[deepfusion]

Hi all,

I have been recently approached by someone from Sharp, telling they have a plasmacluster ion generator to be used in car.

The company claims it can kill all the germs, and bacteria, and also the odors in the car.

Is it worth use?

Suggestions please.

[bala80]

I picked up one from abroad recently since my daughter had a severe allergy to dust and she always felt sick travelling inside the car with a/c circulation on. I have been using it for the past 1 week now and it connects to the 12V socket inside the car. I dont know if it is really effective, but i couldnt make out any visible difference so far!

I would be interested to know what others have to say in this.

Originally Posted by deepfusion

Hi all,

I have been recently approached by someone from Sharp, telling they have a plasmacluster ion generator to be used in car.

The company claims it can kill all the germs, and bacteria, and also the odors in the car.

Is it worth use?

Suggestions please.

[deepfusion]

The Sharp person told that the generator is effective 15 minutes after it is switched on.

This, in my opinion, would limit the use to long drives only, since the home-office-home commute is, in most cases not more that 30 minutes each way.

But still if it is capable of killing most germs/bacteria, then it must atleast be tried.

The site mentions the following, albeit only for the room model:

Generate High Density (25,000 ion/cm3) Plasmacluster Ion
Inhibit the infectivity of H1N1, H5N1 Influenza Virus in Airborne and Stationary form
Proven effectiveness in reducing the growth of adhering mold
Proven effectiveness in inactivation of adhering odour
Proven effectiveness in inactivation of allergens from dead dust mites & dust mite feces
Long nozzle and narrow emission duct for efficient airflow to every corner of the room
Low power consumption of 6.5W at low operation
Quiet operation of 34 dB at low operation
Easy operation with simple 1-touch operation
Portable and elegantly design suitable at any corner of the house or desk
To ensure stable emission of high density Plasmacluster ions, the Plasmacluster ion generating unit need to be replaced periodically approximately every 17,500 hours
New door design

[GTO]

FYI : In India, the Toyota Camry & Nissan Teana (latest gen) are the two cars equipped with a Plasmacluster feature.

Originally Posted by bala80

I dont know if it is really effective

Has your daughter's allergy condition improved? If so, then it's effective!

[bala80]

Right, I got it recently and hence need to observe over a period of time to come to a conclusion. By the way, I felt the air inside the car has become a little more dry compared to what it was before, this is just an impression i got in the first few days of my usage and may be it is psychological too!

I always use AC with re-circulation turned on.

Originally Posted by GTO

Has your daughter's allergy condition improved? If so, then it's effective!

[basilmabraham]

I didnt know such a device existed that could work out of the 12V adaptor in the car.

My son has a similar condition as your daughter, he is slightly allergic to dust. He gets sick with runny nose and frequent sneezing, after being in the car for 1 or more hours. I always use the AC and the air in recirculation mode. Your post made me notice that the condition of the air in the car might be the culprit. Please continue your observation for a few more weeks and post your findings. I am hoping that it works well for your daughter. How much did you pay for it?

Few reviews I found on the net

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/24/s...in-wont-eradi/

http://www.ionic-airpurifiers.com/sh...ion-technology

Looks promising, do chip in your rela life experience.

[srishiva]

Re-circulation of the cabin air for a long time too is not good. See if you can retrofit good filters to the AC system.

[thenomad]

I know about something called as negative ion generators which are supposedly used in commercial air purifiers used in homes. They remove pollutants and allergens and at the same time controlling the room humidity, and are considered very effective.

I assume plasmaclusters does something similar.

I always wanted to get one of them to be installed at home as I am allergic to dust and mold in air. I do not know if something of this sort is available in India. If someones uses them or knows where to purchase, would love to hear from you.

See the below link
Allergies & Asthma Air Purifier » HealthPro Plus | IQAir

I recently saw the above (in addition to another one from Germany) being used in the Salarjung museum.

[rohit2207]

The general problem in our Car is more in the fabrics and the ceiling than in the air. We can open the windows and let fresh air come in, but fabric needs fumigation or dry cleaning often due to germs, harmful gases or foul odour that gets captured.

Incidentally, one of my friend who is a doctor in Mumbai used a Sharp Plasmacluster in his older Car and the foul odour was completely gone and he felt much fresher on long drives with his family. He is also using one at his home.

[Screwdriva]

I own 2 Plasmacluster home units here in Los Angeles, where car pollution leads to smog that is hard to beat in the developed world.

I have two things to share:

1) My partner suffered from chronic coughs daily. Doctors found no disease and were clueless on how to treat her other than to prescribe an asthma inhaler. After 2 days of using the units at home where she sleeps and at work, her coughing has completely ceased. It is remarkable how fresh the air smells at home now.

2) Plasmacluster is NOT a conventional ionizer. It uses a totally different, patented, bio chemical process to achieve its air purification and releases no Ozone into the atmosphere. This is very relevant for us because Ozone can damage the dashboard and other automotive interior finishes.

If you can source one, get this unit for your car.
Fits in cup holders and plugs into the cars electrical socket. Hard to beat for around 3 grand.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005GL...&robot_redir=1

[Simple_car]

Well, I have tried this product from Sharp, and it's hard for me to see how the 'germs' or bacteria are killed. I mean, I know the logic behind this, but as a thumb rule, the real effectiveness of these clusters is appreciated only if you have some sort of filter (e.g. HEPA) installed along with it. Otherwise, the plasma cluster ion generators are usually more effective only for dust and pollution allergies. Also, the Sharp person is right, it will take some time for the effect to take place (it should take more than 15 mins, for a big car seeing the product's capacity). There are however some big disadvantages of this tech:
1. It's not really effective for clearing out the particles/germs (or whatever you wish to name it) which you need to be worried about.
Go for it only if you have severe asthma and dust allergies d/t whatever reason. Otherwise, it's not worth it.
2. It releases hydroxyl ions in the air around you which is harmful in the long term. OH ions are carcinogenic, so you shouldn't be exposed to it on a long term basis.

You find a lot of chinese HEPA car air purifiers on the market. They should in theory be much better suited for the purpose of cleaning the bacteria and germs. Why?

Simply because the germs/bacteria/spores which we need to be worried about range from 0.3 to 5 microns in size, and only true HEPA filters are capable of filtering the particles upto 0.3 microns. Less than this, nothing is available at the moment.

^^^
Of course, this is all theory. Even the SHARP air purifiers aren't True HEPA air purifiers. They are just HEPA purifiers (and not 'true'). HEPA air purifiers differ from true HEPA purifiers in their effectiveness. They have a effectiveness b/w 25-95% of that of a true HEPA purifier. Read the SHARP's manual and you will see that they never mention the word 'true'. For a good reason.

So, we don't actually know how much effective the sharp's air purifier really is.

Hope this helps. Please do note that this plasma cluster thing was a big fad in the western countries long back, with very similar claims which are being made in India. They became popular for quite a while before some mainstream publications rebutted their claims.

Thanks,
Simple_car

[ILTDrive]

Not sure if this is the right thread. Mods - Please delete/move appropriately.

My house is currently in the midst of a frantic construction activity, with dust flying all over the place. Even with windows and doors mostly closed, we find dust on the floor couple of hours after cleaning. My 4 year old has been having continuous bouts of cough and cold and I suspect the culprit to be the dust. I cannot shift out of this house immediately, but am seriously considering moving out. Until then, are there any good home air purifiers that anyone has used and will suggest?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by ILTDrive

Not sure if this is the right thread. Mods - Please delete/move appropriately.

My house is currently in the midst of a frantic construction activity, with dust flying all over the place. Even with windows and doors mostly closed, we find dust on the floor couple of hours after cleaning. My 4 year old has been having continuous bouts of cough and cold and I suspect the culprit to be the dust. I cannot shift out of this house immediately, but am seriously considering moving out. Until then, are there any good home air purifiers that anyone has used and will suggest?

Go for anything with a HEPA filter and ionizer. This will help to some extent. That said, best way is to go for doors without gap at bottom. Requires some modification which may not be possible in rental house.

[sridhar-v]

Had used one in my maruti 800 in the mid 1980s. Was very effective.
The only problem was that the soot/pollution/dust used to coalase and stick to the seat covers & it was really tough cleaning them.

Try getting a unit which has a small blower & a filter membrane. So you only need to clean the filter unit.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Go for anything with a HEPA filter and ionizer. This will help to some extent. That said, best way is to go for doors without gap at bottom. Requires some modification which may not be possible in rental house.

In my parents house, my dad had fitted a flexible strip (which felt like silicon/rubber) to the bottom of doors, to seal out noise and dust. This just needed to be screwed on, so its something that could be done even in a rental.