Time to fire up my old Hydrogen generators

[BLSTIC]

Already made a couple of these, with zero results to an idling engine on my more inefficient (but far more gas output) design.

My first one is a 17 (or thereabouts) plate, single cell design, with the plates alternating positive to negative. Depending on electroyte concentration I can draw 70+ amps with this thing (I have no issues going higher but a: a single alternator would have issues with any higher AND running the car, and b: my wires melt above this level), and I can get a very small continous flame from it.

My second design is a six-cell design (I actually used an old car battery for the housing) with 9 plates in each cell, also alternating positive to negative. Full battery voltage is only fed to the cells on the end, so effectively I have 6 cells like my first design, in series. Putting a multimeter on the cells revealed ~2v each. This design draws far less current but also makes under half the gas. It's more efficient, but less effective.

So I guess now that we have a tuned up car that can't correct itself (an old carbied mazda B2000) I might have another shot at this thing.

I make zero claims to the effectiveness of my devices, this is about seeing if they work, not saying "Look at my ∞-billion mpg half water powered drag car".

[deathtrain]

now look at that someone forgot to lock the gates on the corral.

[BLSTIC]

I dunno, that's why I'm trying it. Not claiming to make 'browns gas', just hydrogen and oxygen. I know my two generators both consume large amounts of current and make way more gas than most others do (especially the ones with a coil of wire and baking soda), and I know the gas is flammable. And now I have a tuned up vehicle to try it on.

Unlike most, I am actually trying this, not just theorising. Feel free to move the thread tho, if it makes you feel better

[MPaulHolmes]

Do you have pictures or directions on how to put it together? I have some solar cells on the roof, and I wouldn't mind trying to generate some hydrogen. My first hydrogen generation attempt was with 1" x 12" graphite rods in salt water. The dang water broke out and dumped all over the floor of a fellow high school teacher's classroom/office. The whole place stunk of a weird chlorine smell. She was so mad. Gallons and gallons all over the place. hahaha.

And do you know what rate the hydrogen is generated? I appreciate your willingness to test it.

[BLSTIC]

Chlorine smell? Something to do with salt being made of chlorine and sodium?

No I currently have no pictures on my computer, but making it was simple.

17 1mm stainless plates (maybe 10cmx5cm) were clamped together and I used a cutoff wheel to notch one corner (the right width for female spade terminals to push on to) of each plate.

Turn every other plate around (helps to identify them for wiring), and space them apart with rubber washers (I used the ones found on roofing screws). Then clamp the whole lot together. I used nylon zip ties, but apparently you can get plastic bolts that would be better (as then the rubber washers would have something to positively locate them).

Make the power feed wires by joining 10 wires together and crimp 9 spade terminals onto the bundle (other wire goes outside the unit). Repeat, but with 9 wires and 8 terminals. Join the 9-terminal plug to the outer plates and every other plate. Join the 8 terminal plug to the others. You want the plates to alternate positive to negative, so both sides of all the middle plates are active.

Now get a container with a sealable, removable lid (I used PVC piping and fittings). Drill three holes in the lid, two of them are for the power wires, hydrogen and oxygen come out the other. Use silicone (or similar) to seal any holes and fittings, and make sure that your lid has a good seal (another bonus with PVC, screw on lids have o-rings).

Fill the container with a distilled water and electrolyte mixture (I used something you know as dran-o, and it doesn't leave deposits on true stainless plates, but my electrical terminals show *bad* signs of corrosion). Now if you left long enough wires you can attach the cell to power with the lid off and see the hydrogen/steam mixure coming off (don't fool yourself, at 12v across this cell, a lot of energy goes to heating water and not making hydrogen).

To be safe you want to feed this mixture through a bubbler to a) stop explosions from reaching the cell and b) stop electrolyte from entering whatever device you have.

As with all electrolysis, this generator makes hydrogen and oxygen in a perfect stochiometric ratio (chemically correct ratio for complete combustion). Hydrogen and oxygen is one of the most powerful explosives (by mass) you can easily make, so for God's sake, be careful. At best being near an exploding hydrogen generator will cover you in shrapnel and an acid-like solution.

*edit: The multi-cell design uses 6 similar (but smaller) multiple plate assemblies in series in the 6 separate cells of an old battery with a fabricated lid (the old lid was damaged in dissassemby, and unsuitable anyway)

[Phantom]

Can you get a vid of the hho gas burning?

[BLSTIC]

I shall try. I remember the first time I put flame to this thing, the lid on the bubbler (intentionally left un-glued as a fuse, I wasn't sure of the strength of the pvc) ended up in my driveway. Which is interesting because the only ballistic trajectory available was over the roof of the two story house... Replicating that feat woud be easy. Continuous flame would involve me making another torch.

[FastPlastic]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

Do you have pictures or directions on how to put it together? I have some solar cells on the roof, and I wouldn't mind trying to generate some hydrogen.

I have always felt that some external power supply is the only way a system like this would work. It is proven that the systems do in fact generate a burnable gas, but most would agree that powering it off of the very engine that you are trying to feed simply doesn't work. Solar would be a great option for the power source, but with current tech may not generate enough power to be noticeable. Maybe foot pedals for passengers, or an external battery recharged like a plug in hybrid?

[TheEnemy]

Originally Posted by Phantom

Can you get a vid of the hho gas burning?

He is acually calling it Hydrogen and Oxygen, which is correct.

He also isn't making any claims but is wanting to test it.


A couple of notes for you to consider though

1. You might want to put some kind of control preferably a pwm to control the output to match throttle.

2. Hydrogen burns much faster than gas, so you will want to retard your timing for best results.

3. The best results I have found in actual scientific documentation was a 5% improvement. I'm pretty sure they were using a tank of H2 and correcting for the energy content of the Hydrogen. Most only see a 0-2% improvement.

Your system would either be running off of the alternator or battery. Using the alternator would probably be the best for you to be able to record any improvement because using a battery and charging it from an outside source is imputing energy that is probably not being accounted for which would invalidate your results.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

...The best results I have found in actual scientific documentation was a 5% improvement.

A link of some sort would be helpful there.