For the electrolysis guys.

[KF5LCH]

Guys, I have an extra 36 amp DC power supply laying around & im thinking of trying my hand at electrolysis. Im wondering if the power supply would work in place of a 12v battery charger.

The voltage is adjustable from 9.5 to 15 volts DC, it's rated for a full 30 amps @ 100% duty cycle.

It might be overkill for a gunk tank, but from what I gather overkill won't hurt anything & it won't help anything.

Your thoughts?

 

[Catalyze]

Greetings!
I have used all kinds of amperages from 2 amps to 40 amps. The problem with a high amperage input is that the wire from your part to your negative lead can get so hot as to become untouchable....almost like a toaster wire. When I did my 6" Prentiss, i tried a 40 amp input at 12 volts and it pulled all of 20. The wire got hot enough that it melted a line down the plastic tub to almost the liquid level. After that I never use any amperage setting that won't allow me to keep my hand comfortably on the negative wire from the part. It's not like it's a race to pull the rust off. 6 amps will do anything that you want and you can walk away from it for 24 hours with no worries. Your mileage may vary since my world is a strange one.
Craig

 

[KF5LCH]

Thanks for the reply Craig.

This old supply I have will dish out a full 30 amps under full load. It's a monster. Came out of an old AT&T UHF mobile phone repeater.

Im gonna pick up an old battery charger to be on the safe side. Im afraid this power supply is too big.

 

[Steevo]

High amperage gets stuff hot.

 

[5mall5nail5]

No such thing as too much amperage, just not enough cooled water

 

[DocsMachine]

High amperage is unnecessary.

If you're in a huge hurry, yes, you can push the power to it and clean parts in hours. But I've found that low amperages over longer times tends to clean better.

High power for short times leaves a black **** that needs to be scrubbed or brushed off- in some cases, I've had to wire brush the ****. Lower power for longer times produces a similar ****, but it seems to wash right off with a rinse hose.

Your mileage may vary, of course, and I wouldn't be surprised if the alloy of the metal has something to do with it (grey cast iron, white cast, mild steel, etc.) but again, unless you're in a huge hurry, don't worry about pushing huge power to it. Use a trickle charger and leave it in the soup longer.

The only time you need "more" power is for larger pieces- if you're stripping an entire truck frame, sure, you'll need a big power supply. But if you're only stripping a single exhaust header, a 2 amp trickle charger is plenty.

Doc.

 

[larryq]

I've used a 2/10 amp dual-setting battery charger to clean bench vises. From my experience the 2 amp setting worked much better. Slow cooking is the way to go.

 

[jrlp]

Use a larger negative cable! Depending on how much surface area you have both for the part your cleaning and the sacrificial anode(s). I have a few hundred square inches on my tank. I've tried lots of different power levels, and all I can say is "it depends."

Try it, adjust the current, adjust the voltage..

I found with higher current I could get into crevices better. They were the last thing to be cleaned, but it would still clean it out. With 2a, it really didn't want to reach in there..

Experiment with what works best for you.. there's no wrong way to do it (except polarity!)

I have a few build pictures on my thread in my sig. Goodluck!

 

[KF5LCH]

Thanks guys. I'll try my trickle charger first & see how it goes.

Might hook up the hot supply on the big stuff. For now I'm just going to be doing some small stuff.

 

[Schurkey]

The only way you're going to see high amperage is if the part to be cleaned is in close proximity to the sacrificial iron.

The current has to travel across the electrolyte "gap". The wider the gap, the less current flows.

The only counter to that is voltage. More voltage pushes more current.

If the power supply is capable of 30 amps, but not very much voltage...you're not going to actually have 30 amps of current unless you can get the two submerged parts--the one to be cleaned; and the sacrificial item--close together.

 

[Mr.N]

Im gonna pick up an old battery charger to be on the safe side. Im afraid this power supply is too big.

Make sure it's an old one.

I've wrecked 4 of the new style ones, all different types.
Ended up using an old computer power supply, works great.

 

[KF5LCH]

Schurkey, that's what im wondering about. I know this supply will go down to around 4 volts DC. I was thinking about setting it around 6 volts DC & giving that a try.

Im gonna toy with it this weekend. Might give it a shot along with the trickle charger & see which one does the best job.

 

[larry_g]

Schurkey, that's what im wondering about. I know this supply will go down to around 4 volts DC. I was thinking about setting it around 6 volts DC & giving that a try.

I'm gonna toy with it this weekend. Might give it a shot along with the trickle charger & see which one does the best job.

There is no harm in putting a 30A fuse in the feed line so that if something does go astray the fuse will blow and no harm done to the supply. Do you have an amp meter to put in the circuit?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Schurkey]

Schurkey, that's what im wondering about. I know this supply will go down to around 4 volts DC. I was thinking about setting it around 6 volts DC & giving that a try.

Im gonna toy with it this weekend. Might give it a shot along with the trickle charger & see which one does the best job.

When I was playing around with electrolysis, I had a "12-volt" battery charger that was actually pushing ~13--14 volts. Wasn't nearly enough. I ended up with a "24-volt" battery charger that I intended for electrolysis; but I've given up on electrolysis without ever connecting that charger.

God bless glass-bead cabinets. Ten times faster--or more. Cleans aluminum. Only real problem is dust; I roll it outside to do blasting so there's no grit or dust in my work area. The filter bag and cyclonic separator help a lot, but I don't need lung problems.

 

[HTGTS350]

Higher amperages can cause hydrogen embrittlement, my set up can do 30amps at up to 96volts or up to 70amps at 24volts but I usually run no more than 20volts and 5 amps.

 

[930dreamer]

Let's see some pics of the charger.

 

[KF5LCH]

HTGTS350 that's a hell of a power supply you have there.

I've been doing a little playing around with it, & I found a little 2.5 amp power supply I forgot I even had. Plugged it up & tried it on an old hatchet head. Worked pretty good. I let it run overnight. It was clean as could be the next morning, but black as coal. How are you guys getting this black stuff off? Black oxide isin't it? I washed & washed & hit it with a wire brush & still no luck. Done everything short of hitting it with the wire wheel