Making a glow plug? or hot metal wire..

[Cazzo]

yo yo yooooooo??

question bout the glow plug, or thermoelectric stuff etc.

i heard that if you connect some thin wire to a battery's leads, it will glow red hot.

this is cool

Questions;

- Will the battery explode if i have it connected for ages? or will the battery do something i dont want...

- What sort of wire is best to do this work. and will it keep working??

THANKS BOIZ. And girls

 

[Ian Rogers]

All down to the current... If you have a 2 amp wire connected to an AAA cell.... nothing (except the battery would go flat quickly). If the battery had 200 amps available, ie.. large car battery, the wire would just melt and burn.

If your wire was a 40 amp wire some damage may be experienced as there would be enough current to heat the acid in the battery....Remember.. A drop test (standard car battery test) has a 40amp shunt wire with a amp meter, to test for current loss.... To keep the wire from burning away you need to encapsulate in glass ie... a bulb.

 

[Cazzo]

ohyea thanks.

Wat about glow plugs? they are not enclosed like a bulb.

I also heard of this vaporiser smoking device that does this. you put herb on it, and heat the wire heats up??

Lol i forgot that bulbs do this. if i took the filament out of a small bulb, would it glow for me, or just burn??

could i wire a trasformer somehow to make low volt and high current from a 9V battery to drive a ..wire to heat??

 

[DerStrom8]

Connecting a wire directly across a battery's terminals is never a good idea. You're creating a dead short that could seriously damage it. The battery will likely heat up, and could explode.

If you're talking about the cigarette lighter "glow plugs" in a car, they are made up of a special, high-resistance wire that limits the current. For that reason, the battery is a lot safer.

 

[Boncuk]

All down to the current... If you have a 2 amp wire connected to an AAA cell.... nothing (except the battery would go flat quickly). If the battery had 200 amps available, ie.. large car battery, the wire would just melt and burn.

If your wire was a 40 amp wire some damage may be experienced as there would be enough current to heat the acid in the battery....Remember.. A drop test (standard car battery test) has a 40amp shunt wire with a amp meter, to test for current loss.... To keep the wire from burning away you need to encapsulate in glass ie... a bulb.

A 2A wire remains a 2A wire even when connected to a battery able to supply 200A.

Calculating the resistance for a certain current flow at a certain supply voltage e.g. 2A at 12V the wire resistance will not allow for a higher current if the rated voltage is not exceeded.

Glow plugs as used for model aircraft engines draw approximately 2A at 2V of battery voltage.

Car starter motors usually draw currents between 90 and 150A, depending on the number of cylinders and the displacement. I've never heard about a "cooking" battery when starting a car engine.

Boncuk

 

[Cazzo]

So what exactly is current draw in a simple wire???

the amount of current the load (wire) wants from the battery?? and how much can a battery give

so if i get a really really thin wire, it should have low current draw yea? and will heat up?

is there anything i can do to make this wire heat up for me, just for few seconds not too long??

 

[Boncuk]

could i wire a trasformer somehow to make low volt and high current from a 9V battery to drive a ..wire to heat??

A transformer requires AC to convert voltages either higher or lower than the input voltage!

Boncuk

BTW, google for nichrome wires. They are designed for heating devices, e.g. toasters and ovens.

 

[DerStrom8]

So what exactly is current draw in a simple wire???

the amount of current the load (wire) wants from the battery?? and how much can a battery give

so if i get a really really thin wire, it should have low current draw yea? and will heat up?

is there anything i can do to make this wire heat up for me, just for few seconds not too long??

According to Ohm's Law, Current is equal to the Voltage divided by the resistance. If you have a 12 volt battery and your wire is .2 ohms, the current I=(12/.2) = 60 amps. That is a lot of strain on a smaller battery, but car batteries can provide hundreds of amps. Each battery is different in its current production. It is important to remember that the more current you take from it, it will drain more quickly, and produce more heat. That is why heaters use a high-resistance wire. Let's say a piece of heater wire has 10 ohms of resistance (I'm just throwing a random value out there). With the same 12 volt battery, the current I=(12/10) = 1.2 amps.

If you're looking for something to heat up that doesn't put too much strain on the battery, find a heavy duty battery (not AA, C, D, or 9v--I mean really heavy duty, like a car battery) and some heater wire.

I hope this helps!
Regards

 

[Ian Rogers]

A 2A wire remains a 2A wire even when connected to a battery able to supply 200A

True.. but a 2 amp rated wire will carry about 10 before it burns out.... That wasn't the point I was making.

 

[Cazzo]

This is a good example of what i mean:
https://magic-flight.com/

its this little vaporiser that heats up some wire, with just an AA battery..

is that circuitry just an AA battery with the terminals shorted with this wire. resulting in the heating of the wire?

 

[ronv]

Google nichrome wire. You can get almost any resistance you want. I bought some about the size of 28 gage that has a resistance of about 7 ohms per foot. I hook about a foot of it stretched tight to 12 volts and use it to cut foam. Works like a champ.

 

[DerStrom8]

This is a good example of what i mean:
https://magic-flight.com/

its this little vaporiser that heats up some wire, with just an AA battery..

is that circuitry just an AA battery with the terminals shorted with this wire. resulting in the heating of the wire?

The wire resistance is calculated to allow the proper amount of current for heating. Rather than calculating with 12 volts, you calculate with 1.5 volts (if it uses only one AA battery). The battery size does not really matter--it is just the resistance that is changed to create heat and reduce strain on the power source.

 

[DerStrom8]

Google nichrome wire. You can get almost any resistance you want. I bought some about the size of 28 gage that has a resistance of about 7 ohms per foot. I hook about a foot of it stretched tight to 12 volts and use it to cut foam. Works like a champ.

I agree. Nichrome wire is very popular for these kinds of projects, and is very easy to use. It also isn't hard to get your hands on

 

[audioguru]

The vapourizer uses AA rechargeable battery cells (it doesn't say how many).
They don't say how many "smokes" the battery will provide before it needs recharging.

 

[RODALCO]

If you haven't got a car battery, then for experimenting a 7Ah 12Volts SLA battery can be used for experimenting.
These can put out around 70 Amps maximum for a short time.
These batteries are fully enclosed.

To avoid damaging the battery terminals make some short jumper wires ( 6 mm sq ) to keep your experiment away from the top of the battery in case hydrogen gas escapes which can explode.

You can do the tests and try different lenths of R wire and see if it burns out or melts.

Not a bad idea to use safety goggles just in case something goes wrong.

 

[atferrari]

Be careful - Things can go wrong.

Hi Cazzo,

It has been told already but be careful if you do any experiment with all this.

Things can go wrong easily.

BTW, who helped you to choose the nick? Gregorio De Falco?

 

[Reloadron]

If you want to screw around with this, here is what I would suggest. Find yourself some high wattage automotive lamps like the H1-100 automotive bulb. That or similar low voltage high wattage lamps (incandescent type) with a tungsten filament. Gently place the lamp in a rag and break the glass envelop without breaking or destroying the filament. Try applying voltages much lower than the original lamp was rated for. You want the filament to glow and not burn up. You could approach it that way. Another option is to hack an old toaster and rip the element out. Try assorted lengths of wire applying low voltage to get the desired heating effect. There is going to be some trial and error.

Ron

 

[DerStrom8]

If you want to screw around with this, here is what I would suggest. Find yourself some high wattage automotive lamps like the H1-100 automotive bulb. That or similar low voltage high wattage lamps (incandescent type) with a tungsten filament. Gently place the lamp in a rag and break the glass envelop without breaking or destroying the filament. Try applying voltages much lower than the original lamp was rated for. You want the filament to glow and not burn up. You could approach it that way. Another option is to hack an old toaster and rip the element out. Try assorted lengths of wire applying low voltage to get the desired heating effect. There is going to be some trial and error.

Ron

Very clever with the light bulbs. I never thought of that

I had thought of the toaster, but those are usually intended for a higher voltage. I'd try the light bulbs first, if I was the one making this project.

 

[4pyros]

The vapourizer uses AA rechargeable battery cells (it doesn't say how many).

It shows One.

 

[Boncuk]

True.. but a 2 amp rated wire will carry about 10 before it burns out.... That wasn't the point I was making.

Am I missing a point here?

How will you make a 2A rated wire to carry 10A other than increasing the supply voltage by the factor of 5.

It's not only the current rating, but also the voltage rating allowing the maximum possible current flow.

Just a small calculation: 2V/2A rating means the wire has a resistance of R=V/I, R=2/2, R=1 Ohm. Allowing the current to become 10A the voltage must increase to: V=R*I, V=1*10, V=10V.

10V supply voltage is far beyond the power rating for that wire.

Imagine you connect your TV to a 1,000V mains outlet. Figure what will happen.

Boncuk