Colloidal Silver Generator Home Made

Basic DIY designs.

Can't afford a fully automatic Silver Well just yet? Then experiment with a
simple home-made generator.
Why are we showing you these?
Because we hope it will help you
to see the difference between an
advanced, fully automatic
colloidal silver generator like the
Silver Well, and some other
'bought' generator that will
frustrate you from the first day
you use it! The main thing we
hope you will realise by
examining these pictures is that many retail generators costing
$100 to $200 are no better than these. They may hide the batteries
in a plastic box, or have some gadget to hold the silver wires, but
in terms of actual performance they offer nothing more than
these designs. Basically they are just common transformers, or
battery boxes, re-packaged as 'generators'. If you look back at the
Silver Well system you'll see that the power supply is actually a
relatively minor part of our overall package. Its the circuitry in
the white 'head unit' (the brains of the system) and the stirring
unit, that makes the Silver Well special.
These are the more common styles of do-it-yourself colloidal
silver generators. If you build one from scratch for a few dollars
you'll probably have fun and learn a few things. If you pay
someone $100 for the same thing you'll probably feel ripped off.
The simplest possible design is just a battery or transformer
connected to 2 silver wires. Of course it will have NO current
control, NO automatic shut-off , NO stirrer, and you'll have to
watch it like a hawk, but at least its cheap.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTOS TO ENLARGE.

Basic advice for making colloidal silver with a simple home
made generator ...
If you are making colloidal silver for regular human
consumption ALWAYS use high quality distilled,
demineralised, deionised, or R.O. purified water. No
exceptions ever! You'll probably have to buy it, but
its not expensive. Water from simple, cheap 'under-
sink' filters is usually not good enough. And never
add anything to the water. Do not add salt or baking
soda or any other impurity to the water to speed up
the process. Any water that produces white mist soon
after the power is applied is definitely no good! Read
more about this on our 'Risk without benefit' page.
The following method will at least produce colloidal
silver with a useful silver content .
Start with a small clear glass jar - I suggest about 250
mls at first, until you become more experienced. The
electrodes should be kept parallel, about 3 to 4 cm
apart, and off the bottom of the jar. - For your first
few batches apply the power until the water develops
a tiny bit of color. This may look grey, pink, or
yellow, but whatever color it is it should be almost
imperceptible. (Stand a glass of clean water next to
the brewing jar so its easier for you to detect the color
change). Stir the water occasionally. The time it takes
will vary from about 30 minutes to hours depending
on volume, voltage, water quality, temperature,
electrode spacing and stirring. Switch off the power
as soon as the water begins to change color. If this
batch stays nearly colorless or turns very pale yellow
overnight its OK to drink - but its not perfect. Ideally
you should be trying to produce a batch that has an
effective silver content but is clear and colorless. So if
all else remains the same (volume, voltage etc) your
next brews can be shortened by 5 or 10 minutes each
time until you arrive at a brewing time that produces
a nearly colorless batch. (But don't shorten it too
much or you might have almost no silver in the jar).
It takes a bit of practice but water is cheap. And if
you make a really bad batch you can still use it as a
topical spray. While the batch is brewing take notice
of various indicators such as bubbles on the electrode,
smoky tendrils falling from the bottom of an electrode
or golden trails drifting from the electrodes.
Observing and noting the time these appear will help
you arrive at an optimum brewing time.
Higher voltages give a fast clean result but generally
speaking its best to slow the process as much as is
convenient by using low voltages and keeping the
electrodes well spaced. Higher voltages make colloidal
silver faster, but lower, slower, voltages make
colloidal silver better - this is one reason why the
Silver Well automatically, progressively, reduces the
voltage from about 30 to 3 volts. Slower speeds also
make the process a bit more predictable. The higher
the voltage, the further apart the electrodes should
be.
A bit of fuzz on the electrodes is normal. It's only the
color of the water that's important.
(For more information about ions and particles theres
a lengthy discussion at the bottom of the 'Making CS.
FAQ's' page.)

Power Supplies
To build a very basic generator you really
only need a low voltage DC power supply
and two silver wires to use as electrodes. Low voltage
DC Power supplies are everywhere. The picture
shows a few common types. All batteries are DC
power supplies so they will do for a start. And most
small transformers (also known as 'wall plugs' or
'adaptors') are DC power supplies too. You probably
have a half a dozen in your home right now. For
example, the transformers you use to charge phones
and cordless tools. Any battery or DC power supply
from about 6 to 40v will work. Note: When using a
small transformer make sure its 'DC output'. A few
(not many) are AC output. AC output does not work.
ALL these transformers and batteries are
CONSTANT VOLTAGE power supplies, so don't be
impressed if someone offers a generator with
'constant voltage technology'. Don't confuse 'constant
voltage' with constant current or CONTROLLED
CURRENT as is used in a Silver Well Generator.

Single 9V Battery
This is about as small, simple, and cheap
as a colloidal silver generator can get -
but it will make colloidal silver as well (or
as badly) as any other D.I.Y. generator on
this page. The battery is about $2 and the rest of the
parts are worth about $3 from a store like Dick
Smith's. The only 'expensive' part is the silver wire.
You can usually get that from a silver or gold smith,
or jewellery supplies dealer in the Yellow Pages. (Or
from us). Make sure it's at least 999+ silver purity.
Don't let the silver wires touch or you will flatten the
battery fast. You could also add a little light or switch
to one of the wires to prevent short circuits. One
opportunist on the internet is selling the 'Plans' to
build this generator for $5.

The common '3 nines' generator
In this set-up '3 nines' doesn't refer to the quality
of the silver wire. It refers to the three nine volt
batteries. Clipped together like this they make 27
volts. (Higher voltages make colloidal silver faster).
You can also clip on a fourth battery if you wish and make a
36v system, or remove a battery to make 18v. (You probably
never realised this but 9v batteries clip together like LEGO).
Now put the 3 batteries in a plastic box and you have a
'generator' you can sell on the internet for about $100. (See
item 4 on our Links page)
Note. The rapidly developing white cloudy look indicates the
glass at left contains ordinary tap water instead of pure water.
Thats definitely no good . You must use distilled or
demineralised water. (Distilled water might go greyish after a
while but it doesn't go white.)
BELIEVE IT OR NOT one rip-off merchant in the US is
actually selling the 'plans' to make this generator for $45
(Thats just for the plans). Or complete 'ready made' generators
for $180 US. That's about $240 Australian! And he's including
'electrolyte tablets' (probably just salt tablets) to boost the
conductivity so it will work faster. Thats just plain reckless - it
produces a mass of silver chloride. Check this out.
http://www.macrobiotic.org/csgenerator1.html

DC Wall Adaptor or Transformer
Here's a basic setup using an old cordless drill
charger with a couple of alligator clips attached to
the end. The block holding the silver wires is simply
a strip of electrical connectors from an electronics
store. (About $2).
Using a wall transformer like this saves batteries but in terms
of performance theres no difference between this and an
ordinary battery of similar voltage.

Bigger isn't always better...
Here's a basic set-up using a $35 Chinese-made
transformer from JayCar or Dick Smith's together
with $3 worth of electrical wire and alligator clips. The big box
looks impressive but it's just another transformer. The
amperage (1.5 amps) is about 1000 times too high to make good
colloidal silver. Ideally the current must be maintained at
about 1 milliamp to produce the smallest particles but theres
no automatic current control here. A cheap little wall plug
transformer, or a 9v battery performs just as well as a whopper
like this.

Someone locally is calling this a 'generator', adding some silver
wire, and charging $139. They even say they are '100%
Australian' and this thing is 'Australian assembled'. Well I
guess attaching the alligator clips could be called 'assembly'.
Until recently they also tried to claim it was 'current protected
so the current won't increase and produce big particles'. But
that was just blatant rubbish. The only current protection in
this is meant to stop the transformer from going over its rated
limit of a whopping 1.5 amps and burning out. There's
absolutely nothing but water resistance stopping it from
cranking out its full 1500 milliamps (and big particles begin to
be made at just a few milliamps)
The truth is this is just an ordinary DC transformer, that
would normally be used to power a kids train set or some
electronic project. It has absolutely no features that are
specifically designed for colloidal silver production.
See BUYER ALERT 2 at the bottom of this page for another
another example of a basic transformer being marketed as a
generator.

Fork Connector
This is just another way of connecting the silver
wires to a $10 transformer. We have seen set-ups
like this advertised for about $100.

Adding a light bulb to prevent short circuits
Adding a light to one of the leads from the
battery or transformer will indicate if the
silver wires have accidently touched
causing a short circuit. It will save the battery from
going flat too quickly, or the transformer from
burning out.

Adding a multimeter to show the current
This set-up uses a 9v 350 milliamp power
supply. A multi-meter added to one of the
leads will show the current flowing
between the silver electrodes. Here at the
start of batch, in very pure water, its just one tenth of
a milliamp. It will increase as silver ions are released
into the water. Ideally it should be limited and
maintained at one milliamp, but without any form of
current control it can rapidly accelerate (beyond a
milliamp) and produce more oxide fuzz than ions.

Current limiting circuit
Heres a simple circuit posted in the files of the
Yahoo colloidalsilver2 discussion group by a good
man known as 'Herx13'. (Click the picture to enlarge it). This
circuit will limit the current to a few milliamps depending on
the resistor you chose. Most 'bought' systems don't even have a
basic current limiter like this. Limiting the current means the
batch takes much longer but the particle size is smaller and the
batch is more stable. (Of course it still won't switch off
automatically like a Silver Well does.)

Herx's Faraday Calculator
This link will take you to Herx's Excel Spreadsheet.
If you have Excel, and you've built a generator with
current limiting or have a multimeter attached you can feed in
a number of variables then use Faradays Equation to calculate
the amount of silver deposited into distilled water in a given
time http://www.silvermedicine.org/faradaycalculator.html

An aquarium bubbler to stir
A stirring system is an excellent addition to a home
made kit. An aquarium bubbler (as illustrated
here) is popular for this purpose. There is some
debate about whether introducing air and air-borne dust into
the system is a good idea, but at least a bubbler is easily
installed, reliable and reasonably cheap. This set-up also uses a
simple 'wall plug' power supply, and the silver wires have been
mounted tidily into the lid of a jar. (This is 'Debs set-up' from
the files of the yahoo colloidalsilver2 discussion group).


$20

9999+ Silver 18cm Straight Electrodes........$20 a pair
If you still want to make your own simple
generator, you've probably already got everything
you need except silver wire. We have straight 7"
(18cm) 12 gauge 9999+ electrodes for $20 a pair.
This is top quality wire, thicker than usual.
DELIVERY WITHIN AUSTRALIA AND NEW
ZEALAND IS FREE.






BUYER ALERT #1
Battery powered generators are the most common
generators advertised on the internet. You'll see
these basic set-ups everywhere, advertised for anything from
about $35 to $200 including overpriced silver wire. The
batteries are always hidden in a plastic box. Sometimes a little
wall transformer will also be offered as an option to bypass the
batteries. Either way, they never show you what's actually IN
the box. People trust the sales pitch about how easy it is to
make colloidal silver and buy one of these simple set-ups. Then
they spend the next 2 months on a colloidal silver discussion
group asking questions about why their CS doesn't look like
they thought it would, or is it safe to drink. And pretty soon
they also start wondering if they are making anything useful at
all. Obviously that's not a happy situation to be in. The fact is
that making colloidal silver IS easy, but making GOOD
colloidal silver isn't. Before you choose a generator have a good
think about what you want to achieve and whether a basic
generator like this can deliver the goods. The Silver Well
Generator is not the cheapest system but it makes high quality
colloidal silver easily and automatically. It's a true 'set and
forget' system that will allow you to make and drink colloidal
silver every day with minimum fuss and maximum confidence.

BUYER ALERT #2
Re-labelling transformers and selling them as
generators is another popular 'scheme'. The setup
at left is actually being sold in New Zealand for
$110. It's the same transformer we use in our kit
except we only use it to power the generator and
the stirrer. In this NZ kit it IS the generator! Don't
be fooled by the new label. Click the pic to enlarge it, and
compare it with the transformer on our home page. Or go to
the New Zealand site for a close look.
http://www.zealandpublishing.co.nz



CAUTION!
Water and electricity can be a dangerous combination so exercise caution. And never make
colloidal silver for human consumption with anything other than distilled or demineralised
water.

Current limiting circuit