Elenco Electronics AK-520 Assembly And Instruction Manual
STROBE LIGHT KIT
MODEL AK-520
Assembly and Instruction Manual
Elenco®Electronics, Inc.
ight © 2005, 1994 b
yr
Cop
t of this book shall be reproduced b
No par
y Elenco
®
Electronics
y means;
y an
, Inc.
electronic
ights reser
All r
, photocopying, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.
ved. Revised 2005 REV-L 753018
PARTS LIST
If you are a student, and any parts are missing or damaged, please see instructor or bookstore.
If you purchased this kit from a distributor, catalog, etc., please contact Elenco®Electronics (address/phone/email is at the back of this manual) for additional assistance, if needed. DO NOT contact your place of purchase
as they will not be able to help you.
RESISTORS
Qty. Symbol Value Color Code Part #
1 R1 200Ω 5% 1/4W red-black-brown-gold 132000
2 R2, R4 1MΩ 5% 1/4W brown-black-green-gold 171000
1 R3 2MΩ 5% 1/4W red-black-green-gold 172000
1 VR1 2MΩ Potentiometer w/ switch 192732
CAPACITORS
Qty. Symbol Description Part #
1 C5 .033µF 10% 250V Mylar (333) 243319
1 C3 .1µF 10% 100V Mylar (2A104K) 251017
1 C2 .1µF 10% 400V Mylar (2G104K) 25102A
1 C4 .47µF 10% 250V Mylar (474) 254717
1 C1 470µF 10V Electrolytic (Lytic) 284743
SEMICONDUCTORS
Qty. Symbol Description Part #
1 D2
1 Q1 2N6121 Transistor 326121
1 SCR T106D1 / C106D1 SCR 3606D1
1N4004 Diode 314004
MISCELLANEOUS
Qty. Description Part #
1 Trigger coil (T2) 440020
1 Transformer (T1) 440021
1 PC board 517050
1 Neon bulb (NEON) 585020
1 Flash tube 586001
1 Battery holder 590072
1 Bottom case 62PX2GB
1 Knob 622009
1 Top panel 623150
Washer nylon .219 x .1 624031
1
Caution:
Do not mix alkaline
standar
,
d (carbon-zinc), or rechargeable (nickel-cadmium) batteries.
PARTS IDENTIFICATION
Resistor
Diode
Potentiometer
with Switch
Capacitors
Electrolytic
Mylar
SCR Neon
Transistor
Flash Tube
Qty. Description Part #
1 Screw phil pan 2-56 x 7/16”
641260
4 Screw 4 x 1/2” phillips 642465
1 Screw 1.9 x 4mm phillips 643151
1 Nut hex 6mm 644010
1 Nut 2-56 644201
1 Washer flat 7mm 645015
1 Lockwasher #2 646200
1 Tape double-sided 740020
2” Wire 22ga. topcoat red 818120
Solder 9ST4
1
Transformer Trigger Coil
PC Board
or
-1-
IDENTIFYING RESISTOR VALUES
Use the following information as a guide in properly identifying the value of resistors.
BAND 1
1st Digit
Color Digit
Black 0
Brown 1
Red 2
Orange 3
Yellow 4
Green 5
Blue 6
Violet 7
Gray 8
White 9
BAND 2
2nd Digit
Color Digit
Black 0
Brown 1
Red 2
Orange 3
Yellow 4
Green 5
Blue 6
Violet 7
Gray 8
White 9
2 Multiplier Tolerance
1
Multiplier
Color Multiplier
Black 1
Brown 10
Red 100
Orange 1,000
Yellow 10,000
Green 100,000
Blue 1,000,000
Silver 0.01
Gold 0.1
BANDS
Resistance
Tolerance
Color Tolerance
Silver +
Gold +5%
Brown +1%
Red +2%
Orange +3%
Green +
Blue +0.25%
Violet +0.1%
10%
0.5%
IDENTIFYING CAPACITOR VALUES
Capacitors will be identified by their capacitance value in pF (picofarads), nF (nanofarads), or µF (microfarads). Most
capacitors will have their actual value printed on them. Some capacitors may have their value printed in the following
manner. The maximum operating voltage may also be printed on the capacitor.
Multiplier
10µF 16V
For the No. 01234589
Multiply By 1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 0.01 0.1
Note: The letter “R” may be used at times
to signify a decimal point; as in 3R3 = 3.3
The letter M indicates a toler
The letter K indicates a tolerance of +
The letter J indicates a toler
103K
100V
First Digit
Second Digit
Multiplier
olerance
T
Maximum Working Voltage
ance of +20%
10%
ance of +5%
The value is 10 x 1,000 = 10,000pF or .01µF 100V
METRIC UNITS AND CONVERSIONS
viation Means Multiply Unit By Or
Abbre
p Pico .000000000001 10
n
µ micro .000001 10
m milli .001 10
– unit 1 10
k kilo 1,000 10
M
nano
mega
.000000001
1,000,000
10
10
-12
-9
-6
-3
0
3
6
1,000 pico units = 1 nano unit
1.
2. 1,000 nano units = 1 micro unit
3. 1,000 micro units= 1 milli unit
1,000 milli units = 1 unit
4.
5. 1,000 units = 1 kilo unit
6. 1,000 kilo units= 1 mega unit
-2-
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever seen a lightning flash and wonder
h
ow the light was produced? This strobe light kit not
only explains how a high voltage discharge
produces light, but reproduces those bolts of
lightning in a small glass tube. Even more amazing
is the fact you will be able to control the moment
each flash occurs with a trigger circuit. Strobe lights
THEORY OF OPERATION
WHAT IS A GAS?
All matter is composed of atoms arranged in
patterns called molecules. In a solid, these
molecules are held in place and cannot move about
easily. In a liquid, the molecules move freely, but are
still loosely bound to each other. In a gas, the
molecules are separated by great distances and
bounce about like ping-pong balls in a large box.
The molecules of a gas are not bound to each other
and will dissipate into the surrounding space if
released from their container. These different states
of matter are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Solid Liquid Gas
The glass tube in your strobe light kit is filled with a
rare gas called Xenon. This gas is used because it
is easy to ionize.
WHAT IS AN ION?
Gas atoms ha
their nor
mal state. There are just as many positively
charged protons as there are negatively charged
electrons. Therefore, the net charge on the atom is
zero. If, however, a negatively charged electron is
ed from one of the atoms
v
remo
a positive charge and it is called a positive ion. This
creation of ions is shown in Figure 2.
Normal Gas
Molecule
ve no electronic charge on them in
, the atom is left with
Figure 2
Protons
Electrons
Positive Ion Negative Ion
are used to stop motion by adjusting the trigger rate
t
o the speed of a moving object. They are also used
to produce light for photography at the moment the
camera shutter is opened. In the text that follows,
mechanical analogies are used to help explain
certain processes that are otherwise difficult to
visualize.
The amount of energy it takes to create an ion is
measured in electron volts. Table 1 shows the
energy needed to produce ions for different gases.
As you can see, Xenon requires much less energy
than Neon to produce ions. If the glass tube in your
kit contained Neon, the amount of energy needed to
ionize the gas would be 1.87 times greater. This
would shorten the life of the batteries by using
almost twice the energy for each flash. It is a law of
nature that opposite charges attract each other and
similar charges repel.
When a gas molecule is
turned into a positive ion, it is attracted to a negative
charge. The positive gas ion is placed in a strong
ic field, it will r
electr
apidly accelerate toward the
negative plate. As it moves, it will strike other gas
molecules, knocking electrons free and creating
more positiv
e ions. These ne
wly created ions will be
attracted by the negative plate, accelerate and
create even more positive ions (see Figure 3). The
avalanche process will contin
ue until all of the gas in
the tube is ionized allowing a large current to flow
through the tube and collapse the electric field. As
the electrons are knoc
ionization process
y release small
the
kets of energy
pac
,
called photons that
radiate from the
tube. The human
eye perceives this
burst of photons as
a brilliant flash of
light.
ked about during the
Gas Ionization
Energy
Helium
Neon
Nitrogen
Hydrogen
Argon
Carbon Mono
xide
Oxygen
ypton 13.3
Kr
ater Vapor 13.2
W
Xenon
Mercur
y 10.4
able 1
T
24.5
21.5
16.7
15.9
15.7
14.2
13.5
11.5
-3-
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