How can i wire a coil so i can use it to keep critters [rat posum racoon[ out of the atic
Thank you ....Lorenzo

Well you can hook it up with a battery, a spark gap, and a timer to set it off every so often. Then put up a sign "Critters Stay Out. Danger High Voltage."

Other than that I have no idea.

You'll need two wires for them to step on + & -. Then a motion senser to turn the coil on plus a camera to watch the action.

Hang it on a trip wire over a bowl of bait a'la Les Stroud's Survivor Man and hope he gets whacked by it.

There might be better ways to keep rocky raccoon out of your attic. Electrical home brew devices left unattended have been known to cause house fires.

Still sounds safer than my 12ga black powder rat trap.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruckzone/4120465723/in/set-72157622721223443

You might only need one wire running around the edge of the place for them to touch. i get shocks from touching just one wire on a coil so it should work on them too

Erich, is that UL approved?

I have seen T coils converted to an electric fence charger. I don't recall the exact setup, but it involved a glass tube with a marble in it that would roll down hill and hit the points. This sounds backwards from normal operation, but the points would somehow knock the marble back up hill. It would just bounce back and forth, each time delivering a pulse of high voltage from the secondary. The frequency of the pulses was adjusted by varying the angle of the glass tube. The more vertical, the faster it would operate. Interesting device. I wish I remembered more about exactly how it worked.

UUUHH, no. I only used it a few times. It was always a chore to find it after it activated. Sure was fun though. All in the interest of science mind you.

T coils converted to an electric fence
....Yes Hall thats what i need , the coil need not be on all the time just when trigered

Ever think of putting them in a coil box? Hello? What a novel idea!

Fence charger coil.

Ron the Coilman

Go buy a trap, catch them and take them for a long ride. Racoons love Honey buns, peanut butter works good too. Dan.

Lindsay books offers a book that shows how to do it. It's called a LeJay Fence Charger. I'm on my iPod, so I don't know how to post a link, but if you Google lejay fence charger, it will show up. I think I might buy the book myself.

However, it does stay on all the time. It just pulses like most other fence chargers. It's adjustable, but I'm thinking one pulse every second or two. Ron or John could verify, but it's probably not good on the coil. Unless your rat is completing the circuit, it's just like letting the coil fire with a gap so large, the spark can't jump it.

COMPLETELY Off Topic -

This discussion reminds me of my high school physics teacher. From time to time he would wire a students steel framed desk to a coil, then on Friday during the weekly test when everyone was quiet and working hardest he'd throw the switch. It was usually the kid who gave him the most grief over the past week who yelped and jumped up. Of course, it was my turn at least once or twice.

On the last day of the semester a bunch of us "victims" managed to talk the custodian into letting us in the room before the bell rang (it was first period in the morning). We then wired up his little coil to the door knob. As soon as we heard him slide his key in the lock, we let him have it. He laughed and said, "Well, I guess I had that comming!"

I haven't thought about that for YEARS.

After re-reading the title of this thread, perhaps my comment isn't off topic after all.

Ya know how most guys try to hit a target in the urinal when they go ?? Well, I worked a a gas station back in the `70`s that had a fly in the urinal , wired up with a very fine wire taken from the inner windings of a bad transformer , to a Model T spark coil ...