Battery question.

[KelticKhemist]

This may sound like a rookie question but I am a rookie. I thought I could get a spark by soldering copper wires to the negative and positive terminals of a 9V battery, then I tried 2 9V batteries. They wouldn't even warm up. What am I doing wrong? They were new batteries.

 

[billybob]

Are shorting them?

 

[billybob]

*are you

 

[billybob]

I used to have fun attaching the positive terminal of the batter to the negative terminal of another battery over and over until I had this giant chain of 9 volts in series. Then I got a wire and touched the two ends creating a good size spark and the sweet smell of burning insulation.

 

[KelticKhemist]

Im not sure what you mean by am I shorting them. Yea earlier today I watched a video on youtube of someone connecting 500 of them! Looked like a cool project but the 2 9V batteries I bought yesterday were $13, so that's not within my budget.

 

[billybob]

What are you trying to do? Just make a spark from two 9 volts?

 

[billybob]

This is what I'm talking about..

 

[shokjok]

Do you need 45 volts for a miniature Tesla coil?

 

[Dick Cappels]

Just a couple of 9V batteries won't get you enough voltage for a very exciting exhibit.

 

[billybob]

I

Do you need 45 volts for a miniature Tesla coil?

If you get the resonance frequency right, You can get away with 12 volts for a slayer exciter circuit and still produce fairly good sized streamers from the top of the secondary.

 

[billybob]

I absolutly love the simplicity of a good slayer exciter