This is a disassembly and technical insight into an old Mountain Breeze negative ion generator. These units impart an electrostatic charge into the air like static electricity that causes any airborne pollutants to precipitate out to adjacent surfaces.
This unit was made in Britain, possibly up to 30 years ago, but is still working fine although it had a slight technical issue when I first got it, namely the neon indicator failing. That was quite a common problem with that model, and it's quite odd that they failed in that manner.
Units like this tend to generate a high DC voltage at very low current using a Walton Cockcroft voltage multiplier to step the mains voltage (220 to 240V here in the UK and Europe) to several thousand volts DC which is then applied to sharp needle points. The air at the needle points takes on a negative charge and is repelled from the unit into the room. It imparts it's charge onto pollutants in the room that then precipitate out to surrounding surfaces. The running costs of these units is extremely low. Literally a few pennies a year.
This unit was made in Britain, possibly up to 30 years ago, but is still working fine although it had a slight technical issue when I first got it, namely the neon indicator failing. That was quite a common problem with that model, and it's quite odd that they failed in that manner.
Units like this tend to generate a high DC voltage at very low current using a Walton Cockcroft voltage multiplier to step the mains voltage (220 to 240V here in the UK and Europe) to several thousand volts DC which is then applied to sharp needle points. The air at the needle points takes on a negative charge and is repelled from the unit into the room. It imparts it's charge onto pollutants in the room that then precipitate out to surrounding surfaces. The running costs of these units is extremely low. Literally a few pennies a year.
I bought one of these on eBay recently for £15. Working well and I can feel the slight air movement on the back of my hand held close to it. Mine has a red LED for power indicator which still works fine (the top of the case in that area gets very slightly warm after several hours), but is otherwise identical. I haven't opened it yet, no need to.
And the search to find Clive’s earliest ionizer video continues. 😊
Hi Clive, we used to have several ones at my parents house ('70's) Every bedroom had one. In the living room we had a model F-400 which had a fan.
Recently i found one again with rusty needles. Opened the case thanks to your help. Tried to clean them with my dremmel but broke one. After reading your comments on questions here i managed to solder a new (sewing) needle in.
As i recall there was some kind of testing device that you could hold in front of the ioniser and it would lit up… but maybe i am mistaken about that.
Anyway just wanted thank you for the great video's you make !
I had one of these Mountain Breeze Ionisers but mine had little brushes instead of needles . It left dark marks where the ioniser was situated. Purchased sometime in the 80’s. I used to enjoy touching the brushes lol
how many kilovolts is the circuit
Ozone is neither a dangerous nor a safe gas. It's all in the proportion; which is unfortunately being ignored nowadays, in our increasingly binary-thinking society.
for this ion tool, the space capacity needed is wide, thank you
where can I buy one of these air ionizers? do you have any for sale clive?
Wanna see this in work.
When tvs were hybrid , tube and solid state they used high voltage triplers. That multiplied the voltage from 6,000 vac up to 18,0000 vdc. The picture tube CRT. Was also a big capacitor which stepped up the pulsating DC by filtering it like a electrolytic does which brought the voltage up to 25,000 vdc. This voltage accelerated to electron beam from the cathode to the front of the CRT to strike phosphor . The triplers setup is similar to the diode capacitor configuration of the ion device in this video.
How big of a room can it clean? Do I need one per room
There are no 'air' molecules as air is a compound of gases. Maybe it latches to the H2O water molecules in the air releasing O2- and H+ or something like that ?
Hi Big Clive, have you ever checked the deposited dust with a geiger counter?
WE HAD THIS VERY ONE!! I used to ping the needles!!!
This is the one I had that burnt out after a couple of years. Wish I had known what the fix was!