Bright Spark electric anti-fouling system

[David M]

Originally Posted by Hampus

Does anyone have any more info?

/Hampus

Here: Bright Spark - Anti Fouling The website still has a lot of unanswered questions. You are supposed to take it on faith that it works. They mention nothing about a money back guarantee if it does not work. On the website the disclaimer and the delivery conditions are "Still under construction". Its not a very reassuring website.

There is virtually nothing about it on Google. In fact, this thread is the first hit on Google.

[Alan Wheeler]

An electric fence? yikes! you'd have fish float to the surface all around you. Not to mention swimmers trying to do dead ant imitations.
Hampus, that is briliant work mate. Well done.

[drh1965]

The info page on the website says that Maurice Tax is the "Creative Thinker" behind the product. It also says the electrodes are mobile. Does that mean they have to be hung in a certain spot and then moved manually? I mean, copper is extremely toxic to marine life (especially invertebrates). If the electrodes were placed close enough together, perhaps localized control could be a possilbity. I know I wouldn't guinea pig this system without a lot more technical details.

[Pblais]

If you stop and think about it is does make sense. If this crap worked the process would be worth Billions of euro's (not dollars). If even a fraction of people bite on this then this guy is got a captain and crew to sail him everywhere he wants to go. Solving the anti fouling problem would set a lot of people up for life.

It pays to be cautious with these snake oil solutions that sound too good to be true. This problem is many hundreds of years old and never solved yet.

[hellosailor]

Na patents, no patents pending, no actual university test beds or other deployments with results.

No wonder pricey bottom paint still sells.

But I did think "harbor basement" was one of the funniest phrases I've heard in a LONG TIME.

[Alan Wheeler]

Does that mean they have to be hung in a certain spot and then moved manually?

No, it is supposed to be two copper rods. Special rods by the way, but it doesn't say what special means. You have one rod hung from the bow and one from the stern and the copper flows between them. If that was the case, you could hang a few in a marina and have the entire marina of boats protected. Why buy a system for each and every boat. Sounds to good for me.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Pblais

... It pays to be cautious with these snake oil solutions be sound too good to be true...

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Na patents, no patents pending, no actual university test beds or other deployments with results...

If it Sounds too Good to be True ... It Probably is!
No belief without evidence.

[Moby Dick]

Some relevant interestig links:

Welcome to IEEE Xplore 2.0: Pulsed electric field based antifouling method for salinometers

6 Kv/cm needed = 600Kv fo 10M boat?

https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/...apter%2012.pdf

As someone said, lots of ideas in the past.....

md

[Hampus]

So they tested it in a lab and came to the concluision that you need 6kV/cm to sterilize water. That would be 600kV for a 1 meter boat, or 6MV (6 000 000) volts for a boat of 10 meters. Does the bright spark anti fouling system come with a nuclear power plant ? That would at least explain the prize.

Well, they actually talked about sterilizing the water and I imagine that sterilizing and just preventing growth are two different things. To be fair, the deal with the bright spark is supposed to be the copper rods and not really the electricity. I still don't think it works though.

/Hampus