Here are a few thoughts, conclusions, and questions from 3 months of research and testing;
OBSERVATIONS
1- there is a lot of good and bad information and rumor out there concerning hho
2- neutral plates come in handy if your are running too many amps, but so far i have noticed little improvement in liters per minute by using them.
3- in brute force electrolosis, current used is critical in higher production of hho. a good rule of thumb is 20 amps for every 1 lt/min. smaller spacing is also important
4- i have found the smacks design to be the most efficient in liters per amp thus far. (16.82 amps/liter with a 12 volt system)
5- the smacks design uses 2 sets of 3 cells in a series, with 3 volts per cell. i have tryed different variations of this design, either by adding an extra cell on each side or taking away a cell on each side, and have proved to me anyway, that 3 volts drive a cell more efficiently in liters per amp than a lower or higher voltage in a 12 volt system.
6- best electrolite is either koh or lye. (amps are more predictable) though there are some concerns of acidic gases contaminating your bubbler fluid and over time and make its way to your engine. (perhaps vinegar in your bubbler would neutralize any acids, then there's the question of, what some vinegar moisture would do to your engine over time.)
7- the best way to combat heat is with a cooling system via a radiator with a small 12 volt cooling fan. the trouble is most electrolites will eat though aluminum in short term. best answer to this is to have each cell in it's own closed system container, which in turn is setting in a larger container with it's own water/antifreeze system, and circulate the water in the cooling tank through a radiator with cooling fan. (certainly size constaints are a factor)
8- there are many experts put there, and you will get 100 different opinions for every 100 experts you ask. at best, this hho thing is still in the experimental stages, and many of the answers you will have to use the trial and error method with.
9- 25 to 30 amps is the most current someone should consider using for their hho system, with their current electrical systems in their cars, unless you plan to run a larger capacity altenator. then there is a law of "diminishing returns" coming into play. unless you plan on charging a seperate battery system at home each day or figure out a solar charging system which would meet your needs. ( i have tried using a brute force system with a seperate altenator producing 3.6 l/m @ 66.8 amps with it's own seperate altenator and have noticed no measurable advantage, using 4 smack type of cells in parallel @ 12.5 volts. (too much strain on the engine)
10- best way to regulate the current you use with the most production, is to use as close of a spacing between the plates as possible and add electrolyte to the distilled water until you reach desired amperage or production. if you end up with to rich of mixture, just pour some out and dilute with plain distilled water.
11- i do think hydrogen assist or hydrogen powered cars are the wave of the future, but i think brute force electrolosis to produce hydrogen is just a step in that direction, but i for one am in all the way, even if i get just 20% better mpg., and all the time and money used turns out to be a wash in fuel saved. perhaps i or you might stubble on to the next step in the independence from foriegn oil and greedy oil tycoons with their thumbs on this country and our economy. so please, with all your might and the GOOD LORD'S help, let's put our mind's and different expertises together to come to some solution.
12- when selecting an EFIE type of device, look for a device raises or lowers voltage with the "same fluxuations" in voltage as the oxygen or map sensors produce. be careful not to over-lean or harm will come to your engine. as best as i have been able to tell the production rate per amp is the same with a pwm, the big advantage is the pwm will allow you more control over your cell.
13- water4gas and others like it, is at best, an introduction into the electrolosis process, in my opinion youtube and forums like these will give you the knowlege needed to get off of the ground, but you will have to sift through a lot of information.
14- beware of some amp gauges, not all amp gauges are created the same. i had one automotive amp gage, bought at a car parts store, and it was reading 42 amps on a 4 x smack cell i was in the process of building and adding electrolite to.(i thought 6 liters a minute for 42 amps was too good to be true) as it turns out, i borrowed a amp meter from a mechanic freind and it read 97 amps. so needless to say i had to dilute my electrolite mixture and go and buy me a proper dc amp meter.
QUESTIONS
1- it is assumed by many that waste voltage is the main cause in excess heat. i maintain it has more to do with resistence caused by using a material such as stainless steel with it's low conductive qualities. i think perhaps, since voltage is the force which pushes the current, that our 12systems would be better served by hooking 2 12 volt batteries in a series and use 24 volts to push current though our cells. it would be interesting to see the difference in temp over a set period of time using a copper cell with the same cell specifacations as of a stainless cell. though i do understand copper can not hold up in the electrolosis process for any extended period of time, it just might prove my point, that resistence is the enemy concerning heat. hence, more voltage may prove to be desirable in driving our cells.
2-sulfuric acid and zinc looks to be a more efficient way of producing hydrogen, has anyone tried this? i just have to wonder how one would regulate it's production. i'm no chemist, just a lowly building contractor.
3- if hydrogen and oxygen bubbles sticking to our plates is a problem in production of hho, has anyone looked into increasing the bouyancy forces by putting cells deeper into the water or does this hinder the electrolosis process?
4- does anyone have first hand knowlege of a factor called "hydrogen embrittlement" to the metal in your cylinder walls or does this just apply to 100% hydrogen fuel car?
5- what determines if an element, such as hydrogen gas, is a positive or negative charge. is it weight, gravity, electrons rotation, or the GOOD LORD?
6- how much hydrogen is enough in a hydrogen assist system. is it 1 l/m for every liter of engine or is it 1/2 l/m?
7- has anyone noticed a difference in current used in thicker plates -vs- thinner plates?
8- i see a trend in going with sealed wet cells on the internet. i'm curious about the liters / amp. is anyone using them out there.
9- has anyone tried human electrolites, such is commonly used in sports drinks?
FINAL THOUGHTS
sorry for being so long winded, but i feel it is important to share our sucesses as well as our failures and to do our own experimentations before reporting anything as fact, even if we get our information from so-called reliable sources. we should report from our experiences, not what we have read, heard or saw. i think every fact should be on the chopping table if it does not hold up in real life use. if we keep doing things the same way as every other joe is doing this, how are we going to get the results we are all eventually after.-100% FOSSIL FUEL FREE!!!
1973dodger