SpudFiles

i had an idea the other day. A simple way to see if th ignighter is sparking. connect an LED to the bbq ignighter, so u don't have to look inside the chamber to see if it is working


[albumimg]167[/albumimg]

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/album_s ... pic_id=167&

dont think it would work, there isnt enough watts to power the led.

Not only not enough power, but if you hook the dieode up the wrong way it won't let any power through. I'm not a eletronic wiz, but i've worked on enough cars/lawnmowers/motorcycles with charging systems to know that all aternators produce alternating current. The dieode is what changes the current to direct current, because it only lets current through one way.

Just incase someone didn't know.

I tried it.It has enugh power for the led but it is a mysery after all.

Whats the point? It will only light up when you click it whats the point of it flashing for like .01 of a second.

it might burn it someday
why not just have a small spark on the out side?
http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=203&
has something called visafire

So the BBQ lighter will light up the led, or a flash when you hit it?
Its nothing more than a static shock right?

Yes, but the Visafire system was useful because they were using a stungun. You would really be losing the distance that electric arc could travel in the chamber (and therefore the ignition energy).

I would advise going with a stungun - but ONLY IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT SAFELY!

whats the point if you know if its sparking, anyone with 2 brain cells could tell that a crap load of propane is igniting 8)

THe point is if it doesn't fire when after you fuel it, you can tell wether it's not the spark that's the problem. Looking into chamber after fueling to see if there's a spark could lead to the inability to grow facial hair for a while.

Not only not enough power, but if you hook the dieode up the wrong way it won't let any power through.

I believe the couple thousand volts the BBQ sparker produces is higher than your average LED's breakdown voltage. Using a small halogen discharge tube (gap < 1 cm), the idea should work just fine, plus it doesn't shorten the maximum arc distance by much.