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If you’ve already dipped your toes into high-voltage power supply pool you may be thirsty for a bit more knowledge. Here’s a neat illustration of how to build a voltage multiplier that can output a positive or negative supply. It is based on a design known as the Cockroft-Walton Multiplier. It’s the add-on housed in [...]

Tags:  output supply voltage walton-multiplier cockroft-walton high-voltage-power high-voltage-power-supply misc hacks  

[Grenadier] built his very own x-ray machine. He’s no stranger to high voltage – we’ve seen his Jacob’s Ladders and Marx generators. Surely he can handle himself with high voltage and dangerous equipment. With this portable x-ray machine, [Grenadier] has begun overloading Geiger counters. We’re just happy he knows what he’s doing. The key component of [...]

Tags:  grenadier machine voltage jacob marx-generators geiger-counters dangerous-equipment Hardware  

[Afroman's] latest video shows you how to add reverse voltage protection with minimal power loss. At some point, one of your electronic concoctions will turn out to be very useful. You want to make sure that a battery plugged in the wrong way, or a polarity mistake with your bench PSU doesn’t damage that hardware. [...]

Tags:  p-fet voltage protection voltage-protection minimal-power afroman misc hacks  

Electrical Engineers don’t need push pins. That’s because they know how to control electrons! [Sven] put his knowledge of these subatomic particles to use when building his high voltage bulletin board. It uses a set of vertically strung wires to keep paper pinned against the board. The wires have high voltage at low current travelling [...]

Tags:  board bulletin voltage sven subatomic-particles kilovolts electrical-engineers misc hacks  

[Jonathan Thomson] just finished writing up his entry for the 7400 logic contest. It’s a voltage doubler that uses a 74HC14 logic chip. Because this is not at all what the chip was meant for–and he’s a sucker for puns–he’s calling it the Illogical Dickson Doubler. What he’s got here is basically a charge pump [...]

Tags:  logic voltage illogical jonathan-thomson dickson-doubler voltage-doubler logic-chip puns misc hacks  

[gijs] sent in the control voltage sequencer he’s been working on that uses the TVout Arduino library to provide a graphical interface. The sequencer doesn’t produce any sound on its own. Instead, it outputs a Control Voltage so other synths can be sequenced with [gijs]‘ TVSCV. Before MIDI came around, CV was the standard to [...]

Tags:  voltage control sequencer control-voltage graphical-interface gijs musical hacks  

[Dino] is back with another installment of his Hack a Week series, and in this episode he is taking on what he promises will be the last transistor-based project – at least for a little while. In the video embedded below, he shows off a homemade voltage detector circuit that he constructed using a trio [...]

Tags:  detector voltage installment dino voltage-detector transistor hack tool hacks  

Make your next project solar-powered with this charging circuit. It’s completely through-hole, and there are no microcontrollers that need to be flashed. If you can source parts and are handy with a soldering iron building this will be a breeze. Both the maximum system voltage and the low voltage drop out are configurable. After assembly, [...]

Tags:  efficiency circuit voltage lead-acid-batteries high-efficiency solar-charger green hacks  

Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen some pretty crazy and potentially dangerous stuff, like a stun glove and modern day alchemy. For our high voltage theme finale, we couldn’t pass up [Photonicinduction]‘s YouTube channel. Best known for his self-destructing washing machine (the source of this animated .gif), [Photonicinduction] is also the brainchild behind the [...]

Tags:  photonicinduction voltage finale high-voltage animated-gif brainchild Hardware  

The magnum opus of alchemy was the Philosopher’s stone, a substance that was able to turn common metals into gold. Unlike alchemists, [Carl Willis] might not be poisoning himself in a multitude of ways, but he did build a Farnsworth fusor that’s capable of turning Hydrogen into Helium. To fuse Hydrogen in his device, [Carl] [...]

Tags:  high hydrogen voltage carl-willis carl farnsworth-fusor magnum-opus alchemists chemistry hacks  

Although many might not know it, electroluminescent materials use high voltage, and thus qualify for our featured topic. Many may assume that these sheets work in the same way as LED lights, using low-voltage DC power.  This, however, is not the case, as they need around 100 volts of AC current to allow them to [...]

Tags:  high hacks voltage electroluminescence voltage-dc high-voltage how-to  

There’s a proverb that says ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick’. Now that stick can come in a high-voltage form factor. The device above, which reminds us of a side-handled baton with a coke can stuck on the end, is a portable Van de Graaff generator. Although debated in the comments, the creator of [...]

Tags:  high voltage stick van-de-graaff van-de-graaff-generator high-voltage proverb toy hacks  

Continuing on with our high-voltage theme, today we have a page describing Marx generators by [Grenadier]. Marx generators are devices that produce pulses of very high voltage with fast rise times. For most of us, that means that they can make neat sparks. For the more serious types out there, that also means that they [...]

Tags:  high voltage marx marx-generators grenadier high-voltage how-to  

If you’d like to build a Jacob’s ladder, an ignition system for a flamethrower, or for some ungodly reason you need 15 kilovolts for a prop replica or cosplay build, this one is for you. It’s an easy to build high voltage power supply that interfaces with an Arduino. After harvesting a flyback from the [...]

Tags:  flyback arduino voltage jacob high-voltage-power high-voltage-power-supply flyback-transformer hacks  

The anthem for the Great Recession might be something along the lines of, “That we’re gonna do it anyway, even if doesn’t pay.” Some men just want to watch the world burn, so Hackerbot Labs posted a great walkthrough about shrinking coins and in the process making our pocket change worth just a little bit [...]

Tags:  high hacks voltage t-pay high-voltage recession classic  

After seeing many projects that use microcontrollers to switch mains voltages [Rob Miles] decided to share his preferred method. The shots you see above are an enclosed relay, part number RIBTU1C manufactured by Functional Devices Inc. This in itself is not the full control scheme that he uses, but it takes care of the bulk [...]

Tags:  high use voltage rob-miles functional-devices control-scheme preferred-method misc hacks  

Instructables user [Admiral Aaron Ravensdale] just finished a high voltage plasma bulb build that makes creative use of off-the-shelf parts. As a self-described steampunk, [Adm. Ravensdale] also earned some cred by included working gears in his build. The heart of the build is a “flicker flame” candle light bulb. These light bulbs have two flame-shaped plates [...]

Tags:  steampunk voltage plasma adm.-ravensdale admiral-aaron-ravensdale flicker-flame plasma-lamp light-bulbs misc hacks  

[Rajendra’s] car had just about all the bells, whistles, and gauges he could dream of, but he thought it was missing one important item. In an age where cars are heavily reliant on intricate electrical systems, he felt that he should have some way of monitoring the car’s battery and charging system. To keep tabs [...]

Tags:  battery voltage car bells-whistles automotive-battery charging-system transportation hacks  

It looks like we now have another way to annoy ourselves with extremely high voltage. The bells operate under the same principles as the electrostatic see-saw we covered last month. A voltage is applied to one can while the other can is grounded. An insulated pendulum is placed between each can, and with a little [...]

Tags:  voltage turning beer beer-cans high-voltage pendulum classic hacks  

Instructables user [Rudolf] wrote in to share a handy little tool he created with ham radio operators in mind. Now and again, he found himself connecting to an unknown power supply, and rather than blow out all his expensive radio gear, he decided to put together a simple polarity and voltage tester that can be [...]

Tags:  polarity voltage tester ham rudolf ham-radio-operators voltage-tester radio-gear tool hacks  

Who needs a Fluke high voltage detector when you’ve got one of these things? Actually, we still recommend a professional high voltage detector for serious work, but you’ve got to like this electric field detector that [Alessandro] recently put together. The detector works by using a JFET to detect the high impedance electric fields that [...]

Tags:  detector voltage field alessandro voltage-detector jfet high-voltage tool hacks  

[Grenadier] tipped us off about his method for building your own high-voltage capacitors. He thought the paper and foil capacitor project was a nice introduction to the concepts, but at the same time he knew he could produce a much more powerful device. For the dielectric he is using acetate film. This is the material [...]

Tags:  voltage roll edition high-voltage-capacitors acetate-film dielectric misc hacks  

Here at Hackaday, we’re not against showing videos of gratuitous destruction just for the sake of it, though we try not to make it a habit. In this case we just couldn’t help ourselves. However, this video technically constitutes a security hack, as it does involve erasing sensitive information from CDs… …with awesome! This may [...]

Tags:  rig hackaday voltage gratuitous-destruction high-voltage misc hacks  

[Electorials] actually makes working with a flyback inverter sound rather easy. This comes hot on the heals of the huge high voltage collection we saw the other day, but slows way down in the presentation of information. This makes the project very approachable for the newbie, especially considering that the majority of the testing is [...]

Tags:  flyback inverter voltage electorials high-voltage misc hacks  

Prepare to learn. [Grenadier] has put together a collection of information about AC electricity that can safely be called a super-post. In 62 parts he covers a myriad of topics, some of them safe, many of them not so much. You may want to spend time reading through everything that he has to offer, but just in [...]

Tags:  goose high voltage ac-electricity grenadier time-reading misc hacks  

The polyplasmic archophone is a fresh approach to high voltage “arc music“. They are using  an Arduino clone to convert signals for the ignition coils. It is still unfinished, but the effect is decent. In the end it will have 2 tiers of voice coils for a total of 13. They are using different materials [...]

Tags:  archophone approach voltage voice-coils arc-music different-materials digital audio hacks  

[Ken] needed to supply 3.3 volts of regulated power. He started by using a linear voltage regulator but after a few calculations he discovered that 72% of what he put in was lost to heat. The solution to this is a switched-mode power supply. Rather than burn off energy through a voltage divider, an SMPS turns [...]

Tags:  bidding power voltage ken voltage-divider mode-power-supply linear-voltage classic hacks  

Think the swirling glow of a Decatron is cool but don’t want to deal with the voltage issues? [Osgeld] sidestepped the problem by developing a fake Decatron. Admiral Nelson (Captain Morgan’s cheaper cousin) provided the enclosure in the form of an airplane sized liquor bottle. The LEDs are common-something (not sure if it’s anode or cathode) [...]

Tags:  glow voltage decatron admiral-nelson captain-morgan liquor-bottle led hacks