How to Make a Negative Ion air ionizer

Two models will be shown, one full-wave rectified and the other a half-wave rectified negative ion ionizer. Featuring an optional fan on the full-wave model.

Benefits of negative ions supposedly include
• freshen and purify the air
• help lift mood
• alleviate depression including winter depression(SAD)
• eliminate most tiny particles suspended in the air (indoors)

CAUTION

• HIGH VOLTAGES present in both devices is high enough to induce a bad case of temporary Tourettes. ie twitching/profanity.
• Be aware of the hazards when working with loose CARBON FIBRE filaments if using this option for high voltage grid instead of pins.

Step 1: Components and Design

Tools required:

• soldering iron and solder.
• screwdrivers, flat and star
• cordless drill.
• hot melt glue gun.

Optional tool:

• wire wrapper.

The full wave rectified version has better performance but is a bit noisier if using the optional fan. The fan is a 60mm x 60mm CPU 12 brushless fan which I'm driving at
5v to reduce current consumption and noise.

The half wave version uses fewer components and less current, the smaller size is also trickier to build.

In both versions the negative band on the diode must point towards the ac voltage input.
If you follow the green arrows on the component diagrams, you will first encounter the negative side on the diode first, indicated by the white band.

Comments

[petercd]

Yes, ozone is produced, however I'm speculating that the amount would be dependent on the working voltage. Possibly a good indicator would be the amount of corona (cute purple glow) on the pin tips, however I don't really know and am unable to give any facts concerning ozone production

[rimar2000]

Thanks for the information.

[t.rohner]

Nice instructable. I made one of these some 30 years ago. My mum wasn't that happy about it, because the high voltage charges fine dust particles and they are attracted by more or less grounded surfaces like walls and even windows ;-) If you direct the ion flow trough a grounded tube, you have a electrostatic air cleaner. (you can have a thin wire insulated in the center of the tube and connect the high voltage there. As it's done in laser printers.) You can also make a ion propulsion propeller...

[nox1468]

one question, could you theoretically make one that runs on DC instead of AC?

[petercd]

sure, but seeing as the ac voltage is principle for the device, you would need an inverter and run the device off the output of the inverter.

[nox1468]

nice work,but i was wondering if this ionizer could be used in this project http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Shock-Anything-Fry-Electronics-with-a-Tou/
and if not, were i could find an ionizer that would work for it.

[petercd]

no
I also don't advise touching these devices to build up static in your fingers.
I blew every one of the diodes whilst messing with an ion propeller and it accidentally touched earth, it would probably be safer to touch a taser, at least that wont kill you.

[正安]

Thanks so much.
These data were measured by the Multi-Tester,but this time I used the High Voltage Probe,which it showed 100VAC→1200VDC in 10 stages!!
Which one is more correctly?

[petercd]

definitely the High Voltage Probe

[正安]

Can I use a variac transformer which can output 0~260VAC(5A) and then connect a Cockroft Walton Voltage Multipliers which use camera capacitor 104/1KV and 1N4007 as diode.
I made it series connection about 10 stages,theoretically it can output 10X(input voltage),but I didn't get that much. Here is my situation:
10VAC→100VDC
20VAC→180VDC
30VAC→240VDC
40VAC→300VDC
50VAC→360VDC
60VAC→400VDC
70VAC→450VDC
80VAC→500VDC
90VAC→520VDC
100VAC→560VDC
Is there anything wrong?Why can't i get that 10 times voltage?

[petercd]

not too sure, maybe you'll have to check each stage to see if there are popped caps or something.
Otherwise it might have something to do with the variac.

[fullnfi]

what is the output current and voltage of half wave ionizer and full wave ionizer

[leaualorin]

Hey Peter , could galvanized tin be used for the HIGH VOLTAGE "pins"?
I want an " negative ion canon" against these damm chemtrails!
Thank you kindly!
:-)

[Xolin]

"Chemtrails"?!? Oh, goodness; why don't you use it against pixies and dragons too? Their about as real...

[imbigman]

I already do! Thats why you never see them. Don't forget about Gnomes and Gargoles also.

[Xolin]

Oh, I see.

That's why I also never see elves or leprechauns either...

Well done keeping the population of non-existent creatures down. :-)

[imbigman]

Hey... Just doing what i can, for all of humanity.

I must say I am getting real tired of stepping in pixie dust.... Just what is that stuff anyway... Maybe I don't want to know. :-)

[Xolin]

LOL :-)

[markstutzman]

I know this site is D-I-Y and all, but for those of you who might not have the time to build something like this from scratch, but still want to play around with negative ions, you can buy a surplus negative ion generator unit for a little over 10 bucks:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G1783

I have a couple of these. They work well. Just need to add a power cord.

[Lectric Wizard]

Connecting either live or neutral to ground is dangerous & illegal. No current should EVER flow in the ground system unless there is a fault. That's what it's there for !!! Connecting it as you show does nothing useful anyway ...

[pfred2]

Danger Will Robinson, Danger! Said the robot. I was getting into voltage multipliers and high voltage once but back then I didn't know about flyback diodes so I kept on blowing the MOSFET I was using to drive the thing I'd made. When the goofballed thing I made ran it was pretty crazy though so I can see what the appeal is. Big, big, big sparks! I was getting 1 inch long sparks using a 9 volt battery, which I thought was cool!

It might have just been in my head but when the gadget I'd made ran it did seem to charge the air, just made me feel weird in a subtle way, hard to describe really. I haven't revisited all of that high voltage zaniness since, but when I was doing it it was fascinating.

Maybe someday ...

I'll throw some stars your way for the memories.

[joespicnictables]

What size parts should I get if I use 220/240 volts for this?

[petercd]

the same or similar as the ones I used, the voltage is 220V down my neck of the woods.

[moris_zen]

Nice instructable !
Two questions :
1. Isn't the total voltage too high for these capacitors ?
2. What would happen if I use 100v capacitors?
3. Would I get better performance with higher capacity capacitirs (0.56uf) ?
Thanks

[petercd]

1. each individual capacitor doesnt see the total voltage which would indeed be too high, its the voltage drop across each cap which must be within the caps rating.

2. a bit low even if your household voltage is 110V, most likely pop a cap after a while, how long? cant say.

3 dont know, give it a try.

[R.A.T.M]

whats the resistor do?

[anupam040]

can u estimate and tell me the approx cost of making the above project?

[Skyriam]

So, do you know how many kV your device produces peter? Or any calculations to find out. Thanks!

[petercd]

I built a 100M ohm and 100K ohm voltage divider to check as well as an electroscope to check the output. The electroscope is basically 2pieces of Aluminum  foil hanging on a copper wire, when the ionizer is touched to the copper wire then the 2 foil pieces repel each other.

So with tools in hand I first checked the Ioncare usb ionizer which was 2.65kV, the half-wave ionizer popped every diode after playing with ion propulsion so I dont know what its output is.

The full wave ionizer proved a bit tricky to record a voltage level. When at first it touches the output pins I see readings of 12 to 24kV but a steady 4.2kV when I clip the voltage divider resistors to the pins. Im guessing that my 100Mohm resistors place too much load on the ionizer hence the fluctuating readings.

Nice to know is that the usb ionizer uses 26.7ma (milliamp) at 5.26V DC, which works out to about 0.1399 mW which is why you cant see its power draw in the "windows usb power managment".

I dont know any calculations or formula for these devices, but the usb ionizer had roughly 600V after each diode/capacitor pair, with 4 diodes and 4 caps in total giving the 2600kV output....for what its worth.

[strmrnnr]

I have been thinking on this and trying to figure out why a Microwave Oven Transformer could not be used if 4 HV diodes make up a rectifier. The tranformer would have to be seperate but if I didn't plan on moving the unit very much that shouldn't be a problem.

Do you see a problem? Am I way out in left field on this one?

[duckythescientist]

Here is a link to a website explaining the math behind the CW multiplier. There is a link at the bottom of the page for a calculator that will do the equations for you, but it wasn't working today when I checked. It has worked in the past, so it might work later.

http://www.blazelabs.com/e-exp15.asp

[erdosain9]

Hello. It is not dangerous or harmful to the capacitors to touch each other?
I know almost nothing about electronics. I ask just in case ...
regards

[mr. clean]

Something interesting is that if you have ever used a plasma cutter you will smell ozone, weather or not it is ozone i don't know, it may just be the smell of burning steel.

[lucek]

WARNING! Devices like this have produced O3 aka Ozone. This has shown to aggravate breathing conditions like asthma. DO NOT repeat DO NOT use ionic cleaners if you or someone in the residence has breathing conditions. Further there is some risk of developing breathing conditions including but not limited to lung cancer. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

[IncrediblyCondensedBlackMatter]

but ozone smells so good! like lightning!

[Thoth]

A way too avoid or minimize the the dangers associated with breathing ozone, is simply to run the device while no one is in the room and turn it off before the room is to be occupied, it has a short half-life.

[Wesley666]

Isn't Ozone's half life like 3 days?

[Whitedude0728]

half life 3 you say? ;)

[Wesley666]

Don't they keep extending the date of release for that? I heard it was supposed to come out like 3 years ago and its still not here yet...

[Whitedude0728]

Yea the joke that people have been expecting it for like 7 years but valve will neither deny or confirm whether it is being worked on :/