Shock toys Question

[eleon]

zzzzz

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi, can anybody tell me if the shock pens they sell out there are safe to use? Is there any possiblity to make a circuit to decrease a schock released by those gag toys? If so how can i decrease the intensity of the shock with simple components?

You can easily decrease the current by adding a resistor in series with the electrodes.

However, nothing which gives people a shock is completely 'safe'.

 

[eleon]

Wish resistor capacity you recommend for it? And perhaps i could connect a wire from the pen button to the circuit with the resistors, but the pen button would have to be always pressed, so that way i could see the result.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Wish resistor capacity you recommend for it? And perhaps i could connect a wire from the pen button to the circuit with the resistors, but the pen button would have to be always pressed, so that way i could see the result.

Use ohms law to calculate it, measure the voltage with a multimeter, decide what maximum current you want, then apply ohms law.

 

[Oznog]

The modern shock toys are piezo crystals, now common as strikers for cig lighters. Nothing really unsafe about them.

A parallel resistor might also limit the voltage generated, it might limit it better than a series one in fact.

Just what do you want to do here?

 

[eleon]

Just an experience i want to do. A way to decrease the intensity of this type of discharge so it can be more harmless and then also control the intensity with a adjustable resistor, perhaps im going to use a resistor that can be adjustable. I wonder how many volts this shock toys discharge out. Some say 100 volts. Got a see with th multimeter, anybody tried to see it?

 

[Dr.EM]

It could be over 100v at a suitably low current, but measuring it with a multimeter is unlikely to work well as its probably much higher than 50hz output. Its also possible the multimeters inpedance will load the voltage down, so high the output impedance of the device is.

 

[Oznog]

Just an experience i want to do. A way to decrease the intensity of this type of discharge so it can be more harmless and then also control the intensity with a adjustable resistor, perhaps im going to use a resistor that can be adjustable. I wonder how many volts this shock toys discharge out. Some say 100 volts. Got a see with th multimeter, anybody tried to see it?

It's already regarded as harmless.
The voltage it discharges at is way over 100v! It's DC and brief though, also by design they won't put the current across the heart. Well, maybe the shocking pen could if you held the pen in one hand and clicked the button with the other, but that's "unlikely".

I asked what for because there were many "electric accupuncture pain relief" devices made of one of these things sold in catalog ads years ago, but for like $40 or so. Eventually the FDA managed to catch them and they were prosecuted for a medical fraud.

 

[eleon]

And what about when it is used with one hand? What is the reach of the shock? Some say that when you get an electric shock a fatal effect can come after 20 minutes, but i dont thing it refers to shock toys like this,
the shock pen i have is the empire version

Look here what they say about it

https://www.gagworks.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=35

 

[Oznog]

Never heard anyone claiming someone had their heart stop beating because of a shock pen, and we're a pretty hysteria-prone society. Their legal department just got all paranoid.

I think the key here is to make your victim sign a waiver first. However, I would advise against giving them that particular pen to sign it with; the timing would be an issue.

 

[Dan East]

Over a decade ago my grandfather and I tried to measure the voltage across the electrodes of one of those cigarette lighters with a digital benchtop multimeter. That was the last thing that meter ever did.

Dan East

 

[eleon]

Why? Dont tell me the voltage was so high that it broked the meter?
Well over a decade ago those toys where not secure, i think, they discharged a unacceptable voltage, a dangerous voltage. I dont thing the toys of today will wreck meters. But the truth is that i didnt try it yet, heh.
On the other side, dont know the power of discharge of cicarette lighters

 

[Someone Electro]

Well i cigarete lighter can suply up to 15 000 V but only a fragment of a miliamp so you cant get even a tiny bit close to killing your self.It only shocks a bit.When you get staticly charged and tock somthing is more dengerus than this.