244 9 volt batteries connected in series; almost 2000 volts DC

[tomturbomatic]

guy fun: electricity, arcing, danger, destruction, the usual more power quest

 

[danemodsandy]

Just shocking!

 

[wayupnorth]

I would rather doubt that 1 good battery did all that and who would have that many right there. He should have saved the good ones for his smoke alarms.

 

[washer111]

Perhaps:

The guy could make an electrified fly-swat. 

 

What fun!

 

[kb0nes]

Big power

I did a bit of math on this stack.

Each cell should be good for ~.4 amp/hour each or a total of about 90 amp/hours at 2,ooo volts. The internal resistance of an Energizer 522 is about 1.5 ohms. Forgetting about any connector or lead resistance the short circuit current would be about 5 amps! Peak wattage dumped could be in the 5 to 10 Kw range, crazy. These batteries were used though so it might only be half this, still impressive. For the record its about 25 pounds of batteries total.

When he broke contact he was able to hold a fairly significant arc over an appreciable distance, the power indeed was there. It made the LED destruction boring though, they just popped instantly. At 100 volts they would physically explode (don't ask how I know...).

The scary thing is how cavalier he was handling that clip lead. That kind of power could kill one dead in a split second. I suppose the good part is that it was all floating, so he was unlikely to get into a situation where he might flow current through his body. Still it would sting and leave a deep burn!

I have a 240v AC transformer/rectifier power supply in the basement. Its open circuit DC voltage is 4,000 volts and design current is .8 amps (3,200 watts) continuous. There is a big 50 uF oil filled capacitor for a filter, don't want to think about the instantaneous current if shorted! I bet it would make some cool arcs too but I don't plan to ever find out!

 

[tolivac]

That fellow has the basic making of a pulse step modulator for an AM transmitter.One of our transmitters here works on the idea to derive the HV DC and Modulation to the PA tube-is by means of 32 900VDC/1500VDC(Pk out with modulation)power supply modules connected in series to provide 12KvDC to the power amp tube-and up to 60A DC current.Sometimes a module fails-the transmitter will still operate-if more than 6 modules fail-the transmitter "locks out" won't come up.All of us here have rebuilt these boards-the main device on them is a GTO device-a semiconductor like a giant triac.They cost something like $900 each-but can last a long time in some cases.One of the guys that did training made up a device something like that battery stack to show overseas transmitter site operators how a PSM transitter modulator works.We have a spare modulator assembly out here salvaged from the neighboring site that closed in 2006-serves as spare for one of the other sites.Has the two power transformers and the modules,and racks,and the low pass DC filter.For PSM systems the transformers have one 3 Ph primary winding-in our case 4160V and 16 secondary 3 ph windings of 600V 60A.

 

[electron1100]

not in the same league

but i remember portable valve radios using one 90v DC battery for the heaters on the valves..........a nasty nip was available.
now days 10 PP9 batterys are used for this task in these old radios

 

[tolivac]

Just to think at where I work-all HV parts are protected by interlocks and lockouts!The transmitters here now have key interlock systems.The set has to be completly shut down-4160 primary power breaker turned off-key from the breaker needed to access transformer vaults. two of the transmitters-not only the 4160 breaker opened-but the breaker truck has to be racked out of the switchgear enclosure to get the key needed for HV part access.Despite all of this one man was killed here from exposure to HV-he touched a tube that had 10Kv still on it.