Like many of you reading these forums for the first time I was also very skeptical about this HHO thing.
Does it work?
Well, I don’t really know since I only had my first data in today and I am going to share you my results with you.
But before doing so I would like to give all my specs.
I constructed my first cell about two weeks ago after I received my 316 S/S plates.
All plates are 1mm thick
Neutral plate dimensions: 70mm x 160 mm
Connector plate dimensions: 70mm x 180 mm
Configuration is in + n n n â€" n n n +
Spacing between plates: 3 mm
The Cell was constructed from a 110mm PVC Pipe I had lying around in the backyard.
To top-up the cell I use about 2.5 L of water.
The bubbler is also made from a PVC pipe.
Shortly after I fitted the first cell I did a road test with a friend.
On the road everything went well but when I switched off the cell and back on there a huge bang!
Luckily it was a quiet country road so I pulled over to check the damage. The screw-on lid was totally blown off!
After a careful investigation I noted that the spark was from inside the cell and not from the engine through the bubbler. The 30 amp wire connected to the terminal plates was loose and this created a spark.
So a friendly warning that this is dangerous stuff and that precaution should always be taken!! Check your terminal wires!
Another important fact is that the test vehicle had a basic service two weeks ago. It was also fine tuned since it was running a bit rich.
The test vehicle is a Ford Tracer 1.3
Each test was done on a separate 5L Auxiliary tank with inline connectors to the main fuel tank.
Average speed 100 km/h
Outside temperature about 20 ºC
On our first run this morning without HHO support:
Distance covered 84.4 Km
Result in Kilometers per liter: 16.8 Km/L
Result in Imp. Miles per Gallon: 47.70
Result in liters per 100 kilometers: 5.92 L/100 Km
On our second run with HHO support:
Average current draw was about 15 Amps.
Distance covered 92.2 Km
Result in Kilometers per liter: 18.44 Km/L
Result in Imp. Miles per Gallon: 52.11
Result in liters per 100 kilometers: 5.42 L/100 Km
Both Tests was done doing the same round trip.
Conclusion so far: NONE!
Although the second run was a bit better with a 9% increase this could have been contributed to just more efficient driving skills.
It’s still too early to say since this was only the first test and the cell was rather “cold†when we started with only 15 amps drawn (average).
I need to look into the HHO production again. I will post more data tomorrow in HHO flow rate. I know on about 20 Amps the flow rate is just over 1L/min HHO.
We are planning another road test this weekend so I will post more data on that once I have the stats.
Any comments and criticism will be appreciated.
Nice to see some real live test data.
Have you noticed how hot the unit gets?
I fitted a standard electrolyser to my vehicle once, the unit was quite efficient but it continually overheated, so I put it on the back burner and began exploring pulsed (Meyer-type) electrolysers... which is where I still am at present. Overheating was such a problem that I never was able to get any conclusive test results or useful data.
I don't know how people are getting away with drawing high currents through relatively small electrolysers without them seriously overheating.
Good luck with the test runs.
I had the same issues with the water boiling. Any way you look at it, normal electrolysis is not worth the hassle, especially with any ECM'd vehicle.
The past week was rather uneventful but I did manage to make some minor adjustments to my HHO project.
Unfortunately the test run that was planned this past weekend was postponed till later this week once everything is put back together.
Ok, on my last test run these where some of my observations:
When the cell is “cold†the HHO production is rather low. I remember that it took about 2:34 minutes to fill 500Ml bottle with about 10Amps â€" that was early in the morning (winter).
As the water temperature increased with the heat from the engine and the electrolysis, so did the HHO production. Unfortunately I don’t have means to measure the water temperature so these are all round-about.
As the temperature of the water increased so did the amperage. On my previous post I did mention that there was an average production of 1L/min â€" sorry to say but my specs was wrong! â€" I used a 500ml bottle and not 1 liter. So the average production was about 500ml/min once the water was warm with just over 20 amps.
So the minor changes made so far include the following:
A separate tank to help with the circulation of “cooler†water:
The separate water tank will pump cooler water into the tank with the help of an electric motor. This will be done via a switch on the dash board. A gravity feed line from the cell to the water tank will help to level off the water.
Neutral plates Added:
Plate configuration: added two neutral plates to a + n n n n â€" n n n n + config
Acrylic / Plexiglass plates inside cell:
Two Acrylic plates added inside the cell to help position the s/s plates. I hope this will also help with the water flow inside the cell.
Gas Flow Mixer:
I have noticed that many people recommend placing the inlet of the HHO gas into the carburetor before the Air Filter. For some odd reason I didn’t like this idea and place the inlet right in top of the carburetor. With the first test run I have notices that the performance at low speeds was a bit shaky with burst of power as these bubbles entered the carburetor. I guess therefore the Air filter to help smooth out the gas and air mixture. This is why I have places a flow mixer inside the filter to mix the air and HHO gas before its being sucked into the carburetor. It’s a bit of a double step but I have already molded the inlet valve so it was not much of an issue to make this.
I hope to have some results and photos by tomorrow.
Till then!
You seem not to have considered the action of your water flow through the cell. Remember that the ions are tiny physical masses that will be influenced by the sea of water surrounding them.
Hence, a very possible problem the cooling water will give you is a disruption of the ion current flow between plates. You will likely draw ions up and out of the cell which I must assume would result in a drop in overall efficiency.
A none invasive cooling jacket might be the answer.