Hello Fred, I beg to differ with you. I said we manufacture the only constant low current colloid generator on the market as far as we can tell. I didn't say constant current regulators weren't available and I didn't say anything about persons being able to build one for themselves. I will say that I found it impossible to make an IC work properly down at the 1 milliampere range so I designed the circuit we use in our generator. It is very sensitive in its range and is temperature compensated so it holds the setting quite accurately. It works over the range of 12 to 40 volts and I might add I don't think you'll find this circuit in a Radio Shack booklet.
You mention a 10 milliampere regulating range for the IC. My experience is that a 10 ma. regulator would never regulate because I have never seen the current rise that high when making CS. Usually, 4-8 ma. is the highest and that is when using constant VOLTAGE units, which is what most low voltage DC generators are. They of course do not regulate current. For the newbies, I am speaking about 3 or 4 - 9 volt batteries in series or a transformer rectifier delivering the equivalent DC voltage to the electrodes. Yes, we recommend using steam distilled water only. Maybe we have better distillers in our part of the country than yours because I have never found a gallon which measures over 2 PPM using a TDS meter. Most read 0-1 PPM. By the way, our circuit also does double duty. It not only regulates the current but uses another built in circuit to use an LED as a current meter. In our instructions we tell the customer that if the light comes on when they first turn the unit on the water is NOT good. The circuit is quite sensitive to conductivity in the water and effectively acts as a TDS indicator of sorts. It normally takes about 20-40 minutes for the light to come on with 2" spacing. We tell our customers the generator will work with other water but the results are not predictable and the CS is not as long lived and stable. That was a correct statement, period. I didn't say it wouldn't work with other water. What I did say was; we recommend steam distilled water. It is available almost everywhere. Deionized water is not. Your statement that stability is product related but not water related leaves me wondering what you're talking about. The water is the most critical constituent part in the process. The silver is a given. We all (or most of us use .999 fine) have the same silver, so the water is what determines whether we make compounds or colloid. We have CS on the shelf which is over a year old and is still colloidal with no fallout discernible. It was made with steam distilled water. Large particles are what generally fall out of suspension (dispersion). Our generators don't make large particles because of the current regulator holding a low constant value. My feeling is that low current equals small particle size. My experience seems to prove it. When I made CS using constant voltage, I seemed to get much more fallout and unpredictable results. So do most persons on the list from their discussions. That's why we went to constant current. And I say it one more time. I wasn't advertising. I was answering a valid question by a list member. Since no one else sells a constant current generator that I know of, who else would answer the question about constant current? Here's the original question by the new member. >>"I am also new at all this,but I'm not sure how to get my answers.I need to know what is the best machine to buy(reasonably priced that is) Can you make it yourself?What is this about a constant current?Do you have to use distilled water only?What if you can't get distilled water,will it not work?Where can I get the best info on all this? Thanks for putting up with us beginners :>) it's really very interesting. Barbie"<< Trem ----- Original Message ----- From: Fred <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 17, 1999 9:24 PM Subject: CS>Constant current generators > True, Trem, you should not be beating your own drum! > I am not knocking you but trying to clarify for the others: > > Constant current is widely used and as simple as one > transistor or I.C and a resistor, like the National LM334Z > and a 6.8 ohm resistor to give 10 ma DC. It is a 40 Volt > device but easy to series and/or parallel. Transistors > are good for many amps up to 1,200 volts.There are of > course many others, all in the $1 range. Tandy even has > simple booklets on making constant current circuits. > > I must challange you endorsement of distilled water - we > have measured 100's of gallons and it is not uncommon > to find 15PPM or more. Deionized water on the other hand > is never over 1PPM. The difference of course is whether > you make compounds of silver or a colloid of silver. Stability > is product related, not water, it is very high with ions > (charged particles) and very low with non-charged crystals or > insoluable compounds - gravity gets them in time. > > The cost is the same! You may be lucky enough to find a > local water supplier that both distills and deionizes afterwards. > Some of the better home stills do include a deionizer after filter. > > Now, to correct myself, I had suggested before using a Brita > deionizer filter cartridge to clean up marginal water but now > find they have included a mess of fine activated charcoal > (stays suspended for days) and takes a few gallons to flush out > (as they suggest). The recent cartridge I bought turned 0.3PPM > water into 67PPM, due to the suspended carbon particles. It took > a gallon before it dropped below 5 PPM. With a suggested life of > 35-40 gallons, it would treat many 100's of gallons of poorly distilled > water. The carbon may not be any problem, except for generators > like ours that monitor PPM and turn off automatically - I.E. a long > flushing cycle before any benefit is gained. > > Fred Peschel Trem Williams [email protected]
