Bench-top carbon-arc lamp 240w

I came across some of those cheap AA size zinc-carbon batteries recently, so I thought what better way to recycle them then to make light with the carbon rods inside!

Carbon-arc lamps came about in the late 19th century. One can say they led the way to the high-intensity discharge lamps of today.

A typical carbon-arc lamp would run several days before needing new electrodes. They managed this thanks to a kind of electromechanical ballast that would lift one electrode away from the other at just the right distance to maintain a stable arc as the electrodes depleted.

My setup here is slightly overpowered at roughly 24 volts DC at 10 amps.