styropyro

interesting developments

Added 2025-08-25 01:02:42 +0000 UTC

I didn't do any battery experiments over the weekend since I was at a Tesla coiler meetup in Ohio (which was awesome) however the day before I left, I ran some tests, and got some unexpected results. My goal was to simply film my switch having the issues I suspected. I started by exploding 4 gauge copper wire, then 2, then 0, 2/0, and finally 4/0, and the switch worked perfectly every time! That being said, the current was clearly oscillating and capped around 50,000 amps. For my last trial with 4/0 cable, I pointed the slow mo camera at the cable instead of the switch, and happened to clock an especially violent peak of 76,000 amps. This set of clips shows this trial. Look at all the magnetic effects in the slow mo! That cable is like a black hole sucking in everything magnetic on the ground! This was the only trial where the switch showed sparks beyond the initial contact.

Based on these trials, the entire issue was with the yeeting block arrangement, at least until the final shot. That's not to say the switch wasn't the whole problem earlier, or that it won't encounter issues with more current, but I clearly need a better way to clamp stuff to the blocks. I either have to use a very strong spring mechanism or use the magnetic forces in my favor. Screw mechanisms like c-clamps or a vise will not work in most scenarios since the item being zapped shrinks as the contacts ablate away. I will take footage to explain this.

I have a lot more experiments to try and lots more footage to post, so stay tuned!