I bought some ZEP

[coffeeachiever]

I just noticed something else in your picture. I see that you have a - on one end of your cell, a positive in the middle, but not another negative on the other end. If this is the case, nothing on the right side of that positive will produce. You'll need a negative on that open end.

[coffeeachiever]

Just curious Doc, have you made any progress on your cell?

[DrBrown]

I can give the details of where Im at now. My electrolyte sucks period. The caustic soda turns to turdy water instantly. Im waiting for my shipment of pure NaOH to arrive. Turns out ZEP only has 40% NaOH, not like its advertised.

When its 55-65*F the production is just a fizz at 12v and 2-5amps. When its warmer there are a handful of big bubbles but a lot more tiny fizzing bubbles. When hooked to a vehicle, still cold, the production didnt pick up much. My can was leaking a bit so output was impossible to measure. I dont know how to reduce the gap between the center plate and the rest. I know that would improve output. I think wrapping the cell definitely reduces the operating temps though, I can attest to that. When my NaOH gets here I will do more testing with distilled agua and report back.

[John Sargent]

Dane, quick question for you. On your website, you say: "Using four points, to perfectly allign plates (3/4" in from each corner), prevents plates from being warped or bent, especially when Mummy wrapped! This is extremely important, if using any vinyl product, to wrap the electrodes, as vinyl shinks, when heated!"

I have a dry cell that has end plates are manufactured from 1/2" high grade, high temperature Cast Acrylic. No Extruded Acrylic used.

Is it still necessary to wrap the unit? Wrap it in what?

Thanks,
John Sargent

[coffeeachiever]

Is it still necessary to wrap the unit? Wrap it in what?


Thanks,
John Sargent

It is always good to wrap the cell in an open bath design. Regardless of what your end plates are you will still have current leakage through the electrolyte itself. When I was doing open bath cells, I used bicycle inner tube to wrap mine. It was the idea of another forum member ( I don't remember who to give credit to though). You can get it pretty cheap at Wal-Mart. No matter how well I wrapped the cell though, I always had some current leakage through the electrolyte and eventually thermal runaway. Some people are actively cooling their open bath cells and having a modicum of success with that, but I just moved on to dry cells.

Doc, I don't know if there is a TSC (Tractor Supply Co.) where you are, but they carry the Roebic drain cleaner that is 100% NaOH. If you Google Roebic, they give a good list of retailers that carry their products. TSC also carries a product called Instant Power that is 78% NaOH, 2% KOH and 20% water. It works good for me.
Even if the better electrlyte gives you better results, I would still work on narrowing the gap between your positive and neutrals.
Good luck and keep us updated.