which has a low number of turns primary coil connected to the collector electrode of the transistor and the positive battery pole, and which has a high number of turns secondary coil to create HV. IF you mean the yellow one in this picture shown as T2
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/kflashmp.gif
then it is not the inverter transformer but the so called trigger one to control the flash tube when to flash.
However if you have that yellow transformer you can use it as an inverter transformer too because it has also a HV coil output though not as high as an inverter trafo. (You may wish to study voltage multiplier circuits in this case, if this trigger type trafo does not give HV high enough for your purposes. It may have only 3 pins instead of 4, this only means you have to explore where inside its construction it had been connected, to use in its auto up-transformer function as shown in the pdf kodak file, last page.

Oh, I ment the black box (T1) its yellow at the sides just like T2. Thank you very much for helping me so far.