Electrolysis

[VOH]

Has anyone had luck performing electrolysis with a new battery charger? I attempted this over the weekend and could not get my digital charger to start. Was able to get the same setup to work borrowing the neighbors "old" charger, which lead me to believe the digital one has some level of safety that was preventing it from starting.

 

[Mark_17]

Hook up a battery in line to "trick" your charger. It worked for me

 

[VOH]

Hook up a battery in line to "trick" your charger. It worked for me

I thought about that. Thank you sir!

 

[dogdog]

Any dc power supply will work for electrolysis. 10amp ish will work fine. 12v 10 amp is cheap

 

[laser3kw]

some of the newer ones use different pulse charging instead of good old straight line DC.

 

[Damon L.]

The newer "smart" chargers will not apply current to 0V.

 

[1320stang]

Not sure how big of setup your running but make sure its well ventilated if its on the bigger scale. I've had success with both it and molasses. Electrolysis is line of site whereas molasses gets all the crevices, it just stinks to high heaven.

 

[bdbecker]

Any dc power supply will work for electrolysis. 10amp ish will work fine. 12v 10 amp is cheap

Sort of... I just built an electrolysis setup using a 12V/10A constant voltage power supply (temporarily mounted components to a board for testing)...

I'm learning some interesting things with this setup. The main thing is that if you don't have your anode and cathode surface area ratio setup correctly, you can easily overload a 10A power supply. In my case, I've got four pieces of 3" channel iron, roughly 12" long, spaced evenly around a 5 gallon bucket to serve as my anodes. When I put my axe head (cathode) in the bucket to clean it, the power supply will not turn on if all four anodes are connected. It will run around 7A with two anodes connected, which is a bit higher than I'd like to see.

Thankfully, @Uofime set me straight on using a constant current power supply instead of a constant voltage supply for an application like this. Basically, set the current to what you want and let the voltage vary as needed. I see the bench top power supply I had my eye on is on sale again, so I'll be placing an order and will repurpose the current components into a future project.

Power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ1FDXV/?tag=atomicindus08-20

More info on my marginally successful build can be found here if anyone is interested:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-****-shack.332912/post-10249360

 

[Shiftless]

Hook up a battery in line to "trick" your charger. It worked for me

I thought about that. Thank you sir!

Yeah…that’s what you have to do with many “modern“ chargers.
Electrolysis has worked for me in situations where Evaporust did not.

For the benefit of those less experienced, what Mark probably means by “in line” is to hook up the battery to run your electrolysis set up and then clip the battery charger wires to the battery.
In technical terms this is a parallel connection and not an in line series connection.

Unless a guy is absolutely certain that wires will never touch, if there is a car battery involved, I recommend putting a fuse in the circuit. Maybe 10 amps. Short circuited car batteries can explode.

 

[driftpin]

And if you're reluctant to work with electrolysis, cleaning vinegar, available at your grocery store. I've found 6% works well for my use, cleaning rusty tools and motorcycle gas tanks or other parts. Big Box Stores I've seen up to 30% concentration, I would dilute that to < 10%. Also be careful of trying to clean potmetal as it may just disappear.

Before


After


During


Bricks take up volume, so less liquid is required.



This was 6% vinegar, and 2 days.

 

[dogdog]

Sort of... I just built an electrolysis setup using a 12V/10A constant voltage power supply (temporarily mounted components to a board for testing)...

I'm learning some interesting things with this setup. The main thing is that if you don't have your anode and cathode surface area ratio setup correctly, you can easily overload a 10A power supply. In my case, I've got four pieces of 3" channel iron, roughly 12" long, spaced evenly around a 5 gallon bucket to serve as my anodes. When I put my axe head (cathode) in the bucket to clean it, the power supply will not turn on if all four anodes are connected. It will run around 7A with two anodes connected, which is a bit higher than I'd like to see.

Thankfully, @Uofime set me straight on using a constant current power supply instead of a constant voltage supply for an application like this. Basically, set the current to what you want and let the voltage vary as needed. I see the bench top power supply I had my eye on is on sale again, so I'll be placing an order and will repurpose the current components into a future project.

Power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ1FDXV/?tag=atomicindus08-20

More info on my marginally successful build can be found here if anyone is interested:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-****-shack.332912/post-10249360

Yes you are correct, just don’t connect too many anode, the initial current on fresh batch of water will be high it will dial down automatically

There are cc /cv controllers on eBay that you can convert your non regulated power supply to a regulated power supply or you can go low tech and ad an automotive auto reset fuse 10amp like the ones in the old chargers. (The one on the hf unit is a 30amp) I think they have different selections on the fuse isle.

I would go 24v if I were to add a cv/cc controller though. Voltage does matter. But higher voltage also gets hydrogen embrittlement on your cast iron piece. At least I think that is the real terms used.

And yes there are good power supplies and bad one, other than accuracy and ripple currents, the good ones have over voltage and over current protection.

 

[BigMike782]

I have always wanted to try electrolysis using my Syncrowave 250 as the power source but have never been brave enough.

 

[bdbecker]

I have always wanted to try electrolysis using my Syncrowave 250 as the power source but have never been brave enough.

The Post Apocalyptic Inventor on YouTube has a video where he uses a weld power supply for electrolysis. It is impressive, but also a bit scary to watch.

 

[dogdog]

some guy here used his syncrowave or something tig welder for etching and that turned out well, not too sure if it is good for electrolysis dependents on the ocv some have as high as 48vdc open circuit voltage.

 

[laser3kw]

I would guess a good computer power sully would be good clean dc.

 

[andyvh1959]

I have an old style Craftsman battery charger that should work well. I have a set of solid but rusty headers for a 5.2 Magnum, which likely have rust on the inside as well as all the external nooks and tight spots. Those may be my 1st attempt at electrolysis.

 

[Mr.N]

I would guess a good computer power sully would be good clean dc.

Bingo, this is what I have moved to. I've two backups expecting to fry one... so far it is holding up very well.

Has anyone had luck performing electrolysis with a new battery charger? I attempted this over the weekend and could not get my digital charger to start. Was able to get the same setup to work borrowing the neighbors "old" charger, which lead me to believe the digital one has some level of safety that was preventing it from starting.

Yes, I've had great luck with new battery chargers performing electrolysis. I think I went through 4 of them.

 

[Uofime]

Electrolysis doesn’t care how clean your power is, so cheap and dirty is fine though it is a process that takes lots of time so I needs to be able to regulate itself and not overheat. The electro chemistry itself doesn’t need a very high voltage to proceed. If the rate is low you can increase the electrode size and/or decrease the electrolyte resistance