Gas ignitor

Hey guys,

I'm new here, but it looks to be a pretty good and helpful site.

Anyways, i'm working on my own version of a butane gas lighter. I got the fluid mechanics all good, but it's not a lighter like the ones held to light a cigarette. It's a larger type which i'm planning to ignite electrically. That's where i'm stuck. I'm using quite large gauge wire (thin) in order to ignite the gas by running a stepped down AC current of 12V from the standard 120V wall current through it. It works! But that's not the problem, the problem is that i plan to use it in my backyard where i don't exactly have access to 120V at every corner. So i decided to place a capacitor in the box, have it charge to 12V by the same transformer, and then discharge it through the same wire to create the same ignition. But that doesn't work.

Anyone know what's up, or how i could change it to work?

Thanks a lot!

Are you heating the wire to ignite the gas or is there a spark involved?

I guess it's the same concept as the fuses. So it would probably be heating, but the wire does snap, spark, and ignite the gas successfully. If it would of any assistance, the capacitor is 200µF.

Thanks.

I'm thinking you need a much larger capacitor, probably a factor 10 to 100 bigger. If you can raise the voltage, the energy stored in the capacitor is proportional to V^2, so try 24V and a cap that is 5 times or more bigger.

A spark take a lot less energy to ignite gas than a heated wire.