Poor Ken. We all got the same misinformation and confusion when we started, so I really know how you feel. It will take a while to deprogram the junk you have read out of your mind, so please be patient.
It's a good sign that you dicovered on your own that adding salt is a bad idea. This means you are self-correcting and can sort out the good information from the bad. You need it when dealing with cs:) The black stuff on the cathode is silver oxide. It comes from running the process too long at too high current. It doesn't do any good except to waste silver and your time. The gold color is not necessarily a good thing. It means your process is running at too high a current density, and the resulting large particles are agglomerating and plating out. This doesn't do any good either, since the stuff sticking to the side of the glass can't kill the bugs in your body. Most people strive for a pale straw color or perfectly clear. The constant voltage that you are using process starts with a low current that builds exponentially. You need to get a cheap dvm to monitor the current to tell when to stop the process. I think Chuck recently posted information on a model from Harbor Freight is available for some rediculous low price. Get one before they discover their mistake:) Then look at the recent posts on multimeters and how to keep from blowing the fuse. A simple resistor in series will save you many trips to Radio Shack. (BTW - I just blew the fuse on my multimeter. These newfangled alkalines have a lot more juice than the old carbon-zinc that I grew up with:) Measure the initial current when you first apply voltage. This tells you the quality of your distilled water. It should be well below 1mA, preferably in the range of 0.1 to 0.6mA. A low value means the quality is too high and it will take a long time to reach the cutoff point. A high initial current means the distilled water is poor and full of impurities. You can find better water but you have to search for it. Look at WallMart, various pharmacies, and different grocery stores. You might want to stop the process when it reaches 2 mA or so. Be careful - it increases very rapidly at the end and will catch you off-guard. You can use the salt test to detect the presence of silver ions. See my article at http://www3.sympatico.ca/add.automation/misc/130vdc.htm for more information. Please do not try the 130V generator described in the article. I am working on a better process and may post more information soon. Mike Monett -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. Instructions for unsubscribing may be found at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
