62 replies to this topic

[Joven76]

Ok... Now I'm sure some of you saw the new Ghost Hunters episode last night where they brought out new equipment... They put an audio recorder in a Faraday Box... Where I work we have a Faraday Cage for testing electronic equipment, so I don't know why I didn't think about doing the same thing earlier... So I've been researching online, trying to find schematics or blueprints on how to build a Faraday Box, but haven't found much... Just a bunch of articles on how they work...

Has anyone here ever built one for the equipment they use??? How did it work, and can you share how it was built...

Thanks...

Chris

[DeadTrish]

I am interested in this as well. I will let you know if I find anything.

[Joven76]

I'm glad I work where I do... We have a lot of technical people I've been picking their brain on and have pretty much been able to design my own... Now I just have to build it... It may take me a couple of trial and error attempts, but after I'm finished, I'll let everyone know how it came out...

Christopher

[Lizard King]

Joven76, on Jan 11 2008, 11:34 AM, said:

I'm glad I work where I do... We have a lot of technical people I've been picking their brain on and have pretty much been able to design my own... Now I just have to build it... It may take me a couple of trial and error attempts, but after I'm finished, I'll let everyone know how it came out...

Christopher

I can't wait to hear about the finished device as I have been interested in ITC for some time. ever since Spiritcom the credibility of this research has taken a black eye, but I have been seeing a renewed interest in this research that has been picking up momentum as demonstrated by you fabricating your own "box" now I want to build one!




TLK

Edited by Lizard King, 11 January 2008 - 10:44 AM.

[Axman]

Is this in reference to the small copper mesh cage that they used at St. Augie's light? It was supposed to filter out any metallic sounds that may have resulted from the metal in the building.

[Joven76]

Axman, on Jan 11 2008, 02:52 PM, said:

Is this in reference to the small copper mesh cage that they used at St. Augie's light? It was supposed to filter out any metallic sounds that may have resulted from the metal in the building.

Yes it is, but that's not why they were using it... Nothing can filter out metallic sounds if I'm not mistaken... A Faraday Box filters out, or absorbs RF frequencies and Electromagnetic Fields... So this way, the audio they picked up wouldn't be tainted by outside electrical interference... I can't remember if they put the wireless audio or just a regular voice recorder inside the box, but my assumption is just a voice recorder since the wireless signal would not be able to escape the Faraday Box...

In the research I've done, I've found a lot of people use Faraday Cages and Boxes not only for electrical device testing like we do where I work, but also in fear of nuclear explosions from terrorists or power plants... The Faraday Cages will absorb the electromagnetic pulse caused by such an explosion and shield it from whatever electrical devise is in the box, thus saving it from being fried...

The company I work for does wireless communication for hospitals, prisions, power plants, etc... In order to test our equipment, and not get the interference from the internal wireless system we use, we have a Faraday Cage in the lab... It's funny going in there because once we do, we'll loose the signal from the base stations in the building for our cordless handsets and cell tower signal for our cell phones...

Like I said earlier, I'm surprised I didn't think about this sooner, but it just never occured to me that the recorders could pick up outside electrical interferrence... But now with the research I've done, it makes perfect sense... I have to go to Lowes or Home Depot to find some copper mesh and price it out... We have a lot of construction going on around where I live so that's the perfect place to find scrap wood... I also need to devise a way to ground it, and that's what I found out how to do from my colluges at work... Now comes the part of assembling and testing it...

I'll let everyone know once I'm done how it came out...

Chris

[Axman]

I couldn't remember how they said it worked, I thought they said something about the metallic noise in the building.

[reapr]

Who needs a fancy schematic. All you really need is a room made lead walls about 3 fee thick and a way to move it around.

All funnin aside it is an interesting thread.

I would suspect all you need is a well grounded copper shielded box!

[Joven76]

I thought of the lead room, but I don't think my car is powerful enough to haul that beast to and from investigations...

But a copper shielded box is pretty much what I'm building... Double layer of course... The trick is now finding copper wire screen... I have found it on the internet, but the problem is you have to buy so much of it it'll cost an arm and a leg...

There's a couple of local speciality hardware stores near Raleigh that I'm going to call today, and a couple of companies that screen in porches... I'm hoping they can steer me in the direction of where I can just buy what I need instead of buying a 36" X 100' roll for $300...

My uncle also deals in scrap metal... I'm hoping he can help me out as well...

I'll keep everyone up to date...

Christopher

Edited by Joven76, 16 January 2008 - 07:45 AM.

[CASEY WELLS]

SO IN THEORY WOULD A FARADAY BOX SHIELD FROM RADIO SIGNALS AS WELL? LIKE WHEN USING ANALOG WHERE SO MANY SKEPTICS SAY THAT IS WHATS BEING CAPTURED.

[peepers]

Hey, Jovan..... I think this is a really cool thread..... can you post a pic of what you're trying to build along with a pic of the normal copper Faraday box?

I've worked with copper and lead artisticly in Art Glass design.... there are a number of possibilities for creating portable (light-weight!!!) leaded copper boxes.....

Edited by peepers, 21 January 2008 - 05:44 PM.

[Joven76]

CASEY WELLS, on Jan 21 2008, 05:24 PM, said:

SO IN THEORY WOULD A FARADAY BOX SHIELD FROM RADIO SIGNALS AS WELL? LIKE WHEN USING ANALOG WHERE SO MANY SKEPTICS SAY THAT IS WHATS BEING CAPTURED.

I believe so... When we step into the cage where I work, we loose all signals!!! They can't even play a radio in the cage, they have to use a CD... I just looked up Faraday Cages on Wikipedia and it confirmed that a radio will loose reception once inside a box...

peepers, on Jan 21 2008, 05:42 PM, said:

Hey, Jovan..... I think this is a really cool thread..... can you post a pic of what you're trying to build along with a pic of the normal copper Faraday box?

I've worked with copper and lead artisticly in Art Glass design.... there are a number of possibilities for creating portable (light-weight!!!) leaded copper boxes.....

Hey Peepers!!! Long time no see... Missed ya!

I've been looking for a picture of the box I'm trying to build, but I haven't found any... Most of the boxes I've found online have consisted of either a metal tin with a hole cut out, and screen put in it's place, or a cardboard box wrapped in aluminium foil (a very crude, but effective Faraday box)...

All of these methods will work well, but I feel will muffle the audio we are trying to capture... So I will be building this from mesh from scratch so to speak...

The box itself doesn't need to be lead lined and I'm unsure how conductive lead acutally is compared to aluminum, copper, or even brass... The material has to be a mesh and conductive connected to a ground wire in order to conduct the electrial and electromagnetic fields away from the device inside...

I finally have finished my plans and now just need to go buy the materials... The first box will be rather expensive to build, but that's only because I need to buy a few tools in order to build it... After that, any other additional box I build (and believe me, if it works I will be building more) will be far less expensive to build...

The good news is that I may have found a less expensive alternative to copper... See, I reasearched and was told that any conductive material will work... Brass being the best but really expensive, copper better but still pretty expensive, and aluminum great and not as expensive... So if I build it right, it will work just fine... However, if anyone has some copper mesh lying around that they don't use or want, I'll be glad to take it off your hands... LOL

I found out that the cage at work is acutally lined in brass mesh, but one panel was ripped pretty bad, so they replaced it... with aluminum screen... One of my co-workers said they are contemplating replacing all brass screens with aluminum ones... That they would get the exact same effect and it wouldn't be as expensive to repair...

Taking pictures is a great idea Peepers... I think I will photograph my work and post them to show the various stages... Hopefully I will be able to buy some material this weekend and start to build...

[peepers]

Wow, Joven..... I am so impressed !!!!.... can't wait for an update !!!

[CASEY WELLS]

ALSO JOVEN I DONT KNOW IF YOU TRIED THIS, BUT YOU COULD TRY AND CONTACT A MACHINE SHOP FOR THEIR SCRAPS

[Joven76]

CASEY WELLS, on Jan 22 2008, 04:23 PM, said:

ALSO JOVEN I DONT KNOW IF YOU TRIED THIS, BUT YOU COULD TRY AND CONTACT A MACHINE SHOP FOR THEIR SCRAPS

I have thought about that, and tried to find some machine shops around here, but the closest one is 100 miles away... Not to mention they already sell their scrap to a scrap metal dealer... Big money to be made in scrap metal...

Thanks for the suggestion though Casey, oh, and welcome to GV...

Joven