My booster exploded. but why?

[bigapple]

The failures are in the ground wire, which I will put a bigger wire, the blots ont he top for the connection were not stainless, neither were the nuts connecting the plates, I am installing stainless nuts and hard wear for the connection, added a better ground wire and am going to try to get a glass mason jar and see how it will do. I drive for about 6 minutes a day so the pvc might not have time to overheat will it?

I had problems with my wires overheating for the longest time and finally decided to do it big or go home. Most people suggest a 10-8 gauge wire for the positive and negative terminal to prevent heat buildup. Since I had a giftcard to Best Buy with some free money, I bought Rockford Fosgate 4 gauge speaker wire and some large wire crimps for them. I ran all of this through a 40 amp circuit breaker and 40 amp relay to my battery and heat issues are never caused by my wiring anymore. I'd say go ahead and get big wire (although 1 or 0 gauge is probably ridiculous overkill). I'd go ahead and be safe and get 4 or 6 gauge wire. Then you can limit down your heating issues to the generator and not your connections

[pj91gsx]

I had problems with my wires overheating for the longest time and finally decided to do it big or go home. Most people suggest a 10-8 gauge wire for the positive and negative terminal to prevent heat buildup. Since I had a giftcard to Best Buy with some free money, I bought Rockford Fosgate 4 gauge speaker wire and some large wire crimps for them. I ran all of this through a 40 amp circuit breaker and 40 amp relay to my battery and heat issues are never caused by my wiring anymore. I'd say go ahead and get big wire (although 1 or 0 gauge is probably ridiculous overkill). I'd go ahead and be safe and get 4 or 6 gauge wire. Then you can limit down your heating issues to the generator and not your connections

cool. today I changed all the nuts to stainless steel ones, half were stainless and half were not. im not installing it back in just yet. My potash is on the way, and Im going to look around for a new container. From what it looks like the pvc melted at both terminals but really bad at the negative and the wire must have wiggled and sparked.

[Smith03Jetta]

I went back and corrected my post where I made a mistake earlier. I use lighter 14 gauge wire for positive and heavier 8 gauge wire for negative. I'm pulling only 15 amps so this size wire is just fine. No overheating at terminals or wires.

[EltonBrandd]

The failures are in the ground wire, which I will put a bigger wire, the blots ont he top for the connection were not stainless, neither were the nuts connecting the plates, I am installing stainless nuts and hard wear for the connection, added a better ground wire and am going to try to get a glass mason jar and see how it will do. I drive for about 6 minutes a day so the PVC might not have time to overheat will it?

Make sure your negative connections in the generator are tight. And use an ABS cap, it will stand up to higher temps.

[H2OPWR]

Also you might try CPVC instead of plain PVC. CPVC has a much higher melting and forming temp and will still glue the same way as PVC.

[pj91gsx]

Also you might try CPVC instead of plain PVC. CPVC has a much higher melting and forming temp and will still glue the same way as PVC.

ok. I may consider it, the only melting issue I had was the cap where the electrical connections were so it seems like the cap just needs to be stronger and hopefully it will last.

[Smith03Jetta]

Good idea about the cap. Now keep in mind that even if the cap can withstand higher temperatures it does not mean that you can run your generator at high temperatures all the time. Eventually your other parts will fail and you will start to develop leaks around the screw-on lid.

[pj91gsx]

If I had the proper container, could I run the booster at higher temperatures all the time? Im not too conserned about the piping itself, because I have it in the bumper where it must be getting cooled of really well.

[hydrotinkerer]

cool. today I changed all the nuts to stainless steel ones, half were stainless and half were not. im not installing it back in just yet. My potash is on the way, and Im going to look around for a new container. From what it looks like the pvc melted at both terminals but really bad at the negative and the wire must have wiggled and sparked.

After I melted my first pvc cap I changed how I bolted the conductors through the cap. I ran the bolt through the ss strap then put a nut on it and tightened it down. Then I run the bolt through the cap and put a nut on it and tightened it down. By doing this you don't use the cap to keep tension on the connection. So the assembly order goes: bolt, gen connector, nut(tighten), pvc cap, washer and nut(tighten). So far its worked for me. Hope that helps.

[Smith03Jetta]

You have to think like an engineer when you are building something like this. Just because it feels solid doesn't mean it is solid. All plastics have heat tolerances at which they will melt but if you run a bolt through it and tighten nuts on each side you apply a great deal of pressure to the plastic. Now if you heat the bolt you concentrate heat and pressure in one spot on the plastic. It is just a matter of time before the plastic/pvc/abs will start to squish. That makes the bolt loose. The plastic will start to squish at a lower temperature than what it is rated for. That's why I suggest starting with a material with a really high temperature rating. That way you have more to work with..

If you start with PVC - Melting point 176°F 80°C - Hardness R105 - If you apply pressure along with the heat you could possibly reduce it's melting point to around 120 to 130F.

Pelican cases claim to be heat resistant up to 210F 98.9C.
I've done some research and the copolymer polypropylene material that they are actually made of has a melting point of 327F 164C. I think the reason why they claim a lower temperature resistance is because the latches they use on their cases are made of ABS. The Rockwell hardness of the cp material is R92. It is somewhat less hard than PVC but it will not shatter like PVC. It can withstand impact a lot better.

If you want a good material to build a wet cell from I would suggest that you either find a Pelican case the right size or start searching for something made from Copolymer Polypropylene.