Author Topic: Help for New Folks  (Read 1079 times)

Offline Year Zero

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Help for New Folks
« on: May 24, 2020, 02:23:56 AM »
I believe the biggest obstacle new comers face on this forum is the electrolysis.
That said, here is typically what they do--pick a DC power plug and modify it.
This is dangerous for obvious reasons.  What they really need is a simple ready-made circuit
to reasonably control the voltage and current.
In the past month, I've tested three different DC boost circuits.  All were successful.  This
was a nerve raking endeavor since I've been spoiled by the SilverTron Mini.
On this post I show the Velleman LM 2577 Boost DC circuit.
I'm photographing all my colloidal silver work.  It's a lot of work but I think it will add value to this forum when I post
some of it.
New members also seem to want a fast, low cost start.
Now you have it.
Read the articles.  Believe in the information--its all based on real science and chemistry.
Forget about anything above 20 parts per million.  Master 20 ppm first.
Questions? Ask away?
Enjoy!
John B.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2020, 02:44:27 AM by Year Zero »

Offline imcool

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2020, 08:03:09 AM »
good work

bcboy

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2020, 01:39:51 PM »
I was looking at eBay and they sell the LM2577 knockoffs for cheap.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2020, 02:03:37 PM by bcboy »

Offline Gene

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2020, 11:00:25 PM »
Yeah but you don't need amps. This type is quite cheap (save for shipping which chinese vendors started doing recently) and very effective (I have a few).

The thing is you STILL need a current limiter which you'll probably have to build for yourself as there's really nothing commercial that can be had that accurately operates in the very low milliamp range we need to for making Colloidal Silver.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32925951391.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.1d194e58sxy8OV&algo_pvid=8d244cfe-0b3a-4f3d-944f-393589eff935&algo_expid=8d244cfe-0b3a-4f3d-944f-393589eff935-17&btsid=0be3769015903569103347687e4292&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

It will take a month or two to get and if I bought any, I'd buy 2 or 3 off them just to have a spare or two.

Obviously you want the micro USB one and the nice thing here now is that your power supply is nothing more than a wall plug in cell phone charger which everyone has a half a drawer full of or even a USB power bank for portable operation or even a car power plug USB phone charger so you can make it in the  car on the way to grandma's (hahaha).  Seriously though, it makes making Colloidal Silver an anywhere thing as long as you don't need heat (20PPM in a pinch is good enough).

These cell phone chargers can all do 1 amp minimum.  If you set this to 28V and you were even running 20ma, you'd be drawing maybe 125ma from the cell phone charger - not even close to what a cheap USB phone wall charger can put out. Nice and small and portable too and at these kind of currents would barely get warm (no need for a heatsink).

Offline imcool

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2020, 11:24:33 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztUWOKy5pD8

This is the best for silver water

Offline Gene

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2020, 12:31:27 AM »
I don't consider 1ma resolution for Colloidal Silver good enough. If you have to set it and then use a DVMM to measure the actual current, why bother?  Also, with the range that knob runs over the setting is VERY touchy.

Also here you still need an external power supply to power the thing.  Its just a step down switching converter with a fancy front panel and a current limiter.

To each his own I guess. For me I want more accuracy.

And think about this. That thing reads to 1 milliamp. Given this when you get to 0.5 or 1.5ma its either going to read 0 or 2 meaning your error is 0.5ma minimum.

Offline imcool

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2020, 04:58:19 AM »
I don't consider 1ma resolution for Colloidal Silver good enough. If you have to set it and then use a DVMM to measure the actual current, why bother?  Also, with the range that knob runs over the setting is VERY touchy.

Also here you still need an external power supply to power the thing.  Its just a step down switching converter with a fancy front panel and a current limiter.

To each his own I guess. For me I want more accuracy.

And think about this. That thing reads to 1 milliamp. Given this when you get to 0.5 or 1.5ma its either going to read 0 or 2 meaning your error is 0.5ma minimum.

😟

bcboy

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2020, 11:53:03 PM »
Yeah but you don't need amps. This type is quite cheap (save for shipping which chinese vendors started doing recently) and very effective (I have a few).

The thing is you STILL need a current limiter which you'll probably have to build for yourself as there's really nothing commercial that can be had that accurately operates in the very low milliamp range we need to for making Colloidal Silver.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32925951391.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.1d194e58sxy8OV&algo_pvid=8d244cfe-0b3a-4f3d-944f-393589eff935&algo_expid=8d244cfe-0b3a-4f3d-944f-393589eff935-17&btsid=0be3769015903569103347687e4292&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

It will take a month or two to get and if I bought any, I'd buy 2 or 3 off them just to have a spare or two.

Obviously you want the micro USB one and the nice thing here now is that your power supply is nothing more than a wall plug in cell phone charger which everyone has a half a drawer full of or even a USB power bank for portable operation or even a car power plug USB phone charger so you can make it in the  car on the way to grandma's (hahaha).  Seriously though, it makes making Colloidal Silver an anywhere thing as long as you don't need heat (20PPM in a pinch is good enough).

These cell phone chargers can all do 1 amp minimum.  If you set this to 28V and you were even running 20ma, you'd be drawing maybe 125ma from the cell phone charger - not even close to what a cheap USB phone wall charger can put out. Nice and small and portable too and at these kind of currents would barely get warm (no need for a heatsink).

Thanks for posting the link. I'm ignorant on the subject of electronics and schematics. I have been watching beginners videos on the subject but have a long way to go before I really under stand what is going on.

Gene I have been reading a lot of threads that talk about electronics and even have pictures of schematics on this forum. Your always helping people in these threads. Is electronics a hobby of yours or is it the field you work in?

I have some electronic tools to help me learn and to try thing, ie breadboard and a bunch electronic components to create things with the breadboard. All I need now is a push into the right direction to make a current limiter that you talk about in the above post. Thanks again for the link and helping all the people that you have in these threads on this forum.

axkman

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2020, 12:13:55 PM »
I use a lm317 voltage circuit (0.79 cents on aliexpress) which i modified to be a 6ma current source. Very simple to do. You can also modify the circuit even more to be 1ma current source if you want. The circuit adjusts the output voltage to match the desired current.

Offline Gene

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Re: Help for New Folks
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2020, 12:37:47 PM »
The 2 transistor limiter and the LM317 limiter are the simplest.  The LM317 is simpler and with one of those little blue 25 turn trimmer potentiometers, you can set the thing to anything you want.

You have to be careful though.  The LM317 in the TO220 package has a low end current limiting limit of about 10ma. You might be able to push it a bit lower but its not guaranteed.

The LM317LZ (TO92 package) is guaranteed down to 2.5ma I believe and its plenty good enough for a Colloidal Silver current limiter even up to say 20-25ma.

For safety's sake you should put about a 50 Ohm resistor in series with your potentiometer. That'll limit the highest current to about 25ma. The reason being is that those little blue 25 turn trimmer pots can achieve damn near zero resistance at the low end and that would max out the regulator for an LM317LZ (100ma max) and its a safety thing because, unless you're making bathtubs full of the stuff, 25ma is on the high side for most people.  On the low end, a 1K blue trimmer pot will allow you to set it down to as low as 1.25ma BUT with the LM317LZ I wouldn't expect to see much below about the 2.5ma guarantee (maybe 2 but much below this I'd be surprised).