Disassembly and schematic of an arc lighter.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ย. 2015
- You can now buy me cake and things to take apart at:- / bigclive
A fairly recent arrival to the novelty cigarette lighter scene is the arc lighter. A lighter that basically uses a high voltage arc to light your cigarette, candle or whatever you wish to light.
"I don't think I'll get shocked" LOL
Famous last words...
*ZAP*
MilesUmbrae c
'I don't think i will get a shock because it is high frequency' WHACK!
Fucking rip 😂😂
I can't remember when last I laughed so much..... Thank you for that BigClive, you made my day 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣If I could give you a thousand Thumbs up for that, I WOULD 👍👍👍
1:50 "I don't think I'll get shocks." THUNK. LMAO. That was good.
electoboom anyone?
Yes
MY EAAARS
+patriotbarrow Same!
+patriotbarrow he's getting old enough for this lighter.
+patriotbarrow That sound is bloody annoying. on headphones, even worse.
+patriotbarrow In times like this, I wish I were old. So I didn't have to hear that sound!
+patriotbarrow at least clive tazes himself with it, so that's instant karma ;)
"I don't even know if that will come across."
*Cringing as headphones put out a deafening noise* I think it came across just fine.
@mister clean ...is ...is this life after hearing loss? hello? are there other people here?
@@pepe6666 laughably, I have significant hearing loss, but heard that high frequency noise all too well. Painfully so and the volume isn't all that high.
@@spvillano ohh mate. rough-house.
@@pepe6666 honestly, I thought I lost the ability to hear that frequency! What a way to find out otherwise, while I still have to have people repeat themselves during a conversation.
Me: "Huh thats quite high pitch, kinda cool"
Clive: "Its quite high pitched, here, let me show you!" *soves it into your hear*
Made my day. xD
Rave Wolf "Not sure if it'll really pick it up..."
I bet he didn't realize how loud it was on camera ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
LOL yeah it was SO FKIN LOUD in my earphones lol
stop using lenny its not funny in this context
Interesting way of getting around the stungun laws ;)
+Cameron Marks I'm wondering if it has the capacity to incapacitate. If so, it probably is illegal. Very dangerous to have as it would come under the firearms laws.
+Zooumberg Not even remotely like a stun gun. Having bought a stun-gun in America and then tried it on my leg in the hotel room, I can say it feels a lot different.
Zooumberg Would be interesting if it did.
"Section 5(1)(b) any weapon of whatever description designed or adapted for the discharge of any noxious liquid gas or other thing. Generally stun guns or electric shock devices, CS gas not usually cattle prods but depends on type. Note: Parliament has provided that disguised weapons fall within the provisions for a minimum sentence and so, an offence contrary to section 5(1A) should be charged rather than an offence contrary to section 5(1)(b) where a stun gun is disguised as another object and also meets the requirements of section 5(A1), (R v Brereton [2012]EWCA Crim 85) ?
www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/firearms/
Cameron Marks
Yeah Cameron. I wouldn't have one.
+Cameron Marks Some assembly required, search for DC 3v-6v to 400kV 400000V Boost Step-up Power Module High Voltage Transformer, add 2 18650 batteries in parallel, a switch and you are good to go.
My son came visiting us with one of those and as an electrical engineer I wondered how it was build up and now I know! Thanks for that Clive! BTW: the suppliers want to believe you that you can reload the battery about 500 times and light about 4 packs of cigarettes with one battery load. Those numbers can be divided by two I can imagine just as the used power of Chinese leds...
I bought one of these over the summer from Amazon. It was named after the great Nikolai, presumably to give reassurance it was designed by him, or perhaps the electric car company.
At any rate, it failed within a few weeks and would no longer charge. When I opened it up, it seemed the windings had shorted, and it was very poorly resined.
When Clive decided to test for shock, I got a big grin as I knew what was coming. The version I bought was activated by a mercury switch and shaking it. I had it in my pocket and was fiddling with it. Naturally I touched the arc and got a funky kick in the hand.
Nice video as usual.
"I wonder if you can get a shock from that?"
"Only one way to find out!"
--> I just did the face-palm thing when you said that...mainly because I was thinking the same thing! :)
Bahahaha
Thanks Clive... I have to admit.. I did watch the SHOCK part several times... 01:47
+martyn hartlebury (dragonheat) "Im sure it doesnt shock me" **ZAP**
masochists ^ ^
Interesting that the first time it lit the sound was very clear and quite loud (about 10Khz) at a guess, but when you put it close to the mic it clearly overloaded the input and added lots of distorted harmonics. I can STILL hear that sound now, clashed with my tinnitus quite well.
+Michael Beeny It was the TH-cam processing that turned an already exciting noise into something reminiscent of a Space Invaders machine exploding.
+Michael Beeny
I measured 13.8kHz with an audio spectrum analyzer. I luckily don't have a tinnitus, but frequencies above that around 15kHz go straight to my teeth and make them feel tingly.
+superdau mine said 14.17khz. i wonder if that jitters
The interesting thing is that the frequency recorded is nowhere near the actual oscillating frequency. A friend gave me a couple of cold cathode tubes and driver from a printer and my headset picks up the noise created really well. As I increase the power to the driver, the frequency decreases until about 17 volts (DC input to the driver), and then it suddenly pops back up again and rises. If anybody's interested, I can make a short video demonstrating it.
Oh, and it also killed my multimeter when trying to probe the AC voltage. Frequency increased as power increased, from memory, but I could be wrong.
"I wonder if this will give me an electric shock..."
*shocks self*
Thanks Clive for sharing your experiments with us. I learnt a lot from you.
About this kind of stuff that make spark(not an arch), yes it is high frequency. I am amazed you as such an experienced engineer touched the contacts of that. I think you mixed up the case with arch welder that with a low voltage makes arch, arch welder is absolutely a different scenario, to start an arch in it the electrodes must be touched for a second and then the very high amount of current and other conditions are required to have a stable arch. In sparkers such as your lighter a very high voltage is needed, the high frequency is needed in favour of using much smaller transformer not the lower output voltage , the higher the frequency the smaller the cross sectional area of the coil which means the smaller transformer. All the switching PSUs these days are using the theory of high frequency, as you remember any electronic device we used to buy there was a heavy transformer in it but we can't see them any more except in a device that needs a very high current which still use the classic type transformers for high currents consumption. Many thanks again
Rip headphone users
and home cinema users...
CPM1 TV I knew it was coming, so I decreased the volume beforehand.😁
and laptop warriors (i can finally get that model m that i always wanted but never bought becuse the sound annoyed me
14KHz clipping
Yeah man that shit was terrible! I have earbuds in. I knew it was coming but didn’t think it would be that intense.
Awesome vid. Managed to repair a similar one that i gave to a friend thanks to it. Turned out to be a dry solder on the small circuit board.
You gave me a good laugh there at 1:52, Clive!
Many thanks for brightening my day.
I bought a different version with two arcs in an x shape.
I can say from experience that the two-hand shock you got happens when the arc shorts to the case. Which coincidentally only occurs when you try things you really shouldn't.
OWWWWW MY EARS!!! THE LIGHTER IS SO LOUD!!!!
I have young human ears so I hear the really loud high pitch parts and they really overpower the white noise.
I cant hear a damn thing and im 21 xd :P Is it normal?
no, danijel your hearing is just bad
It had a high enough pitch to trigger my tinnitus...
i have one of those and its not as loud as the video makes out
I love that you've been shocked so much you can critique the feeling.
always nice to youtube an interesting piece of tech and finding you have done a video on it. Knowing you will explain it and take it apart as well with reliable quality.
I have one of these that has the X arc pattern, bought it because the 2 arcs passing right thru each other without interacting was interesting to me... I have never been froggy enough to poke a finger into the electrodes with it on, but expect it would be similar result.
They're cool but definitely drawbacks... One is the electrodes foul readily. Another is the output fades as the battery drains down, exacerbating the effects of the fouling... And then there's cold battery response. But still a sweet addition to the collection.
OMFG that noise when you turn it on!!! 20KHz PAIN!!!!
rip ears...
13,750hz, but nice try though ;)
@@DJSNT Interesting, I got it as 14·285kHz - but that was just one sample. Frequency may change when a big fat candle wick is placed in the way.
Re measured - still getting it at 70µs/c. www.flickr.com/photos/pmailkeey/48872322562
Reanalysed measurements. 71-72µs = 13·889 - 14·084kHz so as near as dammit, 14·0kHz.
I have headphones on and only heard a little very quiet static... guess my hearing loss is now down below 15khz....
Love how you have to test if it'll shock you, thanks for taking one for the team to find out
You are doing teardowns of things from which i didnt even know that i wanted a teardown of them...
Great channel :)
i now have a high frequency filter on my speakers..
best use of my time ever.
It's got be entirely wind proof which is a good property for a cigarette lighter.
+tobortine I got my dad one for his birthday and he did say it was pretty good in that regard. You can blow on it and make quite nice bows in the sparks, just dont get your lips too close :)
+Firecul42 well its not a good idea to put your lips close to a normal flame either
aajjeee Indeed.
tobortine ... What do you mean the wind will help the arc to reach you while standing in the wind!
can't bring to words how much i love this channel :)
Very interesting, thanks for making this vid! I just got an arc lighter yesterday and was curious about what was inside.
very interesting. I am interested in seeing the waveform of the HV signal on a scope and seeing the peak voltages this device generates.
This video made me curious enough about these things that I had to buy one, and of course I stepped it up and got one with a double arc. It lacks the lid safety switch, and from experience I can tell it is also very capable of delivering a nasty shock when the arc crosses any metal object you're touching…
I'm not sure if the only purpose of the double arc is to make it look cooler. It seems the two arcs cancel out each others RFI for the most part. I don't have the horrible squeal when recording a video of it, only a few pops.
Great video!! I just bought a Dr. Dro Catalyst Arc Lighter the other day and this vid cracked me up. You made my day, thanks, especially when it got to the cheese puffs, LOL. I will have to check out more of your vids. Again thanks! :)
I love how you trusted your understanding of the skin effect enough to bridge(!) the contacts on a HV transformer, only to learn the hard way that you were wrong.
Can you look at one of the lighters with two crossing arcs?
Does it make that FUCKING EAR TEARING SOUND IRL???
Yes
Nah, it's just a quiet crackle.
Yes. It's a tesla coil, so it will make a very irritating noise. Honestly, it's not so bad when you have a cigarette or whatever in it, but it still makes the noise.
Is it at least less pain inducingly shrill in real life?
lol lol It's much worse. The microphone doesn't quite have the same range as our ears. It almost feels/sounds like your ears are ringing.
Ah, glad you brought up those shock lighters, I managed to make the battery drain quite a bit on one that my friend tried to prank me with because it felt so odd but also kind of good in a way I just sat there and held it down.
Oh man. You took one for the team there. I laughed WITH you when you stuck the solder in it. I presumed you would get a shock as i was betting that was a static discharge arc. But, good for you boss. Bravery incarnate.
LMAO, you threw it down. "It's high frequency so I don't think I'll get an electric shock" I lost it there LOL
"I don't think ill get shocked because if this high frequency"
*jumps back...
so smart lol
Fantastic Video & Teardown Clive. I have one of these Lighters in an X pattern and it's Fantastic. They are such a Cool Gadget. Interesting about the Angry Pixies Shocking you part too. Keep up the great work. Nick.
Thanks Clive - that's just the sort of ignition I want for my invention !
Love the testing portion of your video. Such a sacrifice! I just got my first arc lighter and its one of the new fangled "dual arc" lighters. Any idea how they get the arcs to cross without jumping to a closer terminal? I'm thinking there is an oscillator in there that switches the terminals on and off too fast to see. Anyone out there know how this is done? Thank you.
Clive: "I don't even know if that will come across"
Headphone users: "OH GOD MAKE IT STOP"
This video was incredibly educational, thank you.
I use one of these while working.
Welders/structural steel workers aren't allowed to carry lighters due to the danger of exploding if molten metal drips on them.
They're good for lighting a cutting torch too, provided you don't get the torch tip too close to the arc.
That's how I found out they'll shock you.
Clive takes one for the team. The team can't seem to take a bit of static from Clive though.
I put my hand on a multi-stage can capacitor in the back of a Magnavox color TV , near the fly-back and suddenly the pain overcame me causing my body to empty itself of all waste products. I never thought to use the thing to light a cigarette. Some things didn't need 'inventing'.
worddunlap .. Yeah .. That's the real reason they call them flyback xfmrs. You literally do and you will never forget it!
I asked you for taking this apart. Nice video, very interesting!
Hi Mr. Clive,
I like your, vids. Keep up the excellent reports.
pierre (New Mexico)
I bet that shock woke you up a bit Clive :)
I dont know why, but you shocking yourself gave me the intense desire to like your video.
i just bought a $6 bbq arc lighter on amazon with free one day shipping & it doesn’t make any noise at all, i love that
I actually FELT that ZAP with you BigClive.
Thumbs up just because the shock was funny :)
Very interesting.
Looks like it might double as a stun gun, too.
OMG that is an awesome dog whistle. Won't be able to hear correctly for a while now. Thanks Clive!
thank for showing me that something like this exists cant wait to get 1
PLEASE throw a high frequency audio filter on this!!!
I really like that and would love to have that in a longer version for lighting deep recessed candles and such. I currently use a BBQ lighter from the dollar store but those aren't all that great and the butane (the devil's gas, lol) stinks.
i got one from an online store, a stick version of electric lighter
@@nomnom914 A lot has changed in these 7 years and counting since this.
@@thebeststooge im glad youre still alive and well
Clive you're such a brave soul for sticking that solder into that arc haha. I was cringing before during and after the insertion.
sorry Clive disliked due to the fact that hurt my ears, it made me tear off my headphones.
+SwGuru Excellent! I have created an audio TH-cam monster. My work here is done.
+bigclivedotcom hehe
+SwGuru headphones sucks use big speakers this will not rape you ears
+1ol17 I have my computer hooked up to a 500w stereo system with large speakers I have taken out of cars, and let me tell you what... This video still raped the fuck out of my ears.....
+Nolansykinsley Don't listen at such high volumes then. It's bad for your hearing regardless of whether you're using headphones or speakers.
Using that in the rain could be interesting
They're water resistant
+Jimmy Star smoking a bowl of weed could be problematic though
lol, fuck me. shock the piss out of your hand or what if you got your nose, haha
Just don't try to light slightly wet cigarettes with it.
anything wet
+Nicholas Ruiz
A bad choice of lighter for rainy day
why not
+Koning Willy it's kind of obvious why
I bought one literally two days ago and i am still *amazed* as a child seeing the electric arc!! (which btw is not visible here in the vid, maybe due to your camera/lighting or my phone screen) but man... is it *beautiful* to look at this purple-blue-orange arc 😵 ⚡
👌👌👌👌👌👌👌🙌⚡
btw i am an electronics engineer so you satisfied my curiosity and i cannot thank you enough!!
Kudos!!
I've never seen someone so devoted to thier channel that they'll take an electric shock for thier viewers, been bit more than once by electricity and I can say I sure wouldn't
I think your SHOCK scared the 3 people who've currently disliked the video lol.
Thanks for the entertainment Clive. 👍🏼
11....
Could you do the shock again but record at 240fps?
dont think his ipad can do that if its an old one or if has a new version or using another camera
The shock is great!!!!!!!!!!! Do it again!!!!!! Youre the man!!!
Just made me lol in the chemist. Thanks for making me the center of attention. Just like you, I wasn't expecting the shock :-)
My ears!
+SuperBoobaloo Yes, I just thought I'd test the frequency range of your headphones.
+bigclivedotcom What is it? like 18k? 20k?
+Cody Fitzgerald I'm not sure, but an arc is generally broad spectrum white noise, so it may be whatever your speakers can manage.
+bigclivedotcom Loud and clear on AKG K7XX powered by Objective2 + ODAC combo...
+Cody Fitzgerald there is a very nice peak at about 14k.
imgur.com/sb7irmo.png
Please forgive the crudeness, I couldn't be bothered fighting to download the video properly so just held my headphones to my mic to record that clip.
Man, you were shaking the entire video after the electroshock.
Reminds me of this Navy CTM (electronics tech for crypto equipment) of my acquaintance, who, upon sliding a piece of gear out of a rack, got quite a shock when he touched a particular spot. He said, "There shouldn't be anything _there...",_ and then proceeded to firmly grab the same spot *_again._*
After getting up off the deck, he said, _"Well, I hope we all learned something from that..."_
love watching your videos, Clive. A request, if I may? I Love watching you tear down dodgey stuff, it'd be great to see you fix them more often, like the LED lamp videos
The skin effect does not work really with flesh - I think what happens, is that the pain of electric shocks comes from two main sources: the involuntary muscle contraction and the burning. If the frequency is very high, then the muscles dont respond to it so much so this effect goes away, also if the current density is low (like a few mA but spread over a wide contact area), you wont feel it. But it's not so reliable and even quite high frequency you can get just as bad shock depending on the exact circumstances.
Also, anyone who has had a shock from mains, you can absolutely for sure feel the 50Hz (or 60 or technically 100 or 120) pulsation . I know I could, very distinct.
I recently did realise that it is indeed not the skin effect but lack of sensitivity to the high frequency of the current flowing through me. This is borne out by a surprising shock I received when I deliberately held the two output wires of a high frequency and high voltage inverter which was powered from a bench supply. I was expecting to pass current without feeling anything, but got a sizeable shock from the superimposed 100Hz ripple.
i can tell you that even at 390kHz i can sometimes feel the shock (tesla coil)
viermidebutura That may be the 50/60Hz ripple you are feeling.
bigclivedotcom
Interestingly though that a 390Khz signal that has a 50Hz ripple superimposed actually has no 50Hz component at all.
bigclivedotcom the tesla coil i'm speaking of works only on first 1/4 of the 50Hz cycle and can repeat the arc from 100 times per second to 1 arc every 2 seconds
obviously i touched the arc al a low bps so i only received 400kHz for 5ms
if i think more you are still right because the arc grow fallows the first 1/4 sine mains voltage so there is still a low frequency component
also i received some 30kHz burns from a battery powered inverted but felt no shock
Unfortunately that sound when the lighter is on is what I hear all the time ringing in my head.. Shoud I do to an doctor? is that important?
go to a doctor* jeez..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus
thenickdude cool huh?
Bartosz Olszewski hey i know this is kinda late to ask but do you still hear the ringing???
You learn to live with it, only really bothers you when its dead silent. After awhile you learn to drain it out. I'm sure it was a joke but hey, if not, 3 years later. hows it going?
Thanks for the review, was waiting for it :-)
Great video as always.👍🏻
Scotsman dies on camera is not a headline I'm looking forward to. Can you get a new Samsung phone and do a live stream so we can call the 999?
+Thanh Tran unfortunately, if Clive had died he wouldn't be able to upload the video. :(
Completely removes the suspense. ;P
Live stream next time you do something like that!
bigclivedotcom
For the comfort of our suspense, maybe viewers can chip in a wee bit of money to get him a live streaming app on his ipad?
If you're gonna test whether something shocks you or not, up one arm and down the other isn't the best option, as it goes right across your chest. I know you weren't expecting it, but that's probably the most important time to care. Try keeping it to one hand or arm.
He knows. That's what he was going to test. He just didn't expect the lighter itself (or the button) to close the circuit.
I commented to a guy working on some electronics "Judging by the spark, that looks like mains voltage". But his test lead wouldn't fit in the Sub D socket - so he inserted a straightened paper clip using bare hands. That pretty much confirmed 240V !
Really enjoying your tear-down vids pal, had to up thumb this for the shock alone ha ha. My cats super sensitive to the high pitch noise when you power up the lighter, in fact she jumps out of her skin like she has been shocked lol.
I love how Clive's main experimental technique is simple yo try to shock himself. A true manly man!
u have great voice. are u Irish?
Scottish.
2:23 almost looks as if your hand is cut off
it was worth going back in time to see Clive get a shock off of this arc lighter
MY EARS ARE BLEEDING THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!!
Ugh. The HF audio isn't really too great. My audio amp went into self-protection shutoff when you were holding it on for longer at the end of the video. Maybe you could Low-Pass filter the audio a bit in the future if you do something like that?
I wish I had something like that for my speakers... I have a 2.1 stereo from corsair attached to an early 80s Sony stereo by a headphone splitter and every time I move the device that's plugged in the cheap splitter makes horrendous popping noises...
+Tobias Mädel (Manawyrm) Melted my earwax. well that saved a job at least.
+Tobias Mädel (Manawyrm) Ohai! Anyways, he's probably uploading directly from his iPad and not post-editing these things.
+EpicLPer yea. makes sense. Ohai! ;)
+EpicLPer Yeah, it really is exactly as it happens. The most editing I do is joining sections end to end. So you got its full audio glory, further enhanced by TH-cam's horrific inability to deal with high frequency white noise to make a really exciting auditory experience.
T-Cun? did they put the last letter at the start of the sentence accidentally XD
+Liberty4awl Plastic film around mass produced components are frequently offset in the process. Like a capacitor labeled "70μF / 16V 4".
I bought one of these. They're good fun, though they *do* give you a hell of a jolt if you get your finger too close to the arc. And they burn out if you, for example, try to make tiny Lichtenberg figures with them.
I actually fixed mine by unscrewing base plate pushing innards out the top partway then pulling rest of way out then a sliver of shaped metal fell out so once I'd located where it was meant to go which was a slot in circuit board near hinge so using tweezers I positioned it and used blu tack to firmly keep it in place put it all back together works a treat
only one way to find out.... zzzzap
When I light my arc lighter I can smell some kind of gas over it. Do you have any idea what the fck im breathing there?
If it smells like bleach then it's ozone. The arc discharge splits the oxygen molecules apart and creates O3 (three molecules of oxygen) which is an unstable gas that gets rid of the third oxygen molecule onto anything that can be oxidised.
bigclivedotcom Thanks for the quick reply! I actually don't know how bleach smells, I'm 14 but I think it smells like butane gas. Is it save to breath ozone gas?
QUIT. Yeah it's safe. You can get ozone generators because they clean the air by bonding with pollutants.
yep great answer!
tonymengela What do you mean? Isn't it save to inhale this?
This video drove my cat nuts, excellent.
Guinea pigs went fucking nuts
"I don't think I will get a shock as it is high frequency" pushes solder into electrical arc. Solder, lighter is dropped and hands disappear from sight. :-D lol, that was hilariously funny!! :-D.
I was just saying to myself, put your finger in it, put your finger in it... and sure enough, you did it !!! Am still laughing so hard, my stomach hurts.
We love you Clive, for all the pain you go through for us.
Great Video, I think that capacitor to ground from the button is to filter any button De-bounce.
i know that was not pleasant. Yet it was funny as hell. You'll never know how much I needed a laugh at that moment. Just know that I appreciate it. Thanks.
I love it when we as humans get brave throw caution to the wind and stick things into electric conections just for kicks, I used to test an electric fence for a gentleman every morning by touching it to the back of my hand not realizing he ment me to look at the charge box for the indicator to say it was working fine. And yes im on 240v here and i removed dead lights for our xmas tree with my teeth not paying attention only to bite through the glass and hitting my tounge thus agreeing that the powerwas still on.
Subbed to the channel after watching this video.
I have to say iv got tears in my eyes after laughing so much.
Thanks for any information
Your accent and knowledge of tech makes me think of The Doctor (David Tennant)
I Lolled so hard with you getting that shock. "Well that felt quite.. intresting" haha