Unwinding a tiny 6kV xenon trigger transformer

I've used these in the past, and marvelled at how they can withstand such a high voltage in such a small component. I decided to take one apart to see how it's made. I ended up taking more than one apart.

The construction is surprisingly simple, with a very retro alternative to resin potting.

The alternative triggering circuits I mentioned sometimes use the thyristor pulling the transformer common connection to the zero volt rail, or put the capacitor where I drew the thyristor and a sidac in series with the primary.

I dug out a more accurate set of calipers and remeasured the wires. Both transformers had a 0.28mm diameter (29AWG?) primary wire and a 0.12mm diameter (36AWG?) secondary wire.

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