Ionic Breeze Quadra Compact - no auto restart after power outage...

[Steve Henderson]

I really like this thing, and it's great for my elderly mother's apartment. However, we've had several thunderstorms in the are lately, and EVERY time, afterwards, the next time I visit mom (she lives in an assisted living facility) it's just sitting there in the "off" mode. Turns out that you have to push the botton on top to tell it which "mode" you want (lo, med, hi) before it will start after a power outage. I wrote sharper image, and they just confirmed the operation, and advised me to go up to "professional" model which has an actual 3 position switch (not a push button that selects the modes the more times you push it.) Anyway, I don't want a pro model - it'll set me back another $150 to upgrade. So was wondering if anyone knows how to "hotwire" this model to make it always come on in the "hi" mode, and not need the infernal push of the button to get it going. I only get to visit Mom every couple of days, and if it's been sitting there for those couple of days in the off mode, it's behind... and it takes a couple of days to "catch up". So - anybody know how to do this? I wouldn't care if it ONLY had "high" mode - as long as it comes up working after power outage. And, yes, I can solder - and don't mind doing it.

[HA HA Budys Here]

Can't you just tell the orderlys at the facility to re-start the unit if the power fails?

At any rate, what is it about the air in an assisted living facility that requires an ionic air cleaner?

[JerryMouse]

UPS to handle switch-closure time. $30.

[Joseph Meehan]

Why?

[Bill Schnakenberg]

I have 8 of those ionic things in my house, except they're called TV sets. Not only do they grab the impurities out of the rooms, they provide entertainment in the form of movies, shows, and ads. Once a month I spray Windex on the screens and wipe off a whole lot of black stuff.

[JerryMouse]

With eight televisions in one house, you may have a more fundamental problem than soot.

[Travis Jordan]

Obviously the speed selection (and power-on) is logic-controlled, so you'd need to either bypass the built-in logic (may be easier said than done) or build an external switch. To bypass the logic you'll need to reverse engineer the logic circuitry or get a copy of the schematic. To add an external switch use a sequence timer such as one based on a ICM7242 or similar counter chip. Don't know what a ICM7242 is? Then it will probably be cheaper to just upgrade.

[Steve Henderson]

Sorry - the messages suddenly showed up - ignore my repost...

In any event, yes, I have asked them, but they have several different attendants, and lots of other residents there, and it's not high on their "remembering" list, evidently. As for your other question... I thought it might be obvious... Mom is 82 years old... and like lots of elderly folks, has a bladder problem. A/C by itself is not enough to keep the air "fresh" if you know what I mean. If you have elderly parents, you'll learn this the hard way someday.

[SQLit]

I noticed this several years ago. Rather than screwing around with the IB I would visit the hospital admin and have an heart to heart. OR buy an ups that will ride through the problems.

I am not willing to degrade my investment in the IB by taking it apart and fooling it.

[do_not_spam_me]

The Ionic Breeze is not great for your mother. If anything it's damaging her skin and nasal tissues slightly and may also irritate eyes because the ozone it generates is a toxic substance with no known health benefits, except to kill mold and bacteria at much higher concentrations than is safe for people. Simple air ionizers are not air cleaners and are useful only in preventing static buildup, such as when working with photographic films or electronics chips. True electronic air cleaners generate ozone, but they also neutralize it with a second set of internal electrodes before the air reenters the room.

Very likely her Ionic Breeze is simply resetting and defaults to the "off" condition rather than "on" condition, a common occurance with any device controlled by an electronic switch rather than a mechanical one that handles the 120VAC directly.