My experience is that everytime an electrode has gotten hot, it was because of bad connections...and as it starts to melt through the plastic, it get worse. I sand all my connections. I work with metal tops now with high temp. plastic washers I made from spatulas and plastic ashtrays with a core drill. I like the spatula ones the best. They won't melt and that gives you time to figure things out like too much electrolyte. You could fortify your electrode holes with those. Nice Video!
I have used rain water and found that distilled worked best. Was having a bad heat problum myself. My unit was setup using a + - + - + -. Using 321 grade plates with 6 in a row.I Re-spaced them with one plate and two 3/8 nylon washers with - on the first plate and N on the next plate.3/8 nylon bolt in between and built a three series plate from that. center is + and N. other side is the same as the first side.
I was having a similar problem, stainless steel is a poor conductor, and acts as a resistor, if you're using SS for the conductor strap you might consider adding an additional strap so that you have less resistance (less heat) and using larger bolts will dissipate more heat and conduct better. Hope this helps.
Stainless Steel is a very slippery metal. (i.e. it does not want to stay tightened as you heat and cool it.)
Start with larger bolts, 1/4" or 5/16".
I don't know of any lock washers that actually work with stainless. You may need to get some stainless lock nuts (nuts with nylon inserts) and/or some loctite. If you use loctite, do not let any of it be exposed to the electrolyte solution.
closer spacing, more surface area (larger plates and/or more plates)
Do what you can to reduce the amount of voltage drop is across each gap to about 1.75 (may be too small) to about 2.5 volts. You need "just enough" voltage to start the cascade. At that point, you can crank up the amps.
At some point even this will start getting hot. This is where more surface area is all that will help you.
In my excitement on doing all this, I lost my sense of going about this in a more coherent and methodical manner. This really helps. Your encouraging is going to propel me onward.
If you guys would use wires and submerse your bolts this problem would be gone.
hhoguru232004 3 years ago
My experience is that everytime an electrode has gotten hot, it was because of bad connections...and as it starts to melt through the plastic, it get worse. I sand all my connections. I work with metal tops now with high temp. plastic washers I made from spatulas and plastic ashtrays with a core drill. I like the spatula ones the best. They won't melt and that gives you time to figure things out like too much electrolyte. You could fortify your electrode holes with those. Nice Video!
WesNowBetter 3 years ago
I have used rain water and found that distilled worked best. Was having a bad heat problum myself. My unit was setup using a + - + - + -. Using 321 grade plates with 6 in a row.I Re-spaced them with one plate and two 3/8 nylon washers with - on the first plate and N on the next plate.3/8 nylon bolt in between and built a three series plate from that. center is + and N. other side is the same as the first side.
napabryan272 3 years ago
I think you need more negs than pos's
5 to 1
you will pull more volts and less amps - amps = heat.
remember, big bubbles are bad - fizz bubbles are good
thecellinside 3 years ago
I'm not sure what you mean in terms of more negs than pos....
All well taken, but how do you get from fizz as opposed to big?
lukeoid153 3 years ago
you want 4 to 5 neutral plates for a 12 volt system, depending on your electrolyte. 3 neutrals or less will make lots of heat......
hhouk 3 years ago
I was having a similar problem, stainless steel is a poor conductor, and acts as a resistor, if you're using SS for the conductor strap you might consider adding an additional strap so that you have less resistance (less heat) and using larger bolts will dissipate more heat and conduct better. Hope this helps.
thefoneman 3 years ago
Following,hmmm..."serrated" washers may help(?)
Let us know the fix.
Cheers Bill
madbillt66 3 years ago
Can you even get those in stainless?
They "should" work better than split washers, but I don't think I have ever seen any made out of stainless.
lutherp40 3 years ago
I had something else I was going to suggest, but I lost it when YouTube interrupted me.
Oh well. Maybe I'll remember it later on.
Good luck.
lutherp40 3 years ago
(2nd try)
Stainless Steel is a very slippery metal. (i.e. it does not want to stay tightened as you heat and cool it.)
Start with larger bolts, 1/4" or 5/16".
I don't know of any lock washers that actually work with stainless. You may need to get some stainless lock nuts (nuts with nylon inserts) and/or some loctite. If you use loctite, do not let any of it be exposed to the electrolyte solution.
lutherp40 3 years ago
The inside connection is the one that usually goes bad first. Once it does, the terminals will get hot.
Always check your terminals after it has had a chance to warm up a few minutes.
On a "good" connection, it will be the same temperature as the gas outlet all the time.
You will know when it is too hot by how fast your hand comes back off of it, so be careful. It can burn the skin off of your fingers.
(an IR thermometer might be a handy tool to have until you are happy with your terminals)
lutherp40 3 years ago
As for production improvements...
closer spacing, more surface area (larger plates and/or more plates)
Do what you can to reduce the amount of voltage drop is across each gap to about 1.75 (may be too small) to about 2.5 volts. You need "just enough" voltage to start the cascade. At that point, you can crank up the amps.
At some point even this will start getting hot. This is where more surface area is all that will help you.
lutherp40 3 years ago
Wow. Thanks for all the great advice.
In my excitement on doing all this, I lost my sense of going about this in a more coherent and methodical manner. This really helps. Your encouraging is going to propel me onward.
Very grateful.
lukeoid153 3 years ago