opinions on my cell plz

[Haywire Haywood]

I had this worked out after I became disillusioned with that runyourcaronwater plan. Because I didn't have room under my hood for 16" of cpvc pipe, I figured out how much active surface area there was in the stainless pipe configuration they wanted and converted it into a stacked plate array. I thought if active surface area was the deciding factor on HHO production, this would have just as much or more in a much more compact size. It is what you guys call a brute force system, no neutral plates. It is 2.5" high and the plates vary in width from 3.75 at the center to 2.5" at the ends to fit vertically down into a shorter 4" piece of schedule 80 cpvc that the plan called for. They're 16ga stainless of unknown alloy (whatever the welding shop had scrap of) and are spaced at 1/16" with nylon washers. Now that I found this forum and have been reading (till 2am last night...) I question whether it's worth pursuing further. I just bolted the plates together to give you a visual. The bolts would be replaced with something to isolate the plates from each other. What do you think? --Ian

[hydrotinkerer]

If they are hooked +-+-+-etc. I see heat and amps galore. Some guys say 6-7 cell is best. I believe there is 22-23 plates there(eyes failing). The 2 volt per cell for reaction, anything lower and low or no reaction, anything higher results in wasted heat and amps. I run a +nn-nn+ 7 plate cell.

[Haywire Haywood]

I had planned for all of the plates to be hooked up in parallel so they would all feel 12vdc rather than a series where there would be a voltage drop from pair to pair. My thinking was that since most plate systems I've seen have around 6" plates and mine are only 2.5 that more wouldn't be bad. Am I off the deep end? I was flailing in the dark when I came up with it.

thanks,
Ian

Edit: By "cell", are you referring to a pair of plates or single plates?

[FuzzyTomCat]

Hey Haywire,

Lots of plates there looks like 23 or so, you might think of making at least 30% of them neutral plates to bring down the amps and heat. Also because of the round cell configuration voltage leakage will be high so wrapping the cell could help bring down the heat to.

Best of Luck
Fuzzy

[Haywire Haywood]

thanks fuzzy, I'm considering the neutrals. If I do a +nn-nn+ config, it would end up being 6 pairs of powered plates in parallel with 2 neutrals between each pair and I'd have to drop 3 plates from the pack. +NN-NN+NN-NN+NN-NN+

If I do a +N- config, I'd end up with 10 pairs of powered plates in parallel and I'd have to drop 2 plates from the pack for it to come out even. +N-N+N-N+N-N+N-N+N-N+

The problem is that since my design is powered through solder joints at each plate, once it's assembled, reconfiguring it will be labor intensive. Once it's together, it's together and any changes will basically mean chucking this one out and building a new one from scratch. The next one will have tabs and will be entirely bolt together.

What do you guys think the effect of more smaller plates vs fewer larger plates will be?

Ian

[BoyntonStu]

The SMALLEST plate size determines the active area of your cell.

All plates that are larger than the smallest plate are wasted steel and they are just taking up space.

I hope that this helps.

BoyntonStu

[Haywire Haywood]

I can see the logic there. The smallest plate in each pair would dictate the size of the active area on the other plate. I think I'm going to go +n- and see what it does.

Ian

[ridelong]

Haywire Haywood,

I think that if you laid out +nn-nn+nn-nn+nn-nn+nn- , that would use all 22 plates. I run mine +nnnn-, seems to help with heat. The amount of electrolyte will affect the amount of current you can run due to the electrolyte heating. More electrolyte, more current you can run.

While the smallest plate determines the cell area, you are making a multicell generator. So the larger plates in the center are larger cells, not affected by the smaller end cells.

[computerclinic]

Haywire,
what sort of solder are you using? I had used solder in one of my earliest experiments and had a ton of brown water as a result, since then, I have put nothing but SS or nylon in the generator and havent had a problem since.

Solder would come in VERY helpful in some of my later planned experiments and I would greatly appreciate any details about it.
Your cell looks like it produces mad HHO, but it also looks like it will build a ton of heat, too. BTW, excellent build.
Thanks in advance...

[Haywire Haywood]

I really don't know what I'm doing so I can't be very helpful. This is my first cell. I believe the plan talks about lead free silver bearing solder. That is what plumbers are required to use now. If it's not too pricey, I might buy some tomorrow when I go to Lowes looking for that tape to wrap the cell. I did a test with a piece of plate and the 3/32 stainless welding rod I'll be using to connect the plates and was surprised when it worked. I used my oxy/acetyl torch and Staysilv brazing flux on my test plate. The solder I used in my test is generic tin/lead because that was what I happened to have on hand. From what I've picked up reading the past day or two, the soft solder might not last too long in the electrolyte solution. I don't have high hopes for this one actually working well or for very long.

Ian

Edit: If you encapsulated your solder joints with something that would seal it off from the electrolyte, it would solve the problem of it contaminating the water. Pure silicone perhaps.