If you want to make lots of cs at one time, want control over the process, don't want to baby-sit the generator, maybe this is for you.
There is more than one way to skin a cat, and the example of the setup below can certainly be changed to make a system you might like better. I like to give cs away, and making cs with my 10,000 volt setup was too time consuming when many people wanted cs in the same week! So I wanted to make a setup that would do a good job in more of a hurry. The example below runs off household current of 120 vac. For those of you who would like to run off battery, you can bypass the ac circuitry in the supply and use a couple car batteries instead. For those in the 220volt 50hz parts of the world, a simple transformer in front of the power supply would suffice. Etc., etc.. This is not a refined system which has been custom engineered for cs, it is a slap-together setup from normally found stuff, so anyone can do it anywhere. And it works very, very well!!!!! _____________ POWER SUPPLY: voltage and current limiting, 0-35 volts dc, 0-1 or 2 amps continuous (not stated in documentation), 5 amp max. Made in Taiwan without a label so anyone can private label it. Taiwan part number: Model: VAP-5A30V2. This model is sold by CALRAD number 45-774. It has a volt meter, ammeter, and pots to adjust limits to each. List about $230US, can get for $50 less with shopping. Yes, it is a bit big, but workable. Voltage meter and adj. is just fine, the amp adj. and meter need some help unless you use enough silver to use about a whole amp of power. I'm sure there are cheaper ways out there, I just used this one as I was readily available with current limiting built in. [An alternative supply with current limiting on board would be a small dc motor drive at a used electric place. Even some of the newer ones are pretty cheap. A person would only have to use enough electrode surface area to work within the range of the drive.] ELECTRODES: This was simply a starting point, your setup may vary. I used 12 pieces of 1mm thick silver sheet 2 in. x 6 in. submerged 5" in the water. Use sheet at least this thick, because you cannot afford to have a thinner sheet bending on you when you clean them. Electrodes must be pretty straight and flat. I arranged the electrodes like an expanded stack with 1.5" spacing with alternating charges just like a battery. Spacing is not very critical as I have the ability to current limit, however, the larger the spacing, the less small deviations in alignment and flatness of electrodes will matter. Also, the larger the spacing, the longer it takes to start up, as the voltage is limited to 35vdc with this particular power supply. Each electrode must be spaced the same from each other electrode. File and polish all sharp edges, or you will get a lot of fallout in the cs. You can use different configurations, larger pieces (which I will next time I order), more or fewer electrodes, different spacing, different current limit point. Even just two big electrodes. ELECTRODE BURN OFF: I have found that turning the setup on to "burn in" the electrodes is of great help in reducing the high spots on the electrodes. Just set it up, crank up the amps, and let it run all day. The cs will have a tremendous amount of fallout, but after that the electrodes will make a cs will little fallout. ELECTRODE SOURCE: I bought mine form Swest. You can find them at swestinc.com . If you order from them, make sure you tell them you want accurate cuts. My order came back with pieces that were not cut very close. I complained, and the manager called me up to apologize and promise better service next time. They will make any size you want. BATCH TANK: I used a 10 gallon aquarium, filled half full. STIRRING: Stir, or you WILL have unhappy results. Highly conductive cs will pile up between some electrodes, and the current will not be the same everywhere. You will make very large particle cs without stirring. I use a regular fish tank filter pump without the filter. I found some had an unprotected metal rotor, and some had plastic or teflon covered pump rotor. Obviously I did not want the exposed metal. POLARITY REVERSAL: I went down to the local used industrial electronics store and bought an old percentage timer for $5US. It has only a single pole relay, so I use it to drive a double pole relay to switch polarity every 30 seconds. If you don't switch polarity, the setup will still work, but the electrodes are a real mess, fallout is massive, etc.. Once fallout settles overnight, the cs is clear and stable, however. PUTTING IT TOGETHER: 5 gal of ds in the fish tank, hang electrodes according to above, use alligator clips to connect each electrode to the appropriate polarity, turn on circulation pump, PRESTO, you have a monster cs maker. I actually do not hang my electrodes, as I did not want them flopping around with the moving water. I used a plastic rack to put on the bottom of my tank and put the electrodes in the slots to hold firm. Worried about the rack collecting fallout and affecting current flow, but with a little care it can be done with good results. Or just hang 'em. I limit my current to 200 milliamps. I turn off at about 24 volts. I put my multimeter in line to measure the amps as the meter on the power supply is not good enough for fine tuning this sort of process. The process levels out at about 40+ microsiemens, and after a bit of fallout overnight, is very clear and measures about 38 mS. Stays very clear in hard plastic (soda pop bottle), will get darker in soft plastic (ds water bottle). Inside the power supply, there is a pot that adjusts the range of main amp adjusting pot. I crank this all the way ccw, and it gives me a bit less touchy amp adjust capability. Need to install a 20 turn pot. AUTO SHUTOFF: Simpson makes a digital volt meter with auto shutoff, not cheap though. I have a Simpson digital amp meter with dual contacts and programmable. I can hook up to my ac input to the power supply, and make the setup shut down when I read a low enough amp draw, which will correlate to the lower watt output of the dc side when the cs is finished. Someone on the list probably has a cheap and easy way of accomplishing an auto shut off. You could always just use a timer to shut down, and when you get back (or wake up) just turn the generator on the see how close you are to your intended voltage output, run till done. PREHEATING: I have not, but with the current limiting maybe you could for a faster startup, as it takes a couple hours to get up to .2 amps without heating. Others may have more to say on that. So, I get 5 gallons in about 5 hours, very clear, 40mS, very stable over a few weeks in a soda bottle. Tyndall is weak after initial fallout. I have found that the process can be run longer or at a higher current limit, but after the fallout the tyndall is still weak, and the mS reading is still about the same. There appears to be a wall as to how much silver can be put into the water with low volt dc, as others have mentioned on the list. Anything more simple falls out. The same amount of cs would take me 40 hours of run time in my CS Pro Ultra generator, and I don't have the control over the high volt process I have with this one. I'm happy with the results. You can increase the surface area and run at 1.5 amps, or something like that, and make cs in a real hurry. There may be commercial value here, or there just may be a greater benefit to your neighborhood. Jim -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: silver-list-requ...@eskimo.com -or- silver-digest-requ...@eskimo.com with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@id.net>
