Mod an Electric BBQ Igniter ~ How-To

[STHORNE]

MODIFYING AN ELECTRIC BBQ IGNITOR

Hello fellow spudders! I recently bought an electric BBQ igniter from Walmart for $15.00 USD for one of my many projects, and figured out a way to easily modify it for a momentary switch or toggle switch so the unit itself can be contained in a circuit box, with the leads of the switch going to wherever on the gun you want for comfortability when you shoot and so your trigger can be wired in a handle.

I thought, what the hell, I haven't seen anything like this on spudfiles, so why not make a "How-To" on how to do it. I'm sure there are members who would like to know themselves...

I would have originally bought a stun gun, but being in Wisconsin, laws make it hard for me to get my hands on one and the BBQ Igniter wasn't too bad of a price, so I bought it instead.

Well, Tell me what you guys think and Happy Spudding!
STHORNE

[MrCrowley]

Very nice. Thanks for this, i'm sure many will appreciate it.

[brplatz]

i just bought one also! but from the local ace hardware and spent $20 bucks

i think ill have to do it

[daxspudder]

Very nice, I think I will buy one of these and take it apart further to see if it can be modded even more, that way you can lose the bulky casing, and make it easy hidden/stored in a handle or recess... Thank you again.

[STHORNE]

I would have done that if It wasn't for the "fused" casing. As I don't feel like f*cking up something and wasting 20 bucks lol.

But if you can do it, more power to ya!

[daxspudder]

Ill use a small dremel cutting bit, and if I cant make it work, EPOXY. Gotta love epoxy...

[jimmy101]

Nice job STHORNE. I never would have thought of leaving the battery in place. Usually, people would bring the battery contacts out of the case to another battery holder + switch setup. Amazing that you can fit the needed wires in the battery holder with the battery in place.

What kind of spark do you get with that particular sparker? Better, worse, about the same as a BBQ piezo? What do you estimate the maximum gap is?

BTW, trying to take the sparker apart might not be a good idea. Besides being a fused case it may well be pretty much completely filled with potting compound. Removing (and probably destroying) the case might not accomplish much. Besides, looking at the case, I bet there isn't a heck of a lot of emtpy space inside, so it might be pretty tough to get it into a smaller case.

[STHORNE]

You can set it up for two spark gaps using just it's three output wires. Each being about 2-3cm wide. Or you can wire more spark gaps with smaller sparks. one spark from the electric BBQ have the same results as a basic piezo accept you can have more than one spark gap of the same size and it won't wear out on you...you would just need to change the batteries from time to time.

[Darkside 6ix]

My question is that why wouldnt you just buy a BBQ ignitor like this one
Its only 10$ at walmart and im pretty sure you can find it at Ace also.

Im not trashing this thread or anything. Im just sayin, why spend 20$ on something that you have to put time into when you can spend 10$ and have it done for you.

Good info BTW

[clide]

Very nice, I think I will buy one of these and take it apart further to see if it can be modded even more, that way you can lose the bulky casing, and make it easy hidden/stored in a handle or recess... Thank you again.

If you are concerned about size you may be better off getting one like this.
http://cgi.ebay.com/MHP-Gas-Grill-Elect ... 0238615318

It only has a case around the circuit board and that battery compartment/button could be hacked off pretty easily. It is about 2.25" x 1.5"

[Carlman]

because this makes sparks continuously like 3 per second or so.

[BigGrib]

Very nice how to STHORNE Very informative and useful pictures. I myself use this type of ignitor and always have to mount it awkwardly. I have been thinking about how to do something like that. Thanks a lot, now I have another option.

[mark.f]

Good job STHORNE, I had one of these bought a while ago and was pondering how to modify it to be externally switched, but eventually said it was too much work and mounted the whole thing in a conduit box on the cannon (I haven't posted yet, which reminds me I have to pick it up from my friend Geoff's ((Binder17's)) house).

Very informative write up. Did you consider a mod like described here when doing this?

[M.J.P.]

Good work STHORNE, smart thinking, fitting the battery in there, very neat.

[STHORNE]

My question is that why wouldnt you just buy a BBQ ignitor like this one
Its only 10$ at walmart and im pretty sure you can find it at Ace also.

Im not trashing this thread or anything. Im just sayin, why spend 20$ on something that you have to put time into when you can spend 10$ and have it done for you.

one spark from the electric BBQ have the same results as a basic piezo accept you can have more than one spark gap of the same size and it won't wear out on you...you would just need to change the batteries from time to time.

________________________________________________________________

Very informative write up. Did you consider a mod like described here when doing this?

lol, nope. Thought about this myself a few hours yesterday and it just seemed like the best solution to me. Easy and reliable. And thanks for the link to the laser mod on Burnt Latke, I have had some similar ideas but never got around to doing it.

And thanks for all the comments guys, really appreciate it!