Lightning hearse

[Morella]

Does anyone have any knowledge that might assist with this project?

I was going to put flame throwers on my coach, but that has already been done, so I thought about something new. I want to put in a metal rod that shoots lightning bolts around, like a Tessla coil, but I don't want it to arc weld on my hood, or electrocute my black ass.

Does lightning have to be DC current to throw bolts? I have 5000 watts of AC surge power (inverter, squared off sine wave), which I can transform up to whatever voltage is needed to throw bolts around, but I would have to use one moosy rectifier if it has to be DC after it is stepped up. How should I balance the volts and current, to get the biggest zaps out of it?

Last but not least, how do I shield the high voltage system so that I don't get cancer from the flux, and it doesn't interfere with the electronic systems like stereo, etc.?

Thanks for any ideas.

=denise

[Psychoholic]

The only thing I could think of would be a huge Tesla. Other than burning out caps in a hurry I think the idea would be totally badass!

I wonder if you could do some kind of negative drag line behind the car? I'm pretty sure it's going to look for something to ground off of more closely though.

Best of luck, try not to fry yourself.

[R U INJRD]

I installed a Tesla Coil in a science museum years back that did exactly what you're looking for. It hung from the ceiling and shot bolts down to a big circular grid that resembled chain link fence. It was supposed to simulate lightning to kids standing in the weather room.

Here are the problems you will likely have:

1. The way it worked was it just shot bolts to the nearest ground, which in your case is your car. If you designed it well, you could have the coil sticking up from the roof of your car, and run the return path to big metal plates mounted on rubber to various points of your car. I don't know of any type of device that will just shoot lightning bolts to the ground, and if it did work like that it would likely shoot lightning bolts into the nearest five year old.

2. If I remember correctly, the coil was wired into three-phase 480, and wasn't all that spectacular even running that kind of power into it. I have no idea how you would get such a system into a car and still retain mobility.

[HearseHaunter]

with a tesla coil you could do this... lol
[YOUTUBE]pJqoRaphiEk[/YOUTUBE]

[Morella]

I've been looking at Tesla coils. The ground is the problem, but what if I built some kind of steel mesh all of the way around the bottom, insulated from the car, so that it would always zap the mesh, used AC power, and ran one side of the line to the mesh? The worst thing that could happen is that it would send PDC into the body of the car, and wait...that's a problem. Or...the top is fiberglass, maybe it would work this way up on the top. I have an idea that my hair is going to stand on end no matter how I do this, but maybe I can build a model car and test it first.

Thanks for the good input. I can always use more.

-denise

[Morella]

with a tesla coil you could do this... lol

I'm not quite THAT stupid, but...I have to wonder where he practices.

-denise

[BIGEVIL]

I love the original idea (you knew I would), but it really sounds dangerous. 480v 3 phase? That might ruin your day.

[R U INJRD]

One of my original partners in crime on the job seems to remember it being powered by single-phase 220 (he did the electrical, I was more on the mechanical side), and the internet seems to bear this out. That gets you a little closer to being mobile, although you might have to add a generator to the mix.

Just a guess, but I would think someone at Burning Man has already sorted this out by now.

[Flymanj3]

Not sure what you're trying to do or the look you're tring to get, but as I thought about it, a tessla gen. INSIDE the back would be really cool - Have a coffin as the center piece and lightning flashing around inside from it would REALLY be sharp - might have to look into this a little more -
one mean ass ghost !!!!

[jlprigmore]

Regretfully from experience, 480v hurts alot. I play with it all day long, lucky for me my incidences have been just littles tickles from it, never been fully grounded, but even the tickles will knock the shit out of you. Expanding on john's little idea what about getting the hardware from like those little gumball machine lookin things that you put your fingers on and creating a bigger version of that? Paint either the inside of a coffin or what not with rubberized coating than mounting ground plates in certain spots to grab the juice. That should work shouldn't it?

[Morella]

I had thought that I was going to have either a globe with a cage, or one of those V-shaped things from the Frankenstein movie as a hood ornament (anybody remember what they are called?); however, that casket idea is interesting. I hadn't thought about doing something on the inside, but it is much better for insulation.

According to one engineer who designs batteries and H-power systems, I can use a high voltage and a very low current, so it could be just a matter of using a step-up transformer and cap, but he also suggested using high-frequency, and I don't know anything about how to change it. I do know that higher-freq AC can be run through a smaller transformer, though, because that is why aircraft use 300 Hz. How do you change frequency?

-denise

[BIGEVIL]

V-shaped things from the Frankenstein movie as a hood ornament (anybody remember what they are called?

I think that is called a Jacob's ladder.


I really like the jumbo plasma ball idea


If I ever did another hearse, I had a vision of a "Frankenstiens Lab" in the back.
Although that might be cooler for an ambulance.

[Morella]

That would awesome for a hearse too, I think, because Frankenstein was bringing the dead back to life. I'll have to look at the movie Young Frankenstein, because the credits say that they used the original equipment. Besides, it's funny.

I think I will pull the high voltage system out of an old monitor and experiment with it, to start with...maybe more than one. I kinda wish I hadn't thrown out my old television.

-denise

[Dead_Society]

Some one years ago that I knew who owned a haunted house in California and did something similar to his hearse but I'm not sure what he did. The casket would ark lightning bolts but from what he said is he kept burning out some parts of his electrical system. He eventually bought a hearse that was a junker (not running) to do that but we lost contact and I don't know if he ever completed the project. Its been about 9 years since I last heard from him and his haunted house The Killing Woods isn't around anymore, maybe he killed himself with the project lol

[Creepy Cruiser]

Neon transformers work well for making basic Jacob's ladders. (high voltage, low amp draw). You might want to start there, with your experiments. They are a lot of fun to build. It won't get you huge jumps, but you can get the idea.