A common misconception I am seeing out in INTERNET land, is that you can use itty bitty pieces of steel for anodes (i.e. rebar, etc) and/or an automatic battery charger/or low amp charger. These types of setups may appear to work for a while,,,,,, but,,,,, are usually not up to the task for efficient cleaning over time.
There is no substitute over time for the value of a lye bath for nice long soaks of difficult pieces, and even lye will not touch certain types of paint.