I appreciate your contribution.

I think I've reached the end of my contributions here. There's enough information that people can make up their own mind about making, having someone make it, or purchasing an infrared device. Despite having the technical ability, I've decided to go with the restorelite given it's inexpensiveness, the fact that the inventor of the helmet is a scientist on their board, and the data accumulated so far.

I do have some tinnitis, and the restorelite company has plans on their website to make a small device for therapy to improve it. I plan on taking a small remote control, and soldering a 1072 nm LED on four inch long leads, in order to try it near my ear drum. I have an otoscope, so I'm using the tip measurement to ensure it fits properly without damaging my ear drum.

Good luck everyone.
Nakandakari

I hope you will continue on this blog. We need someone with a medical background to keep the rest of us aware that there are consequences to self treatment.

By the way, I visited the Retorelite site this morning and this what they are showing in the new development area:

http://www.restorelite.co.uk/memory-improvement.php

I find the expected price of the device interesting.

I checked out the price on the L1070-66-60 LED sold by Marubeni that Swakandakari mentioned in his post. The cost for 1 to 9 units is $347.14 each. Heat sinks are $17.36 eqch for 1 to 9 units and lenses are $40.50, so one LED and accessories would cost around $400.00. When I heard that, I changed my plans. Instead of trying to make a helmet or headset as the patent shows, I decided to make a stationary lamp type device such as artman mentioned in his post. Assuming that a single LED would be sufficient, the total cost would probably be less than $500. I’ve already spent that on a pulsed biomagnetic device (recently ordered) so it doesn’t seem excessive. My concern, as an electronics ignoramus, is doing something that would blow out the LED and force me to spend another $350.00. Can anyone offer advice on the voltage, current, etc. that these LEDs require? It can't be as simple as just hooking it up to household current.

Sorry if this has already been posted. Got it in a google alert.
Autism to Alzheimer's

A fever of the mind no more

By James Ottar Grundvig
Special to The Epoch Times
Mar 07, 2008


Is there a link between the explosion of the autism epidemic and the sharp increase in the number of elderly contracting Alzheimer's disease? For the past few years, I have asked myself that question whenever I took my 8-year-old son, Fridrik, who was diagnosed in 2003 with Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), an increasingly common form of autism, to his physician, Dr. Henry Sobo, in Stamford, Conn.

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-3-7/67180.html

amazing!
paula

I looked at the spec sheet for the 1070 nm LED (Epitex part no: L1070-66-60). To operate one of these LEDs without damaging it, you really should use a 'current controlled' power supply, which can provide at least 600 mA at 7.0 V. The 'current control' feature is important, as it ensures that only the set amount of current is provided to the LED. If you don't have an electronics friend to help with this, you can buy such a supply from distributors like 'Farnell' (farnell.com). Eg the model 'TTI (THURLBY THANDAR INSTRUMENTS) EL301' (Farnell part no 488823; UK cost GBP 149 + tax; ~ USD 300) can provide upto 1 amp, at between 0 to 30 volts, which is more than adequate. Such a power supply includes digital readout of the voltage and current, which means you don't have to have additional voltmeters to check this. SETUP: 1: Before switching on the power supply, connect the red (+ve) terminal of the power supply to the 'anode' of the LED, and the black (-ve) terminal of the power supply to the 'cathode' of the LED. 2: Then ensure the voltage and current control on the power supply are initially set to zero. 3: Switch on the power supply. 4: Then slowly increase the current, eg 50 mA, 100 mA, 200 mA, 300 mA ... until you reach 600 mA. The voltage should automatically adjust itself during this process, eg the display might show the final voltage is 7.2 volts. For reference, you don't have to operate the LED at 600 mA. Eg, if you operated it at 300 mA, the LED would provide approximately half of the radiant output power (ie 30 mW instead of 60 mW). When run at 600 mA, the LED will be generating about 4W of heat. This heat needs to be dissipated, so do use the heatsink that you referred to. I hope this info has been helpful.

I agree completely. If you are going to spend $400 per LED you want to do everything you can to protect them. Your approach of gradually increasing the current is right on. Voltage and heat destroy common household light bulbs, excessive current destroys LEDs. And if it doesn't destroy them outright it will greatly lessen their effective life.

I don't think it is clear to everyone how many LEDs you need to build a helmet. The L1070-66-60 LED has output radiant power of 60 mw. Dr. Dougal's invention calls for up tp 15 watts of radiant power output per square cm during a treatment session. If you assume a 20 minute treatment session and a treatment area of 600 square cm, (the hair area of the head plus the forehead), you would need a total of 9000 watts of radiant power or 7.5 watts per second for the 1200 second treatment period. To get 7.5 watts from 60mw LEDs you would need 125 LEDs. At $400 each, that is $50,000. If you used the less expensive L1070-03 which are about $8.00 each you would need 7500 of them since they only emit 1mw of radiant power per second. The cost of the cheap ones would be $60,000 but forget it, you can't put that many on a helmet. Not sure how accurate my head size numbers are but even if they are off by 25% we are still talking big money.

Could you please report or continue to report your progress using the home made IR helmet?

It's been awhile since I last posted. My current status is that I've moved away from a helmet design to a single light source that I position at desired locations on my head .. basically I sit in front of the lamp and move around as needed. I also use it on my shoulder to reduce the pain from a rotator cuff injury that occurred a few years ago. The lamp is a 50 watt halogen spot bulb GE # 90633 rated for a 2500 hours life. I believe the lamp cost about $7 from Lowes.

The trick is to select out the desired wavelengths. I used a 3" diameter PVC pipe about 1.5 inches deep, sealed both ends with Plexiglas and silicon sealant and then filled the tube with water. This will limit the longer wavelength to about 1300 nm. In order to keep much of the visible light out I added some red food coloring to the water. The overall bandpass is approximately 600 nm to 1300nm. Clearly not limited to the 1072 nm that Dougal was using so we're not quite there yet. I've order a glass filter which is taking a few months to arrive to reduce the band pass down to a range from 1000 nm to 1300nm.

I irradiate myself in different locations for 5 minutes at a time. Frankly the results to date are mixed. I see no change in symptoms in my main problem which is a condition known as Central Ataxia , but some relief in shoulder pain.

Hopefully after I get closer to the desired wavelengths the results will improve somewhat.

I tried to post a picture of the device but could not simply "cut and paste". Maybe someone could suggest a simple way to add a photo.

Hi All - I am disappointed to see that there is so much detail that seems insurmountable in trying to replicate this hat. Has anyone figured anything out that might work since the last post ? I read that they will be asking 100,000 pounds (almost 200,000 US dollars) when they are ready to sell it. Ugh. I am 49 and losing my cognitive abilities. Still quite smart on some levels.

Any one ?

Thanks,

Liatris

BUMP - Just wanting to bump this back up in case someone who had any updates or other ideas could see this thread. Thanks.