DryCell or WetCell for a newbie ?

[whear]

Hello everyone,

My name is Andrei and I have just found out about the HHO technology about a week ago, so that makes me a newbie

At first, I didn't know there was a dry cell and a wet cell, so I just searching for Hydrogen Generators on google, and come across the Smack Booster.

Even if I'm not very skilled at building things, the Smack Booster seemed very user-friendly, and also not very costly to build.

I started buying some of the parts needed for the Smack ( PVC pipe, tubes for the bubbler and water level indicator, SS plates ).

But then I learned that the Smack is a wet cell, and that wet cells are less efficient and more dangerous than dry cells. I also understood the main difference between the 2 technologies.

Right now, I'm looking for an advice from you, to know in which direction I should go: dry cell or wet cell ?

The problem with the dry cell is that I have not found some plans that are user-friendly for my level of knowledge and ability.. The only plans that I found were the Tera Dry Cell, but those only showed how to make the plates array. It didn't show how to make the bubbler and the reservoir, and what materials to use, what size etc ( except for the plates ).


What do you think I should do ?

Should I start with a Smack Booster so I can understand the system better ? It would also be a good practice for my building skills, since it's pretty much the most complex thing that I would ever have built.

Or should I go directly to Dry Cells ? As mentioned above, the problem with dry cells is that I can't seem to find some plans that explain all the necessary steps for building the plate array, the tubing system, the reservoir and the bubbler.


Any feedback will be greatly appreciated


Best regards,

Andrei.

[danser75]

Welcome to the forum! I know alot of other guys will have advice for you but I would like to suggest you look at the videos in the newbie corner topic. The web address is
http://www.hhoforums.com/showthread.php?t=6544

Hope this will help got you up to speed.

I am also still working on my first build and about ready to mount it in the car. I have made a dry cell of sorts. Its definatly not something I would suggest that a newbie try. A simple dry cell will be good for you to start to work with.

A few things to know about how we post the layout of the builds is normally

+nnnnn- This would be a cell for 12 volts like a car. the + is positive, the n's are neutral. you don't hook any power to these. and then the - is negative. if you watch the videos from hhoconnection this will start to make sense.

Hope this helps and if you need help just ask. good luck

[whear]

Thank you for the quick reply ! I will check the videos right now

[whear]

I watched all the videos, and they did help me get a better grasp on the whole concept of a dry cell generator.

I will try to build my own cell, following the design of the 13 plates cell on hhoconnect.com ( http://www.hhoconnection.com/gfh20_p...0_13Plate.html )

I have a few questions about the sizes of the parts used in the construction of the cell:

1) What size should the SS plates be ? I suppose width is not a concern, since it will not be used in the electrolysis process. The thinner, the better ? ( for weight advantages, and some minor difference in the total size of the generator )

2) What spacing should I use between the plates ? I should get neoprene/rubber of this size, right ? If I understood correctly, the spacing between the plates is done by the gaskets only, right ?

3) What size should the 2 holes in the plates be ? ( for the electrolyte and the HHO production ) Also, the HHO coming out of the cell is accompanied by electrolyte, right ? Electrolyte enters from one hole and exits through the other, am I right ? In this case, the electrolyte valve is 1 way ( towards the cell ), and the HHO gas + electrolyte valve is also 1 way ( towards the reservoir ). I also suppose that the same applies to the reservoir holes. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

4) I'm building the cell for my 2001 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8 Turbo. I should aim for about 0.5 to 1.5 LPM, am I correct ?


Once again, your help is very much appreciated !

Best regards,

Andrei

[aceras624]

1) What size should the SS plates be ? I suppose width is not a concern, since it will not be used in the electrolysis process. The thinner, the better ? ( for weight advantages, and some minor difference in the total size of the generator )

2) What spacing should I use between the plates ? I should get neoprene/rubber of this size, right ? If I understood correctly, the spacing between the plates is done by the gaskets only, right ?

3) What size should the 2 holes in the plates be ? ( for the electrolyte and the HHO production ) Also, the HHO coming out of the cell is accompanied by electrolyte, right ? Electrolyte enters from one hole and exits through the other, am I right ? In this case, the electrolyte valve is 1 way ( towards the cell ), and the HHO gas + electrolyte valve is also 1 way ( towards the reservoir ). I also suppose that the same applies to the reservoir holes. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

4) I'm building the cell for my 2001 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8 Turbo. I should aim for about 0.5 to 1.5 LPM, am I correct ?

1. so the majority of people are using 18 guage stainles steel 316L (the "L" is important, it means low carbon) the size that you use depends on the surface area you need to create the gas you want.

2. the spacing is from the gaskets and the cell being compressed for a water tight seal. You can use rubber sheets from Lowes, Home Depot, etc typical is about 1/16" (.0625) or Pond liner can work for larger plates

3. the 2 holes dont have to be big. i use 1/2" or 3/8" on a small cell. Keep in mind that the holes will provide a pathway for current to move (leak) to the next plate so a product like WELDON can be used to stop that process
as long as the resevoir is ABOVE the cell and you plumb the BOTTOM of the CELL(intake) to the BOTTOM(out) of the resevoir and the TOP(return) of the cell to a higher point (return) than the drain from the resevoir the electrolyte with HHO will make its own loop going only one way. gas rises and is replaced by liquid as long as you do it this way

4. people usually recomend HALF the engine displacement in HHO per min (1.8/2) so .9 lpm but the turbo seems like it could make things different. also, turbos get hot so be careful creating TOO MUCH HHO which might be able to be ignited by the hot turbo :/

there are plenty of people who know more than me on here so im sure they will be resonding soon. I just wanted to help out if I could because I know it sucks waiting for a response that could help you advance in your project. Hope I helped

[aceras624]

A few things to know about how we post the layout of the builds is normally

+nnnnn- This would be a cell for 12 volts like a car. the + is positive, the n's are neutral. you don't hook any power to these. and then the - is negative. if you watch the videos from hhoconnection this will start to make sense.

keep in mind the voltage drops between plates
for example if you have only 2 plate (-+) the voltage between plates is 12V
like this -N+ when you measure voltage from - to + the voltage is still 12V but the voltage between - to N OR N to + the voltage is 6V. the more plates the more you divide the voltage. People typically like to get the voltage gapped/divided to get the measured Voltage between plates to be less than 2 Volts. this increases efficiciency by reducing heat so electricity can be devoted to ONLY making HHO. Im currently making a stack of cells arranged like this -NNNNNN+NNNNNN-NNNNNN+ having all these gaps will drop the voltage to 1.7V between plates using my 12 Volt source. the above configuration (+nnnnn-) would yield 2 volts between plates using a 12 Volt source so it would use a little bit of the electricity to make more heat and less HHO than the one I am making. The extra heat can be ok though if you NEED the heat because you live in a cold climate because the warmer the electrolyte, the more HHO it will produce and more amps it will draw, but also the more steam it will create. I figured out a temp of 43C (110F) is the max you want the cell to heat up. This is just some info Ive figured out from this site hope it helps

[BioFarmer93]

Aceras624,
Keep in mind that the automotive HHO systems are actually designed to handle the alternators output @ about 13.6-14.3 volts, not 12.5V from a fully charged battery- that's why we run 6 bipolar plates... You actually need around 2V to "drive" the production as I'm sure others will chime in soon with some old low voltage production numbers that may have been very efficient but were not reaching their desired goals. Seven cells/13.6V makes 1.94Vpc, 7 cells/14.3V makes 2.04Vpc, but 7 cells/12.5 only makes 1.78Vpc which is marginal for good production. I know it seems like such a small amount of difference, but look at it this way- at 12.5-12.7V a car battery is fully charged, at 12.0V it's dead.

[hhofox]

Hi, I have this site that I used in order to get a greater understanding of dry cells. It serves as a good staring point, so you can understand the mechanics and construction of the cell and so on. Take a look at it, it may clear things up even more.

http://2hho.com/hho_plans.htm

[whear]

Thanks a lot for your help everyone !

I didn't quite understand how big the holes should be in the cell ( the input and the output ) and if they should be of the same size.

In most of the plans that I saw, the input hole was bigger than the output hole for some reason..

Considering I want to produce around 1.5 LPM, how big should the holes be exactly ?

I also saw that some people cut the corners of the plates giving it a hexagon shape. What's the reason behind that ?

[BioFarmer93]

Thanks a lot for your help everyone !

I didn't quite understand how big the holes should be in the cell ( the input and the output ) and if they should be of the same size.

In most of the plans that I saw, the input hole was bigger than the output hole for some reason..

Considering I want to produce around 1.5 LPM, how big should the holes be exactly ?

I also saw that some people cut the corners of the plates giving it a hexagon shape. What's the reason behind that ?

whear,
I'm not sure which system you use so I'll just say that 10mm or 3/8" will do fine for both holes, no difference in sizes is needed. The cut corner on some designs is for power bolt clearance- look closer at the units that are like that and you will see that two or three of the plates are not cut like that on each side, they have holes drilled through them for the pos and neg power bolts and have nuts snugged up tight on each side to ensure a good electrical connection...