4 dollar high voltage device
UPDATE: as of September 25, 2026, this device no longer works. The relay contacts finally burned out, and my identical replacement relay doesn't work either for some reason. I'll have to go back to American Science and Surplus to get a new one.
A while ago I threw together this high voltage generator. In total, it cost me about 4 dollars. I don't actually know what the peak output voltage is, because I don't actually have any good tools to measure it. I tried rectifying the output to charge a small capacitor, and it got to around 1000 volts at which point my multimeter can't measure any further.
Here is a video of it in action
If you're wondering how this only cost 4 dollars, here's a cost breakdown:
- Relay: $1 from American Science and Surplus
- Relay Switch: $2.95 from American Science and Surplus
- Transformer Switch: $0 (Broken dimmerswitch with the dimmer circuit bypassed)
- Transformer: $0 (from a broken power adapter)
- Wires: $0 (Were laying around in my garage)
- Capacitors: $0 (from broken phone chargers)
- Lamp Socket: $0 (from an old lamp)
- Burnt Out Lightbulb: $0 (was laying around the house)
- Case: $0 (cardboard from my recycling bin)
This device is what is known as a relay inverter. To explain it simply, the relay switches on and off really fast, which also switches the power into the transformer, which creates short high voltage pulses on the output.
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