wart zapper

[jdmech]

has any one tried to replicate the wart zapper circuit by Thomas Scarborough? I want to know if the circuit works.
macroware.blog-city.com/wart_zapper_circuit.htm

 

[(*steve*)]

My gut feeling is that as long as you exclude "removing warts" from the definition of "working", it will probably work quite well.

I note with some amusement that one user of this device claims (due to a sore wart) that "its wave function has collapsed" and they are sure that the wart will disappear.

I can tell you that with the component values indicated, the circuit will be safe.

The FET seems to be superfluous, as the current is limited very well by the series resistors. Perhaps this stops the protection circuits of the 4060 from destroying any voltage peak.

It looks like it acts as a fairly inefficient voltage doubler. The higher the voltage across the wart, the poorer contact you have. With better contact it pretty much degenerates to being a high impedance pulsed DC source.

If you want to know if it works I suggest you do some double blind tests on a reasonable number of people (say 50 to 100) and see if the average time for the wart to disappear is affected by the use of this device. Note that to be double-blind you need to produce a similar looking device that does nothing, and neither the patient nor the person "applying" the treatment should know whether the device is real or not.

Given the typical time warts hang around, I would suggest that 6 months of trials would be reasonable.

Oh, and you'll need to submit your trial to an ethics committee too.

After you've done all this you're well on to writing a paper.

 

[jdmech]

Hey steve thanks for the reply, so basicaly as long as my voltage goes up, measuring it from both electrodes? Should I get some kind of Hz. at D of Q1? I don.t have an oscope but have this fluke that has Hz on the setting. and I was not getting anything. I was getting it at the gate of Q1, but not the drain. As far as being effective, It will be me to decide. But I did some research on the web and its out there, from $80 and up. So I said to my self, what the hell after all, it was Rev. Thomas Scarborough's circuit. I wanted to know how to test the circuit to see if it was working. thanks again.

 

[(*steve*)]

Hey steve thanks for the reply, so basicaly as long as my voltage goes up, measuring it from both electrodes?

I have no idea what you're trying to say or ask.

Should I get some kind of Hz. at D of Q1?

Should you be able to measure some frequency at the drain of Q1?

Maybe.

Where are you measuring between, ground and the drain of Q1?

It depends on how much current flows and how sensitive your meter is. I'm not surprised you don't see any reading because I'd imagine the voltage swing at the drain is very low.

I don.t have an oscope but have this fluke that has Hz on the setting. and I was not getting anything. I was getting it at the gate of Q1, but not the drain.

Yes, the gate of Q1 is swinging rail to rail -- there is a large signal there

As far as being effective, It will be me to decide. But I did some research on the web and its out there, from $80 and up.

Yep, there's a lot of scams out there.

So I said to my self, what the hell after all, it was Rev. Thomas Scarborough's circuit.

Yes, none of us here are really qualified to comment on electronics -- I'm pretty sure the Doctors of Divinity are pretty thin on the ground here.

I wanted to know how to test the circuit to see if it was working. thanks again.

Like I said, a clinical trial would be the way to go. (Yeah, that's the field I work in)

 

[Resqueline]

The circuit will work in itself, but not as a wart zapper. May I suggest that you concentrate your efforts on a different circuit. The page itself also stated no effect was found.

 

[jdmech]

ok, here is another new and improve version of the wart zapper by the same person.
www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Circuits/.../wart.../wart_zapper.htm
I see the voltage multiplyer work when I measure voltage at the electrodes but I was concerned about the Hz. I tried it both ways Pos to drain or ground to drain. But I get it on the gate of the FET about 21khz. It could be my meter, maybe a scope would be better. I'll shop around for a scope. thanks again for the reply.

 

[jdmech]

http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Circuits/Misc/wart_zap/wart_zapper.htm

 

[(*steve*)]

If by "improved" you mean it has far more technobabble, then, yes it is much improved.

If I had more time I'd give examples, but suffice to say that the mention of what R3 does is so far off the mark as to be funny.

 

[Resqueline]

Well, it's basically the same circuit, with the same specs..
The use of a power FET at the output is completely unneccessary btw., as even the puniest small-signal transistor would do the job with plenty to spare.
Of course I question how a few tenths of a mA can affect tissues so dramatically? Surely such a sensitivity would have been discovered, even by accident, by ordinary medical research. I also find it ludicrous that a HPV infected cell would have such a different electrical sensitivity from other cells, and that the "resonant frequency" of them could be established to be exactly 21.27kHz..
Statements like "In fact in many cases, the wart melted with a fizzle even before the treatment was over" doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me either, and I completely concur with steve's statements. Documentation anyone? Video's?
But still I have a principle; never leave a stone unturned, so I'll try to help you with any electronic issues you have.
To measure a signal at the drain you need to short out the probe btw.
Oh yes, there's obviously a discrepancy between the diagram and the reference to R3. The text should have said R4.

 

[jdmech]

Hey guys, thanks for the help, and all I can tell you is that my warts are sore.

 

[Godfrey]

Real Wart Zapper DIY Discussion

Thanks, jdmech for starting this thread.

I've replicated Thomas Scarborough's wart zapper and added a few tweaks to it. I haven't made any final judgments about whether it works or not, but I'm experimenting with it.

I found the same problem you have about measuring a square wave signal at the gate of the Mosfet, and finding 25V DC coming out of the drain. I can confirm that it looks so on an oscilloscope too. The Mofset, incidentally, was added to switch the power as sharply as possible, in conformity to the germ killing principles around which the device was designed.

For a practical nuts and bolts discussion about this zapper and other such devices and research. I invite anyone willing to actually try and replicate a wart zapper to a thread I started here:

(URL removed)

While I have no problem with those willing to do practical research on the subject talking about whether the device actually works or not, armchair critics, i.e. those only willing to be skeptical just in their minds as an apriori assumption, and not through direct experience, are not invited and will be ignored.

- Godfrey

 

[(*steve*)]

from http://www.xkcd.com/808/

 

[Godfrey]

For a practical nuts and bolts discussion about this zapper and other such devices and research. I invite anyone willing to actually try and replicate a wart zapper to a thread I started here:

(URL removed)

Ah, I see that my invitation has been censored, presumably because it can be construed as an advertisement, which was not my intention. And a moderator had the last word on the subject.

Those who would like to have a more open minded discussion about wart zappers will just have to be encouraged to do their own google search.

Thanks for your consideration.

- Godfrey

 

[Godfrey]

presumably because it can be construed as an advertisement

I must correct myself. The reason for the exercise of moderator privileges to censor my link has been clearly stated "No point in encouraging them", and not at all to enforce forum policy, but very personal.

That's Ok, Steve, I've recorded my posts and yours unedited, with a link back to this one, for posterity, and all to view, on my own thread, where your moderator privileges don't extend.

Cheers,

Godfrey

 

[(*steve*)]

I am honoured that you repeated my post on a web site where it would have been immediately removed had I done so myself.

 

[Godfrey]

I'll leave the insulting changes Steve made to my avatar as a further tribute to the purile use of moderator privileges on this forum.

I am honoured...

Yes, generations to come will enjoy it.

...that you repeated my post on a web site where it would have been immediately removed had I done so myself.

As incongruously as that comes out sounding, it has a ring of truth because the forum I'm posting it on abhors armchair critics.

 

[(*steve*)]

For anyone outraged that I am so dismissive without offering proof that these devices don't work, I offer you this.

Anyone making claims about the efficacy of a device has the burden of proof.

Proof is NOT:
* Anecdotal stories
* Invective
* Appeals to authority
* Tales of conspiracy
* Faith

I would also like to point out that warts disappear all by themselves, so a person wanting to show that this device has an effect needs to conduct trials (preferably double-blind trials) to show that this device actually performs better than doing nothing.

Suggestions of this nature delivered to proponents of these devices generally bring forth one or more of the "non-proof" things listed above.

Yes, I am biased. I don't think these things work. But if anyone can provide independently testable and reproducible proof then I will happily concede.

This thread is closed because it has clearly strayed far, far, far away from any discussion of an electronic project.