Electrolysis amps

[Jon Wollenburg]

What are the correct amps my charger should be reading?   No matter what I try I only get 10 to 15 amps on my gauge when set on 40 amps.  Even when I try 200 amps it reads 10 to 15 amps.  I get great bubbles and swirlling water.  I am wondering if the gauge is bad.  Can someone tell me how to check the output with a multi-meter or anything else to try.  

                                                                          Thanks Jon

[Jeff Friend]

Jon,

Try moving the pan and anode closer together, the move them apart.  If your ammeter is working, you should see the indicator moving.  Since you are getting enough bubbles to swirl the water, it is working.

If you have a clamp-on type ammeter, you can measure the current with it, but it sounds like you just have a multimeter.  It is a little difficult to measure a multi-amp current flow with a multimeter unless you have a special resistor (called a shunt) across which you can measure the voltage drop.  With the voltage drop and resistance you can use Ohm's law to calculate the current flow.

Jeff

[Sam Roberts]

I feel the the amperage output of your charger is directly related to the amount of surface you're trying to clean at one time. The more CI surface the more amps your charger will put out.

[Herman Gagne]

 :)What you select on the charger, is one thing; what amperage is indicated, is something else.
Keep in mind, you're using 12 volts only to "push" the amperage through a medium (water and PH+) which is barely conductive; remove the PH+, and not much current (amps) flows through water; the + and - are separated by the water mixture; unless you go to a higher voltage, the amperage will be very low; I don't even think you're getting 10-15 amps; 3-5 is probable.
When you "select" more amps, not much happens because of the water being a poor conductor; it's quite different when a starter is at the other end, or a device capable of "drawing" amperage.
In the end, when using a 12 volt charger, even a small one (6 amps), will do just as good as a large charger "selected" to 200 amps, because the water is a poor conductor.
Cheers.

[Tom Penkava]

Herman has a perty good explanation.
Several months ago, I re did my electrolis setup.  50 gal plastic barrel and a older manual charger with low/med/high settings.  I hung a skillet in the water, then added washing soda till I got a good amp flow.  Ended up with 3 boxes of soda.  On low, it puts out 20 amps / on med it is 40 amps / on high it puts out 60 amps.  The higher the amp flow, the faster the water evaporates/dissapates and I have to add another 5 gal of water.  I do all my cleaning on the med/40 amp setting, which does a good job without having to add water so often.

[Hud]

Make sure the metal hooks, clamps or whatever you use are highly conductive and make sure you have good metal to metal connections.  I once had the same problem and discovered it was the cheap metal clamp I was using to hang the skillet from.  The only other thing I can think of is maybe more ph+.  

[Sam Roberts]

My charger has I think, 8 settings from 6V Low to 24V High and a lot of the stuff I do at 6V Low because at the remainder of the settings I get 40amps or better. No connection problems here and at 6V Low it still does a fine job only because I get between 25-30 amps at that setting. When I put a couple of pieces in that have a good coat of crud I start off at 12V Med, but then in 4-5 hours I have to turn it down because as it makes better connection with the CI it starts putting out around 50amps. It sure doesn't take long with that many amps to get the water rather warm.

[Tom Penkava]

It would also depend on the amount and placement of the sacrificial metal.  I have my barrel loaded with cast iron brake rotors, 4 rows of 3 vertical all connected in series, so I get a good flow in all directions.

[Chuck Rogers]

I agree with Sam on the Amperage flow. One piece i my 55 gal ss lined tank draws about20 amps even when I have it set to 2 amps. That;s the lowest setting I have. When I hang 3 or 4 pieces, again it depends on the size of the pieces, it draws 40 - 50 amps, even though it's still set on 2 amps. I only put in one box of washing soda and that works fine judging by the amps I'm drawing and how well it's cleaning. When I pull the pieces out, they are steaming. I've never checked the temp, but it's up there I'm sure. This tank is inside, in the basement, but is vented, so it's not that it's cold, that it makes the steam. All I know is that it takes only an hour to see the gunk peeling, but I usually like to leave it in for 24 hours to make sure that it's all off.