I'm new and need help!

[EltonBrandd]

"Bingo! I'm using two teaspoons of baking soda per gallon of distilled water. This cell maybe contains about a quart of electrolyte.
Here's my question for you about your suggestions. I read that baking soda and distilled water is the "safest" of all the options, although not the most efficient. I've heard that using any kind of sodium produces chlorine gas which is extremely toxic. In the event that my cell sprung a leak, and is in the interior of my vehicle, I would be VERY leary about putting that in there.
My second question to you is do the biproducts of your electrolyte have any adverse affect on the engine parts? I know that GM did a very poor job in selecting gasket material for my particular vehicle. Does Sodium Hydroxide (or any other sodium mixture) pose any threat to weaker components like plastic, rubber, iron, that it may come in contact with?"


Potassium hydroxide wont produce chlorine gas, but sodium chloride (table salt) will produce chlorine gas. There are tons of places to stick the cell under your hood, in your fender liners in front of the wheels. If you use a bubbler it will filter the gas that passes through it. Potassium hydroxide is caustic, that is why people say "It isn't safe". Especially the w4gas folks.

[HHOhoper]

Potassium hydroxide wont produce chlorine gas, but sodium chloride (table salt) will produce chlorine gas. There are tons of places to stick the cell under your hood, in your fender liners in front of the wheels. If you use a bubbler it will filter the gas that passes through it. Potassium hydroxide is caustic, that is why people say "It isn't safe". Especially the w4gas folks.

So what would be the electrolyte of choice? Potassium Hydroxide or Sodium Chloride?
What are the best sources for both?

So if Potassium Hydroxide is caustic, has anyone ever experienced any corrosion problems with anything?

[EltonBrandd]

So what would be the electrolyte of choice? Potassium Hydroxide or Sodium Chloride?
What are the best sources for both?

So if Potassium Hydroxide is caustic, has anyone ever experienced any corrosion problems with anything?

The two options are potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide. Sodium chloride is the dangerous one that we never use. I have spilled electrolyte all over the place and never had any burning of my skin or any other noticeable damage. All the info you'll find says flush immediately with water, caution! etc.....
Just be sensible when you use it, don't get it in your eyes, mouth, etc...
And use safety glasses in case of small pop followed by the acidic electrolyte.

[bigapple]

My amp tester should've arrived today, so I'll test my cell tonight and post the results tomorrow.

i believe key amperage draw is between 15-25 amps... some people run 30 amps but make sure u have thick enough wiring to draw that much power... if ur close to target amperage but not quite there, little by little, add more of ur sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide because they are quite strong with just a little bit... if ur using baking soda, ull need alot, itll rust pretty quick (since carbonate is one carbon and 3 oxygens) and it will get hot no matter what... good luck

[HHOhoper]

Last night my amp tester came and I quickly pulled my generator out of my car to do some bench tests. It was drawing 1.2 amps!! I also finished my LPM tester and it was putting out 3 LPM!!!!! Just kidding. It was putting out .033 LPM! So I feel a lot better knowing why I wasn't getting any gains - my generator wasn't doing anything! So I started adding baking soda and got it up to 8 amps. It was bubbling like crazy, which I was excited to see! At that draw, it was putting out 200 mlPM.
My best friend was over helping me work on it and he asked what would happen if he held a lighter up to the spout where the hydrogen was coming out! My brother had built a generator very similar to mine and he tried to light the gas and nothing happened. So knowing what the risks were I said, why not, let's give it a shot. So we took it outside and he held the lighter up to the spout. BOOOM!!!!!!! It exploded into smitherines!!! It was loud too!! Electrolyte and glass shards went everywhere!! YES, glass is DANGEROUS!! What an explosion though! What's a science project without a few explosions along the way?? Although, if someone had that thing go off unintentionally, that could really injure someone!

Also, I made some headway with the whole manifold vs. air box problem. Last night I went driving around and was monitoring the vacuum on the hose where it is on the intake. With that supercharger on there, it actually did create quite a suction! I was very surprised that it was as strong as it was. The more I pressed on the gas, the greater the suction was (for obvious reasons). With manifold pressure, the suction would go away with increased throttle. Now that I've seen that I kind of get the best of both worlds, I think I'll keep it where it is unless anyone has a suggestion I haven't thought of.

I know that my design is primitive at best. Now that I'm beginning to understand how the whole thing works, I'm thinking I want to go to a plate design next. Here are the questions that I still have and if anyone could take a stab at them that would be great:

1. What is the average LPM that people are acheiving?

2. How are you wiring up your cells? Are you going straight to the battery or are you splicing in somewhere?

3. What are the best and/or cheapest sources for sodium hydroxide and/or potassium hydroxide and which of the two do you prefer?

4. Has anyone tried a tube design like in all the Stan Meyer videos?

5. What guage wire do you use for 15, 20, 25, 30 amp draws?

6. Has anyone experienced any alternator problems with drawing that much power? I believe most alternators put out anywhere from 90 to 110 amps! I would think that drawing a whole fourth of that juice would put some serious wear on an alternator!

Again, I appreciate all the education and help!

[EltonBrandd]

Nice work with the jar! I got lucky when my jar blew up, only the lid cracked. I wired my unit from a key on circuit to a relay, this way it only runs with ignition on. I will eventually tap in to the fuel pump circuit as the signal line to my relay to make it fool proof.

[HHOhoper]

Nice work with the jar! I got lucky when my jar blew up, only the lid cracked. I wired my unit from a key on circuit to a relay, this way it only runs with ignition on. I will eventually tap in to the fuel pump circuit as the signal line to my relay to make it fool proof.

Can you explain how that works? I'm VERY inexperienced with electrical systems and how they work. Currently I have my power wire spliced into my radio's power wire. That's the only power wire I could find that is on when the car is on. I blew a fuse this morning and I know it's because the radio and the generator can't both run on a measley 10 amp fuse! I know I could go straight to the battery and have a switch, but I'd be very worried about forgetting to shut the thing off one time. If I could have a 'signal' wire to the radio and have the actual power coming from the battery, that would be perfect, but I have no clue how to do that!

[EltonBrandd]

Can you explain how that works? I'm VERY inexperienced with electrical systems and how they work. Currently I have my power wire spliced into my radio's power wire. That's the only power wire I could find that is on when the car is on. I blew a fuse this morning and I know it's because the radio and the generator can't both run on a measley 10 amp fuse! I know I could go straight to the battery and have a switch, but I'd be very worried about forgetting to shut the thing off one time. If I could have a 'signal' wire to the radio and have the actual power coming from the battery, that would be perfect, but I have no clue how to do that!

The purpose of the relay is to provide switched high current to a consumer without having to run wiring all over the car. so what you would need to do is, first get a switched signal (key on signal). Then supply a ground for the other side of the switched signal. This will make the relay open and shut. actually it will close and open. Then the other 2 contacts on the relay will be 1. from the positive side of the battery,2. and the last contact will be to the consumer (your cell in this case). Then ground your cell to a good chassis ground close by.
http://www.eleinmec.com/article.asp?24
This may help explain it better.

[HHOhoper]

So would I do it like this?

[EltonBrandd]

So would I do it like this?

Thats pretty much it. Dont overcomplicate it, its easier than it looks