Affordable Amp Meters

I ordered a clamp on AC/DC Amp Meter from Sears a few days ago. The clamp on meter is more versatile but it costs $60.00 - close to $80 with shipping. For an HHO test station the Fuse Buddy would look very nice and it's one-fourth the price.

Here's a link if you should wish to order one. It's called a Fuse Buddy and it's only $16.00 +S&H.

http://www.tooloutfitters.net/30-amp-fuse-buddy-tester-atc-blade.html

If you want a multi meter with clamp on AC/DC amp meter at a good price take a look at this:
Craftsman Digital Clamp-On Ammeter - Sears item# 03482369000 Model 82369

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482369000P?vName=Tools&cName=ElectricalShop&sName=Multi-Meters,%20Testers%20&%20Accessories&psid=YAHOOSHOP01&sid=IDx20070921x00003b

Digital clamp-on ammeter. Measures AC/DC current up to 400 amps with 3.0 percent (VAC) accuracy without breaking the circuit. Also measures AC/DC voltage, resistance, frequency, capacitance, continuity and diode. Type K thermometer allows for surface or air temperature measurements. Display is an extra large 4000 count LCD screen. Also includes one-touch auto zero, belt holster, molded rubber holster, auto on/off, test leads and thermocouple.

Bob Campbell
http://www.youtube.com/user/HHO4gas

I love the smell of HHO in the morning.

Stainless Steel Power Terminal Posts

When I bought bolts to make my first wet cell I bought all stainless steel. That makes a lot of sense to me because those bolts (even the terminal posts) were going to be in the electrolyte.

Today while experimenting with the computer power supplies I happened to touch one of the terminal posts to the cell. It was HOT! I mean it burned my finger. Right away I start thinking it had a bad connection. Nope the connection was good. Then I put an ohm meter from the top of the bolt to the bottom and found 0.2 Ohms.

At 15 amps that 0.2 ohms was robbing my system of 45 watts and causing my cell to have less voltage than it could and should have.

It turns out that stainless steel is not a very good conductor of current. I hate to think about this, but many of my experiments over the past two months have had voltage reading taken at the terminal where this voltage drop would have been over looked. My data has been compromised and I will now have to do many of my tests over after replacing the bolts with ordinary steel. The good news is that my mmw will probably improve when I install the new bolts.

Here's a link to my YouTube video showing th heat lost at a bolt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZWMULafPQ4

Pulling my hair out!
Bob Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/user/HHO4gas

I love the smell of HHO in the morning.

Computer Power Supplies Revisited

I got up this morning, and had a thought about the power supplies I was working with yesterday. Could one of them be weak? Well I grabbed a spare computer and ran it out to the shop. One of the four was bad so that seemed like something to look into. I replaced each of the supplies one at a time, and found this to be exactly what went wrong. After replacing a weak supply, I was pushing 15A at 13.4v.

But I'm still not happy with this configuration. These power supplies protect them selves very well, and I appreciate that but when you are using three of them and have to reset - well it's a pain in the rear.

Bob Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/user/HHO4gas

I love the smell of HHO in the morning.

Panacea - a site for imaginative and thinking people

If you are reading my blog then I think I've found a somewhat unrelated site you will enjoy. Here it is - http://www.panacea-bocaf.org/johnbedini.htm

HHO Cell Design

Tight plate spacing reduces the amount of electrolyte required. I've been using 40 mills but I'd like to experiment with 10 mills. I have not found 40 mil to be too restrictive and found no advantage to 80 mil gaskets.

Plate thickness is probably a mute point, but thin gauge can bend and cause a short with very thin gaskets. Even so, I prefer the thinnest gauge in order to save space, weight, and cost. The electrical resistance of the plates may be something to consider. Stainless Steel has more resistance than ordinary steel. In the future I may make a test generator with connections at both ends of the plate to see if this would have any affect. My guess is that it would not.

I can't say first hand but many people seem to think 316 SS is a better choice than 304 SS. I have not seen any tests to prove this and I have been using 304 because it's softer and easier to machine.

I like dry cells as opposed to wet cell generators because there is no side current leakage and I believe it is easier to build without wasting space. There is also very little excess HHO in the electrolyzer at any time, which lowers the danger of the electrolyzer exploding from a spark. On that note - When building a wet cell be sure to make all electrical connections very tight, as a spark inside would be very dangerous.

Bob Campbell
http://www.youtube.com/user/HHO4gas
I love the smell of HHO in the morning.

Power Supplies

Yesterday I took three of the computer power supplies I got the other day for $10 each, and hooked the +5v outputs in series. This created a total of 14v. The lowest rated output of any of the supplies was 25 amperes on the +5v output. But I was not able to deliver that amperage with this setup and the voltage was drawn down to 12.4v and 9 amps. It was very disappointing. I suppose this idea could work with larger power supplies but the ones I have are of the 250 watt vintage and I’m not willing to invest any more into this concept right now. Besides six supplies would make a big power supply box. Seboy2000 on YouTube tells me that he is happy using his 550W supply in the 12v mode.

For anyone who wants to go this route, I did find a site that has 500 watt and even larger power supplies for a very reasonable cost of less than $20 each. Take a look at Geeks.com http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=PWR

And here is a company that sells power supplies for $208 that are rated at 13.6V 30A Continuous. Look for the PST-APS30 power supply listed on this page. http://www.powerstream.com/low-noise-high-power.htm

So I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. I borrowed my neighbor’s Vector: VEC1093A - 2/10/20/40/100 Amp 12V Smart Battery Charger and it worked out very nicely.

I ran it up to 18 amps at 14 volts and got 1.3 LPM. That’s 5.17 mmw. I then hooked it up parallel to two 12v batteries in my truck and ran it for about 15 minutes. The “Smart” charger did not mess up the volts or current.

I’m pretty happy with the performance of this charger. It costs about $120.00 and as an extra bonus it does a lot of diagnosis of the alternator and battery systems. I’m feeling inclined to go this route, but I had hoped to get by with a less costly method.

Bob Campbell
http://www.youtube.com/user/HHO4gas
I love the smell of HHO in the morning.

KOH

I've been using the KHO today and feel quite strongly that KOH is the way to go. After about four hours the solution looks clear. I added 2 tsp per gallon and got very good production with efficency of 4.5 to 4.8 mmw for my Gen 3 dry cell. Below is a link of a previous test of that cell with Na HO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tWhIdwlpw

Electrolytes

Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and Potassium hydroxide (KOH) are better than Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate - NaHCO3) because they are a better conductor. Calcium hydroxide, traditionally called slaked lime, hydrated lime, or pickling lime, Ca(OH))2 works but it builds a foamy cake in the bubbler which is detremantal to the maintenance of the electrolizer, and it is not as good a conductor as NaOH or KOH.

Draino is a source of sodium hydroxide but I get a lot of foam. Foaming lowers the efficiency. Besides I think it has a few extra chemicals that are not condusive to HHO

Baking soda is good because it is not toxic but it is not as good a conductor as KOH or (NaOH). KOH is most likely the best choice because it is a very good conductor, and I've heard it leaves no residue, but it is toxic. Use it wisely. I have 90% KOH on order and will report back on my results later.

Bob Campbell

Power Supplies

It's my lucky day! I went on craigslist to find some computer power supplies and found 4 at $10.00 each. I've been unhappy with my new battery charger - one of those "smart chargers" because it does not supply a constant 13.6v. Here are some sites that will help you build a power supply for cheap.

Power supply tips!
http://www.letu.edu/people/joelkoblich/Tech_Tips/PC%20Power%20Supplies/Tips%20on%20Using%20a%20PC%20Power%20Supply%20for%20Projects.pdf

http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-an-Old-ATX-Power-Supply-As-a-Lab-Power-Supply-Without-Modification

How to Add Variable Voltage to Your ATX Based Bench Power Supply
http://www.wikihow.com/Add-Variable-Voltage-to-Your-ATX-Based-Bench-Power-Supply

Cheep 400W power Supplies
http://www.directron.com/rx450k.html
http://www.directron.com/rx500s.html

HHO Plate Size Matters

A larger plate area produces more gas and appears to be directly proportional to surface area. Preliminary testing results in a constant of about .275 milliliters per minute per watt per 100 square inches at about 4.5 mmw. More testing needs to be done to verify the accuracy of that constant. But without a doubt a larger plate area produces more gas.Larger can be achieved either by adding cells or by using larger plates. One cell being any array beginning with a positive and ending with a negative plate, such as +nnnnn-.My theory is that too much HHO can be detrimental to the miles per gallon achieved. HHO works because it is a fuel additive, and creating too much HHO will waste electrical energy due to the alternators load on the engine. It may even have a negative influence on the timing of the fuel detonation. The important factor is the efficiency. More on that later

Affordable Clamp on AC/DC Meter

For all of you experimenters who still need an accurate way to measure DC amps, I've just discovered that Sears has a reasonably priced AC/DC Clamp on multimeter. $60.00

Digital clamp-on ammeter. Measures AC/DC current up to 400 amps with 3.0 percent (VAC) accuracy without breaking the circuit. Also measures AC/DC voltage, resistance, frequency, capacitance, continuity and diode. Type K thermometer allows for surface or air temperature measurements. Display is an extra large 4000 count LCD screen. Also includes one-touch auto zero, belt holster, molded rubber holster, auto on/off, test leads and thermocouple.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482369000P

I hope they have it in stock at our store in Chico. I'm going to pick one up today!Now if I could just find a power supply