Regardless of the normal output of a self regulated or otherwise regulated wall wart [step down transformer], if they short internally YOU, yes you, may become connected to mains voltage.
JOH -----Original Message----- From: russ e rosser [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 7:15 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: CS>Re: DC "zapper"; AC adapters ('wall warts') Hi-- It's time to clear up some understandable confusion about electrical safety. > In one of your replies to Terry, > you said that "wall warts are > desirable in that they offer high > mA potential relative to their voltage." > This tells me that an AC adapter with > a high milliamp current output is desirable. It's good that the POTENTIAL output is available in case it's needed. However, your body & the zapper won't necessarily DRAW all the available output. I don't think we'll will ever use the total output of any such common device...read on. > But later in the same post you said > "one of the smarties on the > list would have to recommend how to > limit automatically current to <10mA > (which I think is considered> safe)." > This quote tells me that an AC adapter > with a current less than 10 milliamps is > desirable The dangerous component of electricity is CURRENT, which is measured in AMPERES (or milli-amps, etc.). Although your car's alternator supplies a steady ~50A, which is enough to incinerate most automotive components, they *draw* only the amperage they require. This is because current draw not solely a function of *available* current, but also limited to the quotient of the VOLTAGE (12VDC) over the a conductor's INTERNAL RESISTANCE. A "good" conductor has low resistance, & vice-versa. Although the body can conduct current flow, is has appreciable internal resistance. In addition, the conductivity of our zapper electrodes is *adjustable*: The sponge rubber electrodes have INFINITE resistance--therefore pass NO current--until salt water is added. The drier the sponges or the weaker the saline, the less current will be drawn from the power supply. Terry had asked about an automatic safety feature against freak situations like someone someone's 'falling asleep with it on.' This scenario is virtually inconceivable, however, as ELECTRICITY IS UNCOMFORTABLE AT WELL BELOW DESTRUCTIVE LEVELS. Nevertheless, the remote possibility exists that one could become otherwise incapacitated while hooked up...and it's true that the longer electrodes are left in one place, the more conductive (less resistive) that part of the body becomes. So if you've "fallen...and can't get up!" and you're lying on an electrode, you might get a slight skin irritation, or maybe some subtle, internal problem, by the time the paramedics arrived. Terry raised this safety issue in connection with possibly *selling* these things. I think the salient issue is to disclaim any "health claims" for such a device. On my Beck box, the blood electrode jack says "Plant growth stimulator." ;^) --Russ Some colloidal silver generators are CONSTANT VOLTAGE REGULATED. In order to be absolutely safe, I guess a DC zapper might need a circuit that limits the current to 10mA. HOWEVER, , so this whole thread seems like a tempest in a teapot. > One of the AC adapters I have sitting in front of me has a > switchable DC > output. The switch can be positioned on the following output > settings: 3, > 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9 and 12. These are VOLTAGE variations. Given a particular resistance value in a conductor (in our case, the body), higher voltage impels greater current flow. If your wands are soaked with salty water & you still can't feel anything, you'd adjust the V toward the higher settings. In all events, the bottom line is *comfort level*--avoid discomfort, and you're probably safe. The original A. Einstein Univ. experiment involved a conductive electrode immersed directly into blood, which has a certain resistive value. Since the phenomenon was discovered accidentally, they were probably using a transformer capable of several supplying many times the amperage that was realized (only a few uA, or micro-amps, as I recall). We'd therefore infer that the low power passed was a function of low voltage. > The faceplate says: input 120V 60Hz 13W > Current: > 600mA. That's .6 amp max, at the highest voltage setting. > Another one I have is a fixed output. It says input 120V AC 60Hz > 8.6W > output: 6V 6 00mA. (note the space between the 6 and the 00...does > this > mean 6 mA, or a literal 600 mA?) Probably the latter. > Are either of these wall warts > good for > what I plan to use them for? I think *any* AC-DC transformer in this low V range will work. --Russ -- 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: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
