HHO Basics

[HHarlo]

Hi everyone,

I am new at HHO production and I still have some doubts that I think you guys could help me out with. I have constructed nearly all of my parts (water/electrolyte container, bubblers, flash arrestor, flash dissipator, etc.) but I am not quite sure on the electricity input.

I am planning on running different types of cells, some bigger and some smaller, from a socket using something to reduce the voltage that I am going to ask a friend of mine to put together for me so that I can regulate the voltage depending on the number of plates that I will have working at that given time.

My main question is what is better to use AC or DC? I have read a great deal on voltages but I haven't been able to find any information that I can use on that topic. Also I have not been able to get my head around how the amps work, how they go up and down. I am not an electrician and I do not seem to grasp how the amp changes occur. I know how to calculate how many amps should be going through every stack, but how do I control this so as not to max out the amps going through my stack? I have also read about different frequencies to take into account in some sources and others don't even mention this, should I worry about this information as well?


Yet another thought is why are straight plates usually used? Plates with a wave patterned (which would look like this ~~~~~~~ looking at it from the side) or a zigzag design would that not maximize the plates' surfaces and thus the reaction?

Hope that some good soul can clear things up for me,

Thanks in advance!!!

[D.O.G]

Hi everyone,

My main question is what is better to use AC or DC? I have read a great deal on voltages but I haven't been able to find any information that I can use on that topic. Also I have not been able to get my head around how the amps work, how they go up and down.

Thanks in advance!!!

Keeping it simple, each cell is made up of two electrodes (plates, tubes, wires, whatever). You need one electrode to be positive and the other negative (relative to each bother).

When using DC (Direct Current, current flows in one direction), one electrode is always positive, the other always negative, even if using pulsed DC. This is what you want.

If AC (Alternating Current, current alternates it's direction of flow) was used, each electrode would swap from being positive to negative and back again, 60 times a second (for 60Hz supply). This just doesn't work for electrolysis.
An AC source can be rectified (turned into pulsed DC) and used OK.

Amps (a measurement of current flow) in the cell is determined by the voltage applied to the cell, divided by the resistance of the cell.
The supply voltage can be varied externally, the cell resistance can be varied by the electrolyte concentration.
Using pulsed DC limits current by only applying voltage in short pulses, so current only flows for short pulses. The AVERAGE voltage and current are often controlled this way.