i recently built an imitation smacks booster. i used the stainless steel plates from some old desktop hdd's i had laying around that were dead anyway. i'm limited in funds and this is why i've done this.
anyway, i made a 3" booster, 12"long from sch 40 pvc, made 2" x 4" plates, used handles from stainless utensils for leads, stainless bolts for terminals, and installed a 40 amp relay, 30 amp breaker, 10 ga wire, amp gauge and kill switch for safety purposes. this is on an 05 honda civic.
during testing i ran 45 min tests with a plate configuration similar to smacks which was +nn-nn+. i had very little problems with this. i had brown gook the first run and than very little afterward. heat was not much of an issue but i don't have a thermometer that goes as high as 150 degrees F. the unit ran hot to the touch but could be handled and held afterward.
i finally got around to installing it in the car yesterday. i went over all of my stuff and noticed i had nylon spacers in between my negative lead and the supposed negative plates. i removed them. setup the electrolyte. drove for a while, got back home and noticed the unit was very hot with brown in it again. i went back to trying to find more info on heat. i had started off @ 7 amps cold and when heating up it slowly creeped to 20 amps. the plate setup was now +n--n+. whereas during testing it was +nn-nn+. why brown gook and so much heat?
i'm now back to a plate setup of +n-nn+. i have not seen this one anywhere. i've seen +nn-nn+. i guess i could always add another plate to the mix and do that.
i use sodium hydroxide that also has sodium nitrate in it. it's called "Drain Out" and i got a small bottle of it from Wally World.
any help, suggestions, constructive criticism or comments are welcome.
tia