Hacking the BMW ionizer.
Added 2020-06-11 04:10:54 +0000 UTCThis modification is really not recommended. The unit is very sophisticated inside and seems to incorporate voltage regulation for the high voltage circuitry.
After making the video I pushed the current a bit too high and the ceramic plate flashed over and formed a sustained yellow arc.
Still good fun to explore though.
I wonder if the ceramic plate flashover is why Sharp use the needle based corona discharge in their air freshening products.
Comments
The power supply does sometimes make a high pitched noise. There may also have been an active switching regulator on the unit.
Big Clive
2020-06-17 04:47:23 +0000 UTCWell done sir! Thank you!
Michael Thompson
2020-06-13 09:40:50 +0000 UTCI am wondering now if you could jerry-rig one of those 12v cigarette socket ozone generators into any car with a recirculation flap. The question would be how much ozone you're getting I guess, and ensuring it's safe.
Marmite
2020-06-13 00:53:35 +0000 UTCReally interesting, I've owned a couple of BMW's and never realised they may contain an ioniser! It's not something that crossed my mind.
2020-06-12 20:46:52 +0000 UTCdo you have a signal generator to use in place of a pwm signal - also could it be more of a 1 wire communication protocol rather than a pwm signal?
Russell Peake
2020-06-12 05:18:36 +0000 UTCSurprised it still works being a BMW product, must have been from a crashed car.
Vaughn B.
2020-06-12 05:03:07 +0000 UTCIt cost £13 as a secondhand unit from eBay.
Big Clive
2020-06-12 04:38:00 +0000 UTCBeen looking forward to this since the teaser!
2020-06-11 20:46:46 +0000 UTCGreat info Barrie, thanks for sharing.
Chris Muncy
2020-06-11 12:46:50 +0000 UTCThe CPU is a rebadged ATmega88 from Microchip Technology. A Microcontroller made for Automotive Industry: http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/Atmel-9365-Automotive-Microcontrollers-ATmega88-ATmega168_Datasheet.pdf
Western Canadian Guy
2020-06-11 07:56:18 +0000 UTCOh I'm going to wait and linger over this one with a dark and stormy
Michael Thompson
2020-06-11 07:50:58 +0000 UTCOr perhaps a cheap pwm controller from Ebay. It's likely to be 20khz and you can then vary the PWM to control output power. I was surprised it was not canbus as most parts are now. Excellent aND informative video as always Clive. How much did you pay for it Clive ?
2020-06-11 07:20:57 +0000 UTChttps://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f10-520d-lim/components-connectors/components/components-with-b/b88-ionizer/XWEl5YS
Mr B Shepherd
2020-06-11 06:42:50 +0000 UTCI was surprised Big Clive didn’t pull out a frequency generator.
Lostngone
2020-06-11 05:34:54 +0000 UTCThe next model of the BMW ozone generator is going to be potted in resin and cost twice as much and we will know who to blame. 😂
Lostngone
2020-06-11 05:30:57 +0000 UTCWatching it through my headphones, when you first tried to turned it on, I could hear a slight noise. Pretty sure it wasn't your power supply or your soldering iron.
Neil Tonks
2020-06-11 05:23:27 +0000 UTCwhat about using one of those cheap computer fan pwm controllers asking as i might do this for myself
Trevor Fox
2020-06-11 05:19:26 +0000 UTC
