Hi Wayne, I pretty much agree with you.
I recently made a "fancy" homemade CS maker with adjustable current regulation and adjustable auto-shutoff. Auto-shutoff is really great, especially when making CS more often or in large quantities which takes more time. One really appreciates the convenience of being able to leave the setup alone to finish on it's own. Having the ability to vary current and shut-off level allows one to do so much more with various electrode and cell geometry. I still had and will have to do as you suggest, record voltage and current levels vs. time every time I change any of the variables of the CS maker. Once you change something, you have to know enough about the process to figure out, once again, where you are operating and what you are producing. I also put an LED in the output of my generator as an indicator that it is brewing. It only has brightness change at the very start of the run as it is current limited and right now I am running at about 20 ma. I started out making CS with an unregulated voltage and two 4 inch electrodes without meters or any instruments. I subsequently added a resistor in series and measured the voltage drop across it so I could calculate the current. (I had a voltmeter but no ammeter and didn't have a cheap source for one.) I think an LED would have been useful for that cell. Don't forget (less technical people), you have to get the LED connected in the correct polarity (correct way around). One way will allow current to flow but the reverse way will block it. It won't blow up your circuit but it will prevent it from operating if it is in the wrong way. Dan -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Fugitt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 11:27 AM To: [email protected] Subject: CS>Simple Generator, ONE more component I have read all the messages relative to simple generators and problems with some of the automatic generators. I would sum up all problems to be related to one important thing, "Lack of Knowledge". No matter if a person is technical or non technical, he must firm up in his mind a simple and basic understanding of the process. I fully realized this when I was a beginner. I am sure the technical people will agree with me. Some may have had experience with other similar processes, which made it much easier for them. Two things make this easy for everyone, technical and non technical. That is "Current Flow" and "Time". These both have to happen and need to be uniform. When things start to change with either of these, we need to know it. Relative to the simple generators, I can't understand why everyone does not add a simple LED. I suspect the lower voltage units, 5, 6, or 12 volt DC may not preform as well with the LED as the 24, 27, 52 Volt units, or even higher. I have even added LEDS to 240 and 480 control systems with success. What doe the LED tell us? Very simple, ....... the Process is working, working too fast, or not at all. If the LED is too bright during the first few seconds, REJECT the WATER ! How much simpler can you get? A FIFTY CENT instrument. Unless one is blind, he can understand this. The next tool, that could be considered FREE, due to the value of CS is a simple current meter. These vary from a cheap 5 or 10 dollar Multimeter to a 1 INCH LCD digital meter with all kind of input settings. Next........ keep a log of time and current flow. I did this from BATCH ONE. Still have the notes in my CS package in a small notebook. I did this at frequent intervals, current at 5 min at 10 minutes and so fourth up to 30 minutes, 45 minutes and one hour. This is just as important with the better automatic units as it is with the cheapest and simplest unit one can make. Unless the unit has a built in current meter, this is the proof and quality control that is needed for batch after batch. It certainly is important to the automatic units as well as the simple 2 pr 3 component unit. I have seen only one or two of the Self Contained units and automatic units. Seems they would be more trouble to use the current meter as to connecting it into the circuit. I think it could be done in a number of ways with simple mechanics. For the LED to work properly and last indefinitely a current limiting resistor must be used. The size will be 600 to 12 ohms for the lower voltage in the 5 to 12 volt range and 1200 to 2400 for the higher voltage units of 24 to 52 volts. The conductivity of the solution is also a current limiter resistor. This is why the brilliance of the LED changes slightly with time as the batch nears completion. The very important function of the LED, for the ones that do not have an EC meter is that of rejecting distilled water. If the LED is bright, reject the water. Avoid the LEDS with blinking circuits, multicolor functions or any other fancy features. This effects low current draw and they may not work at all. Any comments or questions? Wayne -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
