EMS Electrodes

[MacTwiste]

Hi, I'm a beginner and curious about how EMS (electronic muscle stimulation) electrodes work. Simply, what are they made of and is it possible to create one at home?

 

[crutschow]

It's not the electrodes that do the work, but the electronics that generates the EMS signal. The electrodes are just wires with a pad attached that has a conductive liquid to make electrical contact with the skin.

If you could obtain the waveform frequency, shape and voltage of the EMS signal then it probably wouldn't be to difficult to design a circuit to generate that.

 

[MacTwiste]

Thanks for your reply crutschow! Very kind of you. Actually, I am really interested in the electrode itself, because I can basically go and buy a EMS signal generator off the shelf. However, the electrodes seldom come in the shapes and sizes I want. I really need to be able to experiment in that area, while the signal generator is secondary in this case. You say it's wires connected to a pad - what material is such a pad made of? Are the wires simply hooked up to the pad or are they coiled inside it? I really need to know the anatomy of the pad, so to speak

Thanks again for helping out!

 

[crutschow]

Well, I haven't examined one, but I assume it just a wire connected to a metal pad which has some type of conductive material on it. I have a TENS machine at home and the small pads are just felt which has a conductive liquid added right before the electrodes are used. It also has larger sticky pads, which have some kind of conductive adhesive.

 

[MacTwiste]

Thanks man! So I could basically just go for a simple piece of copper plate, hook up the wires and tape it on with a band aid or whatever? Can you direct me to any source regarding safety in these matters?

 

[crutschow]

The safest is to power the unit from batteries. That way there's no possibility of getting a shock from the mains. My TENS unit runs off a 9V battery, for example.

 

[MacTwiste]

I found out that this type electrodes are made from a conductive rubber material called carbon rubber. In some cases these electrodes also contain a fine metal mesh, which apparently spreads the current evenly over the contact surface.