I've been tapping camera flash circuits for their capacitor charging abilities for a while, and I finally wanted to build my own.

My question is, why are commercial camera flash circuits complicated compared to home-made chargers?

For example, I found the original flash circuit for a Kodak disposable that I use frequently.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/kflashm.gif

Of interest to me are the numerous transistors on the left hand side. Why the need for 3?

On the same page can be found this schematic

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/minips.gif

which almost seems too simple. Will this really be enough to charge a 1 Farad bank of 330V capacitors? Also: can a TIP120 transistor be substituted, as I can't seem to find a supplier of the transistor called for in the schematic. What would the minimum rating on the diode be?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

Your project is dangerous.

Sorry, such dangerous projects are not appropriate for this forum.

 

Can you point me to the appropriate forum for this project then?

 

I am sorry, but it would be on another website, not this one.

Most of the members on this site are new to electricity/electronics. We want them to stay with low voltage/low power projects, so they can live long and happy lives with all of their limbs intact.

Our primary focus is electricity and electronics, but our emphasis on safety overrides exploration in unsafe areas; those that may cause bodily injury or property damage.

Posting links to sites that dally in such projects are beyond the scope of these forums.

However, I invite you to hang around and learn, if you want to experiment with safe, low-voltage circuits.

I must caution you that high voltage stored in banks of capacitors represents a very lethal source of power; one mistake and you will be attending your funeral as the guest of honor.

 

Yes, this thread has to close.