[sdiy] strobe light project...

[harrybissell]

Strobe lights usually have a line doubling or tripling DC supply... so the
main voltage can be 300 - 500 VDC.  This voltage is across the xenon
tube...which does not conduct normally.

Usually an RC network (flash rate pot and some small cap) charges up to
some voltage... triggering an SCR into the primary of a trigger transformer.
This steps the voltage up to 3KV to 10KV  (ouch yes... kilovolts) and there
is a trigger electrode on the xenon tube. The trigger voltage ionizes the gas and
the
main arc forms.

You MUST (good GOD must) have isolation between this line connected circuit
and the strobe circuit.  You could transformer couple a pulse into the gate of
the
SCR... or use an optocoupler... but you must NOT connect without isolation or
your midi rig is toast for sure !!!

Many years ago... Southwest Technical Products Company made a kit called
the (was it?) Psycho-strobe. This had a trigger circuit... try to find that
schematic
for a safe way to make your circuit work.

H^) harry

"Drew Smith (mux)" wrote:

>         Holas,
>
>         Not that long ago, I added a Paia Midi2cv8 kit to my Simmons SDS-800.
> This works flawlessly, I couldn't be happier - and since there's only
> four voices on the Simmons box, I also get the added bonus of four
> MIDI-addressable trigger-outs!  Great for triggering outside gear,
> syncing arpeggiators on old kit, etc...
>
>         So I have a use for two of these in my live rig, but that leaves me
> with two others... I was looking around my studio and noticed a couple
> of el-cheapo plastic strobelights, and had a great idea - could I just
> add a 1/4" jack to these strobelights and have MIDI-triggered strobes as
> part of my kit?  I think that'd be pretty cool, firing strobes from the
> MMT-8... :)
>
>         So I cracked open the strobelight, and it's not how I thought it was
> going to be - it has a pot on the back, and I was hoping that the pot
> would be feeding a 555 or something, so I could just drop the trigger
> into the signal path... in reality, the pot appears to be limiting the
> flow of current into a capacitor, which I guess discharges and fires the
> strobe.
>
>         This is NOT the strobelight that I have, but it appears to have many,
> if not all, of the same componants:
>
>         http://www.velleman-kit.com/Product.asp?lan=1&id=9023
>
>         So my question to you fine electronics gurus is - what would be the
> best way to make a strobe light fire when it receives a 5v, 5ms trigger
> pulse?
>
>         Thanks for any input,
>
>         Cheers,
>         - Drew.
>
> --
> Drew Smith (mux) <drew at riotnrrd.com>
> Encrypted e-mail preferred - finger for public key.
> 5801 7134 B54C 3D71 EBE1  CE24 F4DB 2528 5A46 A31B