Author Topic: LM317  (Read 1105 times)

Offline nabsysHealer

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LM317
« on: June 24, 2022, 06:33:43 PM »
Honest question
is the LM317 really necessary ?

Offline kephra

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Re: LM317
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2022, 07:45:20 PM »

A current regulator/limiter of some sort is absolutely required.  The easiest to make is the lm317 circuit.
There is the unknown and the unknowable.  It's a wise man who knows the difference.

Offline nabsysHealer

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Re: LM317
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2022, 08:49:20 PM »
I am new to circuits and current

will this model work ?
https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Voltage-Regulator-Digital-Display/dp/B07PPNZ3ZJ/ref=pd_cart_vw_crc_1_1/138-5492098-8330521?_encoding=UTF8&content-id=amzn1.sym.01004c92-8f40-4f1a-bee8-08cb36dccac2&pd_rd_i=B07PPNZ3ZJ&pd_rd_r=fd6e44d1-bfaf-4f62-8859-7760a26c447a&pd_rd_w=jpe9H&pd_rd_wg=O0HGs&pf_rd_p=01004c92-8f40-4f1a-bee8-08cb36dccac2&pf_rd_r=R521TKH1XK6M4R0DPJCZ&psc=1&refRID=R521TKH1XK6M4R0DPJCZ


About this item
VOLTAGE RANGE: The board can be connected to the load within 2A, AC or DC input voltage, the output voltage is DC 1.25V-28V continuously adjustable.
VOLTAGE RANGE: The board can be connected to the load within 2A, AC or DC input voltage, the output voltage is DC 1.25V-28V continuously adjustable.
DEDICATED CAPACITOR: The voltage regulator module adopts high-frequency power supply dedicated capacitor, which has more stable performance.
DUPLEX ADJUSTMENT POTENTIOMETER: The power regulator uses duplex adjustment potentiometer, while the regulator is equipped with a heat sink for better heat dissipation.
DIGITAL TUBE: The module add digital tubes to display output voltage, so the output voltage is clear at a glance.
DOUBLE-SIDED CIRCUIT BOARD: The adjustable board adopts military grade double-sided circuit board.

Offline Gene

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Re: LM317
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2022, 12:03:01 AM »
In one word...NO!

Thats a voltage regulator (power supply), NOT a current limiter.

I seriously doubt you're going to find anything on the web that suits our needs in making Colloidal Silver well. Our current requirements are TINY (3-20 milliamps depending on what current you choose to run at - thats 0.003 to 0.02 amps total - no I'm not kidding).

Your best bet is to build yourself an LM317LZ current limiter. Its all of 3 small parts (seriously). There's plenty of information here on the forum as to how to do it already - just search for it.  This one has pretty much been beaten to death at this point so its not worth repeating that which can already be found on the forum.

I do need to mention that you shouldn't use the LM317T part (the TO-220 part) because its low end minimum current when used in a current limiter configuration is much higher than the LM317LZ. The T "might" get you down to about 5 milliamps. The "LZ" WILL get you down below 2ma (mine gets me to about 1.2millamps) and the LZ is a tiny package where the T isn't.

Keep searching around the forum and educate yourself, reread articles if necessary, peruse the Kephra's Notebook section articles/posts and formulate a good baseline of understanding before you embark on doing it for real. You'll be glad you did.

It may seem daunting but aside from acquiring the needed items/materials, once you've gotten your first batch under your belt you're gonna wonder why you ever thought it was going to be hard (wink). You know what I mean.


Offline nabsysHealer

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Re: LM317
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2022, 12:33:03 AM »
thank you so much I will do that

Offline Gene

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Re: LM317
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2022, 04:20:51 AM »
You may laugh but what I use as a power supply (surely you can find someone who has an old one lying around) is an old laptop power supply/charger. It puts out 19.3v at up to 5 amps (current not important - ANYTHING puts out enough current). 19.3V is a reasonable voltage if you're not stirring/heating and not running at higher currents.

I process at 7-10ma depending on what stage of decay my silver wire anode is in (lower as it gets thinner). I have a 1ozt bullion bar and will be switching over to that when the wire is of no use anymore.

You may not believe it but one single 1oz troy bullion bar, assuming you can only use 80% of it up before it gets too thin to be usable anymore (still good to sell as silver scrap though) is enough silver to make 1244 liters of 20PPM (NOPE, NOT KIDDING!). So, for maybe $30 these days, it'll be a LONG time before you'd find yourself needing to buy another one. If you go this route, make sure its 3 "9's" purity - .999 meaning 99.9% pure silver bullion. There is some thats 99.99% out there but don't waste the money. It doesn't buy you anything other than a higher price tag (wink).

This forum has been around for a LOOONNGGGG time! There's a wealth of knowledge recorded here and it simply takes time to absorb what part of it you deem necessary and to understand it. Take the time. You'll be glad you did.

You'll find though that once you've aced your first batch, you're going to wonder why you ever thought it was so complicated. Yeah, there are things you have to watch given you're going to drink it but to set a cell up to run takes maybe 10-15 minutes and then its just a waiting game for as long as Faraday's law of electrolysis tells you that you have to run the cell to achieve the PPM you desire.

Oh, and at $30 for a bullion bar, a liter of 20PPM Colloidal Silver contains just shy of 2 cents worth of silver.  The highest ticket item is the distilled water which will cost you around $0.25-$0.40 depending on what you buy per quart - at least in the US.

Offline nabsysHealer

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Re: LM317
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2022, 03:12:35 PM »
 Thank you so much Gene for all the info. I am currently in the process of purchasing and setting up my equipment and will share it with you guys. Yes, I am located in Maryland
Do you get your Distilled water from store or do you order in bulk from  somewhere  else?

Offline Gene

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Re: LM317
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2022, 09:16:48 PM »
I just buy it locally. When I make Colloidal Silver for close friends, they always give me a jug or two of distilled back as a thank you.  Even still, I doubt my most volumnous year I made more than 5 gallons total.

Thats the reason why, unless you're all thumbs, just putting a cheap but functional setup together is usually the best approach. If you're only going to make a few gallons a year would you really want to invest hundreds of dollars on a device to make the stuff?

I realize the above is kind of a rhetorical question given the silvertron is no longer in production and there isn't anything that even came close to it but I think you get my point.  Start out as simply and as inexpensively as you can and then, once you've aced the process and have a few batches under your belt, perhaps upgrade a bit but if you're like me, you'll realize for the minimal use per year of the equipment, its not worth spending anymore.

The first upgrade I would suggest if you started out with a silver rod would be to go to a silver bullion bar so you can up the current to 15-20ma so you can seriously speed up production.  With a silver rod/wire, I doubt pushing it up over 10ma would be a good idea. Its all about surface area but you have to realize that with a bullion bar, you point one of the flat faces towards the cathode and the only real surface area that counts is whats on that side. The edges and back contribute a little but not nearly as much as you'd expect.  Its perhaps a good idea for each successive run here, to 180 the bullion bar so every run is using the opposite side to keep silver loss on the bar even.

Oh yeah, make sure you flame clean your anode after each use. Some people just wipe off the greyish-black stuff after a run and they're throwing away lots of perfectly good silver because that stuff is silver oxide. Flame cleaning de-oxidizes the silver oxide and melts the resulting silver particles back onto the anode so you lose little to nothing. And given the random grainy nature of this remelt, thats what makes the anode start to look kind of a dull white color - thats silver and nothing but.