The stoboscope tube needs about 250-400V DC to operate. This high voltage is generated using simple voltage step up circuit built from transistors Q1,Q2 and transformer T1. This circuit gives out about 230V AC voltage which is then rectified with rectifying bridge U1 (must have at least 400V voltage rating) and stored to the main capacitor C1.
I built my stroboscope from parts taken from old camera flash unit. This approach gave me nice flash tube with reflector, trigger transformer and some of the capacitors (for example C1). Other parts were the one luying around. I used some strange triac I found in my for the triggering circuit, but any triac which can handle at least 1A and 400V should do the job well.
R1 1.2 kohm 1/2W
R2 1.2 kohm 1/2W
R3 120 ohm 2W
R4 10 kohm 1/2W
C1 100..150 uF 400V flash capacitor (from camera flash unit)
C2 4.7 uF 400V
C3 1 uF 400V
CZ 33 nF 400V
Q1 2N5983 NPN power transistors
Q2 2N5983 NPN power transistors
Q3 MAC216-4 Triac
TUBE Xenon flash tube (taken from camera flash unit)
T1 220V to 2x9V transformer, at least 10W power rating
T2 Xenon flash tube trigger transformer (from camera flash unit)
T3 Thyristor trigger transformer with good isolation
U1 Rectifier 1A 400V (can be build from four 1N4007 diodes)
S1 Switch one of three, at least 2A 400V rating
Posted in: Stroboscope
