Hi nickle989,

Thanks for your input. I would say that if you have an idea of how to design a circuit that uses a load and charges a battery then please post a diagram of your idea. I would be very interested in building a circuit that looks like it might accomplish this. I will take your advice on using a lead-acid battery to be charged, unless you can show a circuit that would do this for a NiMah or NiCad battery. This is what I would really want.

As far as the plating of zinc goes, earlier in this thread Dingus Mungus shows a design that could be used for the replating of the zinc that goes along the lines you suggested: the idea of a connection at the bottom of the cell that would keep the flaked zinc in electrical contact with the system. This is a good idea; but I was hoping to use the electrical circuit to regenerate the zinc often enough so that only a thin layer would be replated at a time, that way it would be less likely to flake off. (That's my theory anyway.)

You should have no problem finding magnesium and silver colloids at health food stores, they are common items.

I tried to balance the system chemically earlier in this thread. I began to hurt the hydrogen production rate, and started to form a precipitate so the cell solubility was altered as well. I would be very interested to see if you can have better results. I am always open to suggestions and I hope you can have a breakthrough. Please post your results here so we can all see.

Hey... A scale is a scale... LOL!

My current power supplies are 12V-2A, 9V-1.5A, and 5.6V-.65mA phone chargers.
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/8173
With this PSU I should be able to determine the best voltage for Zn reduction.
(my current plating is fragile and loose... too much wattage I think)

I still need some solid zinc rods but I'm ordering from a new supplier this time.
Also I'm picking up some 5-10 mesh Tungsten carbide pellets or ingot. (<surface area)
Thanks for the best wishes, and the same goes to you in your PEM experiments.

I know we're close now,
~Dingus

Nonetheless your effort is apreciated so we don't make a mistake,
 Is probably to early for this question but do you have and idea if the battery will use less energy to regenerate the reaction than to recharge itself?

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/search.asp?search=Polypropylene&x=3&y=13

Just a link to help shove ya in the right direction... 

There are lots of cheap and easy to work with plastics, but Polypropylene is almost as standard as PVC and it comes in clear. Custom glass reactors are  a long way off in the future. There is still lots to learn! Why waste money on a fancy case?

Glad to hear you're so close to sealing a cell for the first time. Should be a great demo.

BTW is your PEM (H2+O2) or (H2+Air)?

~Dingus

Hi Dingus,

OK, here we go. I did a quick hand-drawing of a concept to mimic your reactor. One bottle has the tungsten electrodes and the other has the zinc. This way the gases can be collected seperately. The solution is joined at the bottom through the aspirator openings and the "T" allows the funnel to drain the water back into the system from the fuel cell. The system is closed except at the funnel opening.

I figure two of these can be joined to use the circuit.

The drawing is crude and it is just a concept at this point. Should be about a hundred bucks. I am ordering the parts probably today or tommorrow.

Hi Chris,

A representative from Alsco (www.clearpvcpipe.com) contacted me and informed me that their pipe will be able to withstand up to a 50% concentration of NaOH as long as the temperature of the liquid does not reach 140?F. So it should easily be able to handle a 10% concentration of NaOH in water like the experiment requires. This is GOOD NEWS.

So maybe building it out of this material may be a good idea afterall. I think it will be cheaper than the previous apparatus; but I need to find out for sure. If you have time, maybe you could help design the apparatus. The materials and costs are on their website.
my electrodes are 7" high tungsten and 6" high zinc rods. The rest is up in the air. I guess I could even cut the electrodes any length that is needed.

You designed the original concept so maybe you could help design the first prototype? What do you say buddy, it should be a snap for you. I would even be willing to fund the purchase of the materials. Heck I would even be willing to pay for one for you if you want it. This is no joke! I want to see this idea developed. Use that program you used to draw up the original concept and design a Clear PVC model for experimental testing.

Draw something up, make a list of the materials and cost, let's add it up and see what is the better way to go. I'll try and do the same for the one I hand-drew and we'll compare costs. What do you say? Let me know what you think. Unless you want to try something else? Just take a few days and decide, then let me know.

Thanks again,

Dave

P.S. BTW, congrats on the car. Hope you like it.

Hi K,

This is my thinking on the whole idea so you can see where I am coming from.

Based off my previous experiments I find evidence that it won't take very much power to regenerate the zinc in the cell. If you read the thread way back you will see that I believe the circuit required to cycle through the regeneration will not require much power, and the energy needed for the zinc regeneration will easily be obtained by the fuel cell. The trouble is we were never able to perform a long term test of this idea. This is because we had no apparatus with an automatic switching system that would cycle through the circuits over a period of weeks. I cannot physically sit at a chair and keep switching circuits every 15-20 seconds for days on end; and unless this is done we will never see if this can be overunity or not.

So in order to test the overunity of the system we first need to build an apparatus to test, then we need the circuit to switch. The drawings here depict an apparatus. Once that is built and tested to work then the circuit has to be built and tested. The circuit is now under construction by mramos. Once he finishes it, and the apparatus is built, then the long term testing can begin. I mean over a period of several WEEKS in constant operation.

That is the goal for now. Because of the catalysts in this system it is unlike any other electrolysis that has been performed before. The catalysts lower the activation energy required to perform the electrolysis. That is why it is low voltage, and that is why it has the potential to be overunity. Hydrogen has a high energy potential, and because of this energy in a gaseous state, it can be utilized by the fuel cell to produce electricity. Far more efficiently than by burning it. The added bonus is that all the other parts of the hydrogen cell will then be recycled and regenerated.

I believe this has potential for these reasons; and that is why I am willing to fund and put in effort on this project. This is for the world to see, not just us here in this forum. So now that we all are clear on how I feel about this project, let's just all get on with our work and try and better the world for the future and the future of our families.