electrifried


RE-building a Bio-ElectroStatic Generator Materials Needed: 12VDC Negative Ion Generator Model SBH-9VAS: enclosed 9v battery holder w/switch 9 volt battery or two Duracell 28L 6V lithium batteries Velstretch Velstraps or Velcro One Wrap Heat Shrink Tubing or Electrical Tape Metal clip of some kind Soldering iron, solder, and a modicum of soldering skill

Once again, I want to give props to the author of the "Pikashoes" website, from whom I got the inspiration and knowledge to do this project. I've seen similar projects on the web, even plans for sale, (www.amazing1.com/pranks.htm for one example) but until I saw that site, I didn't realize that all you really needed to get the job done was just a negative ion generator !
Even cooler, he now links back to me. ;-)
Tanks, d()()d !

Visit the NEW eLectrifRied forums: http://phrets.com/forums

NOTE: I want to reiterate that, despite requests, I really cannot build one of these for you; the primary function of this webpage is, always was, and always will be a "Do It Yourself How To"; and the secondary function of this page is to educate those of you who have this device or any similar device so as to achieve a deeper understanding of the electronic principles involved, to aid in troubleshooting as well as better application of the unit. I'm not in this "for the money" - I get no money out of this project, I have no sponsors (nor would I want them) and in fact, I've donated hour after hour conducting my own research and creating this page (and the forum) for the benefit of all. This is not a business; I am not a company; this is only a part time hobby. My only desire is to help people out by making this DIY educational resource. If you are unsure as to which end of a soldering iron you should hold, I'd (highly) suggest either hiring a local technician to build it for you, or consider buying one of the commercial devices on the market. Quick News Updates: Watch this section for quick'n'dirty updates.
May 19, 2007 I have two new pages up relative to this site, with lots of photos, which help explain the shoe hookup: Each page is a different variation on the method, but as always, feel free to experiment on your own; you may come up with something that suits you better. http://www.phrets.com/electrifried/shoe and http://www.phrets.com/electrifried/shoe2 Lastly, a word about the electrifried forums: if you're signing up for the forum, please put something in any of the question fields that tells me you're a real person that's truly interested in the unit, or in magic in general. I get several spambots a day attempting to create accounts and it can be difficult discerning the real users from the losers. Every little bit of info helps.
January 21, 2007 For reference' sake, anyone who wishes to see the original electrifried webpage, which utilized a cell phone holster as a case, can now see that page at http://phrets.com/preelectrifried . This page is now directly accessed by typing either http://www.phrets.com/electrifried or http://www.phrets.com/electrifried2 , either way you get here now. Well, I still have not found what I consider a suitable project box for this thing, but, I have recently discovered some new likely candidate enclosures from a new source, and they're on their way in the mail. I'm also going to experiment with using a low temperature easily dissolvable plastic to custom mold a case around the components; I'd like to thank egregor for very graciously donating copious amounts of that stuff ! Yet another builder, who custom designs leather holsters and straps for magicians, and is having a go at it using that approach. If that works out well, we may just team up. I've been trying some new, different batteries lately - they go by the designation " 28L ". These are 6V batteries. The cool thing is, they are rated at much higher milliAmp hours than most. This translates to longer lasting batteries. There's one other benefit too: they're Lithium batteries - and lithium batteries have a lower internal resistance than alkaline batteries, which results in a faster discharge rate. The result? The ability to deliver more power in a "burst" and recharge you faster. That's the Pros, here's the cons: they're relatively expensive ($5.79 a battery is the best price I've found so far) and they're harder to find locally. Still, once you see the new section I'm working on, you'll see they're worth it. I've also been asked by numerous people if I would be willing to build the unit for them and sell the whole darn thing complete. The answer is no, I cannot, sorry, but one has to take into account that I have a full time job and a house and family too and I simply have not the time nor space to build these for people. And now, the best was saved for last - I have a little surprise: The new ElectrifRied forum is up and running ! All are invited to register: http://phrets.com/forums There's still a little bit of work to do, like writing some basic FAQs, but overall it's ready to rock'n'roll. Enjoy ! Well, this has been a really long news update, but it was long overdue. Subsequent updates should be far less wordy.. I hope.

As in the first project, the entire device is based around a 12VDC negative ion generator, such as the one sold at Electronic Goldmine.
This alone constitutes about 90% of the project, fortunately. This model has an output of roughly 15 thousand volts !
The only other items necessary are a power source(battery(s) !) and a switch, a magnet, some wire, some comfortable straps, a clip, and some heat shrink tubing.

Oh, and one other thing:
The rather hard to find SBH-9VAS; an enclosed 9volt battery holder with a switch, available in the US from Batteryspace.com.
The switch is handy, it functions as a master kill switch for the whole thing. That's a must have.
Here's a direct link: http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2127

The switch I chose for mine was a typical reed switch, available from any electronics supply, even eBay. They are used for window alarm systems, typically.
It works entirely hands free and covertly, and doesn't have the dielectric losses you sometimes get with toe switches, which is why I prefer it, though some people may prefer to use a toe switch, such as these.
Of course, another option - and the easiest by far - is to skip the switch entirely and leave it permanently on and use the kill switch in the battery box to turn it off .

Going back to the basics, the overall general design is pretty simple:
It's essentially just a loop, from one terminal of the battery, to the switch, to the Ion generator, and back to the other terminal of the battery.
There is the addition of a "ground" or reference wire, which I chose to run from the positive terminal of the battery; this serves to provide a point of reference for the High Voltage output line of the Ion Generator.
This wire runs down my pant leg to a quick disconnect which has been crimped on; the wire is then continued by the other half, which is mounted in my shoe along with the quick disconnect mate.
The importance of the ground wire cannot be overstated !!
Without the ground wire, your unit will have no consistency or guarantee of working !
The ground wire needs to be a well insultated wire, because it runs alongside your bare leg, and it will constantly shock you if it isn't well insulated - remember, it's relatively zero volts, and your body is charged at 15,000 volts ! Good rubber soles or something to provide insulation is key here; you want to separate the two electrical sides of the generator as much as possible.

Below are two options for wiring, one simple, one more complex, with the switch optional in all cases.

The high voltage wire, also known as the Ion Antenna, is what makes direct body contact and provides the charge, making your body, in essence, one plate of a virtual capacitor, storing a charge up to 15,000 volts, but passing very little current.
The floor and immediate surroundings are the other plate of this virtual capacitor, and your rubber soled shoes act as the insulating dielectric.

Here's the gist of how it works it's magic:

The High Voltage wire, attached to your body, charges your body with excess electrons, giving you a potential difference (voltage) of somewhere in the neighborhood of negative 8 to 15kv, relative to your surroundings.
You are insulated from your surroundings by the rubber soles in your shoes, for a short time (maybe half a minute ? I haven't really timed it).
So, effectively, you become one plate of a virtual capacitor, and the ground, floor, and surroundings become the other, oppositely charged plate, so to speak. Your shoe's soles are the insulation, or "dielectric".
In touching someone, they are in effect, providing a path for a brief electrical current (discharge) in which the two desparate charges can travel and balance each other out.
Note that even without touching anything, you will eventually leak the charge out to the air and your environment and due to dielectric losses, as the charges seek to balance and cancel each other out.

Here's a little more detailed explanation of the theory behind the device, using an analogy or two that hopefully will make the concept more clear:

I came up with an easy to visualize analogy for explaining the requirements, or electrical theory behind Electrifried, which should help those who are troubleshooting or just need to better understand the principle: First off though, let's properly define static electricity. "Static" is something of a misnomer, because it can be moving; the main property of static electricty is that you have two opposing charges that are (currently) unable to "meet" and null each other out.
Clear as mud ?
Great, let's dig in deeper !
For EF to work, you must build up a static charge in your body, a charge that is isolated and insulated from your immediate surroundings. Of course, if the charge is not insulated from your surroundings, well.. then there'll be no build up of charge, because it will instantly "short out" or leak, so to speak. It really sort of becomes a "you against the world" kind of scenario.
It's not always easy to build up a charge.
You must be an island, an island in a sea of opposite charge - that's one simple way to look at it.
- Or, picture this -
The room you're standing in is a large in-ground swimming pool - everything is water; the floor, the table, or chairs, furniture, etc.. it's all water in the pool.
Or even better, picture it not as water, but acid ! You do not want to let any part of that acid touch you !
Therefore, you are in that pool, and you are standing in an acid proof rubber life-raft which is keeping you dry and out of harms way. The life-raft is - you got it - the rubber soles of your shoes. Note that the rest of the shoes aren't protecting you, only the rubber soles are. That's important !

So, that means:

No sitting down - your arse isn't protected ! (or do you wear rubber underwear? )

No leaning against the wall

No leaning against a counter or cabinet

No resting on furniture

No physical contact with ANYTHING in the room, period !

The only part of your body that touches anything is your rubber soles, on the floor. Both of them ! If you so much as take off one shoe and put that socked or bare foot down on the floor, a hungry school of mutant acid pirhana will instantly tear every ounce of flesh off of it from toe to ankle !!

Got it ?!

So there you are, standing in this life-raft in the middle of this pirhana infested pool of acid, desperately trying to stay dry. However, you are also equipped with an acid meter, which has a long tube designed to measure the acidity of the water, which it does by sampling some of the acid/water. Again, you don't want any of the acid on you, so the tube is thick and well insulated. The tube represents your "ground connection", the wire with the copper L that goes down to the floor, providing your reference voltage. While the rubber part of the wire can contact your skin, the inside of that wire is off limits, so the insulation must be good.
Okay, that's it.
The purpose of the analogy is to drive home the point that you can't touch anything until you've had a chance to build up a charge - it's all at the opposite charge, and your EF "knows" it because of the grounding/reference wire that runs down your leg to the "dangerous" side of your shoe's sole.

So, what happens when you touch somebody (or something) in the room is that they become the "bridge" between the two opposite charges, thus "closing" or completing the circuit allowing electricity to flow, and the two opposite charges finally meet and wipe each other out... with a big "zap".

I've modified my shoes to work easily with the unit, fitting a wire through the shoe itself and putting the matching quick disconnect component on the end.
Rather than run the wire alongside the back of the shoe, I wanted it better hidden this time, so I simply took an awl, and poked a hole through my insole out to the bottom of the shoe. The other end of the wire pokes out through the bottom of the sole, where I've soldered it to a piece of copper cladding which has been adhered to the sole using regular contact cement.
I'm still amazed how strong that stuff is !

As is, this works fine with a 9 volt battery in the battery holder.
However, I've found a way to easily convert this holder to use either two 6V 28L type batteries.

- - Okay, here's the section on converting the 9v battery holder to a 12v battery holder. - -

Instead of the usual 9V battery, we're going to use two Duracell 28L batteries. These are 6V lithium batteries that supply a great mAH rating, providing lots of juice, but a 9V will work too!

Note: this section is still under construction, but isn't too difficult to find large N type battery holders in which to hold the 28Ls, and fit that inside the 9V battery case.

The easiest thing to do is get two open style N Type battery holders, and wire/solder them together in series to a 9 volt battery clip. Actually, even eaiser would be to get a double N-type battery holder, which is already set to go, but they seem a little more difficult to locate. If I find a source, I'll post it.
If all you find are singles however, then solder the positive terminals of the one N-type battery holder to the negative terminals of the other to put them in a series configuration.
IOW, Just make sure you solder (unless you already found a double N type battery holder) the positive of one terminal to the negative of the other.
Also, and this is important, you must now solder one N type positive lead to the negative terminal of the 9V battery clip, and one N-type negative lead to the 9V battery clip positive. This seems backwards at first, but the reason should be apparent soon.

Looking at the picture above, on the right hand side, you'll see two N Type battery holders, held together with a little electrical tape, and wired in parallel. The whole shebang is just dropped right into the 9v battery holder (on the left side), and the 9v clip on the two N Type holders is attached to the 9v battery holder's internal 9 volt clip.

That's all there is to it.
Now this why you must solder the N Type battery holders in reverse polarity to the battery clip: because when you attach one 9v clip to another 9 volt clip, you're reversing the polarity. By soldering the N battery holders in reverse, you counteract this little problem; a double negative cancels itself out.
At first, I tried it the lazy man's way of just popping the batteries out and reversing them, but that didn't work so well, they didn't stay seated correctly. Trust me, you want to wire it this way.

Well, that's it for the two battery method, very easy to do, very easy to reverse and go back to using a 9v in a pinch if your 28Ls die on you and you can't find more.

So, what can you do with one of these puppies?

Well, if you're a magician, lots of things. For instance:

Shock people ! Seriously though, aside from using it as a gag, it can be used as a "convincer" at the moment that a "thought transference" takes place, by having the spectator touch his finger to yours. Explain that our central nervous systems, including the synapses of the brain, run by sending electrical impulses back and forth; this is absolutely true, by the way. So if you really could "read" minds, it stands to reason that a small electrical shock or discharge might be felt.
Still, this is not the best use of such a device, and many have voiced concerns of liablity - which, though probably exaggerated, should be considered on a case by case basis.
Numerous PK Effects - this is where a device like this really shines. The list is extensive:
Make a card stick to a wall at will - use it as a "reveal" for a "find your card" type effect.
Using the effect above, you can also use it for a "Polter" (poltergeist) type effect - sneak into an adjacent room and "plant" the card on the ceiling, or on the wall..if you get a really good charge, and the wall is smooth, you should be able to get the card to stay for 5 minutes, maybe even 10, before falling. Very often, when a card falls, it lands on edge, which results in a loud "report", which will draw attention. Everyone then looks in the room to see a card that seems to have appeared from nowhere ! This is really cool when doing a card reveal, as it seems the spirits have delivered your answer for you, but it's also useful for just general spookiness, particularly if you use an Ace of Spades. You could also write a message on the card, or even use a blank face playing card for that if you wish. Think about it.
Move the needle of a compass - not due to magnetism, but the static charge can move any sufficiently light and freely moving metal object, such as a compass needle.
Stick a toothpick in a little block of cheese, or in an eraser, etc, and stand it up right. Balance a small strip of aluminium foil, which is bent in half, over the toothpick. Cover the whole thing with a large drinking glass, so that air cannot get in or out. You can move the aluminum foil strip around in circles, even make it fall off. When someone claims you're using a magnet, you can prove that aluminum foil is not ferromagnetic and does not respond to magnets. (True !) Who needs an M5 ?
Dump a large pile of salt in the middle of a dinner plate, then add some black pepper for contrast. Hold your hand out flat, palm down, about 4 inches from the plate, and charge 'er up. The salt will repel, spreading itself to the outside of the plate. You can even feel the ionic wind as it does this, and the sound is awesome too. Really spooky !
You can move or influence any number of light objects, such as tissue paper, plant foilage/leaves, tobacco, peanut shells, etc..
Bend a thin stream of water as it pours fro the faucet.
Use it with a haunted key, and recall the story of Benjamin Franklin and the kite. You can take it from there !
Used in conjunction with Penomenon, the power of the effect is doubled. One of my favorites.
Light a neon or fluoresecent bulb in your hand simply by touching the other end to a spectator or grounded object. In the case of the fluorescent bulb, it's more like a strong flicker.
Pass the "magic" on to a spectator by touching them while you charge.
I'll list more ideas as they come to me.

What can't you do with one of these ?

So far, I've been unable to light flash paper or ignite a butane gas stream, such as that from a lighter. I'd love to be able to spark a fire though !
Light an incandescent light bulb - the regular kind. Ain't gonna happen, hotshot.
Move any object that is anythng other than small, featherweight, and freely movable. Save the M5 for that, I guess.

Addendum:

I spent about an hour last night with a little test circuit, using a AA battery and a little lamp, experimenting with 4 different sizes of reed switch, and 3 different shapes of magnets, measuring distance and orientation to see what gave me the best results, in terms of switching the lamp on from the greatest distance, and I definitely found my answers - it was very eye opening, I should've done that long ago.
Out of 4 different reed switches: a micro size'd one, a small one, a medium, and a large, I found the best by far was the small one.
The micro-sized one was about as bad as the large one, which suggests that there is a " sweet spot " for reed switch/magnet pairings.
I also found that, out of a choice of using a typical 1" diameter, 3/8" thick round neo magnet, 2 large hard drive magnets stuck together as one, and two "magnettoids", (those things that make the odd chirping sound), ;-), the best magnet was the 1" round magnet when it's 3/8" thickness was aligned with the axis of the reed switch.
Like so:

----|||||||||||||||||||||||---- ( ( O
reed sw magnet

That was unexpected.
I expected better results when holding it perpendicular, but nope.
The hard drive magnets worked better when held perpendicular, but only worked when from an inch and a half at most, whereas I could light the lamp up from nearly 3 inches away with the 1 inch round magnet in axial alignment. So what's the point of all this ?
I now know which of my reed switches work better, and I now know which way to align it in relation to the magnet on my other leg, and I know now for sure which magnet shape works best and how to increase the working distance. Knowing this, I can probably get about 50% or more better distance and also a bit better reliability when attempting to charge up, which occasionally would't happen.

Standard disclaimer stuff: I am not responsible for any injuries sustained or inflicted if you decide to make one of these yourself. I merely offer this guide for those knowledable and handy with a soldering iron and some electronics experience.
Do not use this device on people with pacemakers or suspected heart conditions.