DIY Jacobs Ladder

[ARCSTREAMS]

loved the music lol, i tried making a Jacobs with a FBT driven by 26W CFL it worked but unstable i dont get steady arc rises sometimes its slow sometimes it zaps fast is this cause the volatge is too high and not enough amps? how about if i used a 600v .9A electronic ballast hooked to the ladder directly? i also noticed whenever i had sparks form jacobs or from fbt output on to electrodes my standing fan would start turning fast when it was off lol but if i unpluged it it wouldnt work.

[vertoisful]

how many volts



[randommezos]

where can u get the transformer?

[DickyLynch]

I got the transformer from a skip! I guess you can get them from eBay, there called NSTs (neon sign transformers). Good luck. :)

[randommezos]

do you think it would work with a 5K V 30 MA Nst??

[DickyLynch]

Should do, air breaks down at 3kV per mm so the wires need to be 1.6mm apart at the bottom, It should work up to a 25mm gap at the top. :)

[iseealavalamp]

I can't get a continuous arc on my ladder, if I'm lucky it will arc maybe 5 times, but normally it will arc once and I have to turn on my transformer again.

[DickyLynch]

Did you get the ladder working? It sounds like the current output of the transformer is low and the wires need to come closer together.

[juniortore]

great video thanks i am planning on making one

[DickyLynch]

Cool!

Let me know how you get on. My transformer was 8kV 29mA but it was a little disappointing. I'd get the biggest transformer possible.