Better electrode material? - Gold, silver, titanium, etc...

[hoboincidaho]

I have never experimented with this. If the polarity somehow makes the calcium drop off, then you're thinking the reverse polarity with electrolyte in our cells will have the same effect on the yellowish crap that builds up, correct? hmmm... I will post back when I find something.

[H2OPWR]

I checked out the costs of Platinum plating copper electrodes. 1 micron of Platinum would cost about $150.00 on both sides of a 6" X 6" plate. It would be much more effecient. I am building a 100 plate generator with 316L stainless plates. By the time I bought the copper and had it plated the plates for my cell would be close to $20,000.00. Although I am in this for the challenge more than the fuel savings I am not willing to get a second mortgage to build it. I am looking at trying graphite plates.

[hhonewbie]

anyone considered utilizing titanium mufflers for cell containment & cell?
They come in all sizes & cheap to. Check out ebay...

[oopsj]

1)platinum would be the best to use ,but the cost would be to great.
2) nickel would be the next best.
3) stainless steel would be the next, and the most common, easiest to get and pay for.
4) carbon would work great, but cutting may be a problem.

h2o.loclal.com

[Kobudoman]

I just got a set of plates from one of the chlorine genorators that I spoke of earlier. The plates are 2x7.75 inches and there are 7 of them. Right now they're already connected in a +-+-+-+ configuration in what looks like it would be a greate mounting. I'm going to see if I can make a propper container then do some testing to let you all know how our coated pool plates work out.

[H2OPWR]

I just got a set of plates from one of the chlorine genorators that I spoke of earlier. The plates are 2x7.75 inches and there are 7 of them. Right now they're already connected in a +-+-+-+ configuration in what looks like it would be a greate mounting. I'm going to see if I can make a propper container then do some testing to let you all know how our coated pool plates work out.

Do you know what these pool plates made of.

[Steamo]

I noticed the mention of rhodium. I build swimming pools and the plates in the chlorine generators we use are coated with it. It does wear and it is expensive. I'm trying to get my hands on some used chlorine cells to see if it would be worth stripping the plates out of them. Here's another tidbit the plates we use tend to get a build up of calcium from the pool water so the makers have taken to reversing the polarity every four hours. This causes the calcium cake to drop off and desolve. I wonder if doing the same with our cells would keep them clean and or make them last longer?

This actually sounds like a really good idea!

[SmartScarecrow]

we have tried nickel, inconel, copper cored titanium, tungsten, silver plated copper, gold plated copper and a number of others ... we are still using 316L stainless steel ...

however, what we are doing is not new ... there were fellows over 100 years ago just like us doing exactly what we are doing with some gear that if you believe what some of them say, was superior to what we are getting now ... and they used brass plates, hard plastic spacers made of a now obsolete electrical insulator called Bakelite and a mild acidic electrolyte, normally sulfuric acid at about 5-10% ...

they knew about series cell construction, had massive devices that were measured in cubic feet per minute of output volume and were doing some pretty slick stuff ... the Westinghouse Water Welder was constructed in a manner very similar to what we are calling a dry cell today and it was popular on job sites as early as the 1920's ...

so if you are looking for something new to try, take a look backward ... those good old boys back then have much to teach us ...

I have tried the brass, hard plastic and mild acid ... I am still using 316L, KOH and buna-n gaskets ... but the brass worked quite well and allowed a lower voltage per plate gap to get a reaction than stainless ... could use a lot more experimentation ...

[ElectricSquid]

I'll have to check out the brass electrodes.
How badly does brass corrode in KOH?
I have a few gauges that I'd like to hook up that have brass fittings.

[Gary Diamond]

http://books.google.com/books?id=IjN...result#PPA5,M1