stormdog: (Geek)
MeghanIsMe ([personal profile] stormdog) wrote2015-05-15 09:27 pm
Entry tags:

Will This Thing Blow Up and Kill Me?

I need an adult. Or someone who knows more about high voltage safety than I do.

If I connect this thing up to a couple of wire coat-hanger ends and fire it up to make a kick-ass jacob's ladder, how likely is it to explode in a ball of fire and/or send metal shrapnel toward me at a high rate of speed? I scavenged it from an abandoned building and the output is specced at 15kv.

It wouldn't be my first jacob's ladder; I have another one I built with a neon sign transformer of about half the voltage. I just don't know if there are likely to be internal problems in one this old that's been subject to freeze / thaw cycles. Is this an oil-filled transformer? Does that make a difference?

It would be so pretty!


Old 15kv Neon Sign Transformer