Electronic firecrackers: What is it and how it works

Come festive season of Diwali and firecrackers are the first thing that hits your mind. Diwali marks the festival of lights and firecrackers produce a plethora of colourful lights and sparkles, and not to forget, those irritating ear-splitting sounds.

However, firecrackers have their equally bad sides—with rising prices being on one end, the crackers are not environmentally friendly. They pollute the environment with smoke and noise. Lastly, they also pose a huge safety hazard.

Chinese manufacturers have come up with a unique idea of celebrating festivals with light and sound, but with an eco-friendly twist. Welcome the Electronic Firecracker. Priced at Rs 3,000 a unit, this is just the beginning of similar things to come.

But you may wonder, what is an electronic firecracker? Well, don’t yet jump to a conclusion that these will be similar to sparklers, rockets and all sorts. Just imagine a small chain of crackers that you light up to make loud sounds when in a festive mood or when you are celebrating something—especially during weddings and when India wins a cricket match.

Electronic firecrackers are small pods connected to each other with wires and powered by electricity. They are also equipped with twinkling LEDs to create a cracker lighting scenario. All you need to do is plug in the unit to the power source, switch it on and the electronic firecracker will produce the sound and lights similar to the conventional firecrackers you would light up. You can use these indoors or hang them up outdoors. They are reusable, eco-friendly and completely safe.

The electronic firecracker is nothing by a sting of pods connected to each other using wires, along with flashing LEDs. Each pod contains a high-voltage generator, which sparks itself internally at random intervals. These high-voltage sparks create a cracking sound to mimic firecrackers. The sparking is similar to the sound from electronic fly/mosquito rackets.  Lastly, LEDs are just to create flashing lights.

Check out this video, which shows what the electronic firecracker is and how it performs.

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There may be more coming from the neighbouring country, which in future could mimic rockets and sparklers in electronic formats. Though the idea is great, there might be no takers for this unique firecracker. The fun and joy of lighting a firecracker is completely eliminated. Lastly, this firecracker can only do one job—crack and twinkle.