New guy

[sritter]

Bob and hg2,

Thanks for the welcome and the helpful words.  Here's some more info to help you guys help me :

The plate spacing is .118 (using 3mm gasket material). 

When I mixed up the electrolyte, I weighed the H2O (2600gm) and multiplied by .28 to get the amount of KOH to add(728gm). 

I am using the 8 plate cell design (so it's 15 total), and have tried two different plate polarity configurations: -nnnnnn+nnnnnn- and +nnnnnn-nnnnnn+.  The area of the plates covered by electrolyte is 8.5 X 4.25 (The 26 in2 in my original post should have been 36).  How much do you think I should gain by removing one plate per cell?  I need a pretty dramatic gain.

I have been using a battery charger as a bench power supply.  Do you think this might be a problem?  It is rated at 12 amps, and I am nowhere near that. 

Thanks for the input guys.........

sritter

[hydrotinkerer]

You are going to have to drop a neutral out on each cell bank. It will raise your voltage per plate and kick start production. So you could run +nnnnn-nnnnn+ or -nnnnn+nnnnn-. I have yet to see much difference in production of either. Remember when you drop those your amp draw is going up so keep an eye on it with a gauge to make sure you don't over do the amps for your system.

[hg2]

  Sritter, Hydrotinkerer is correct and once you drop those 2 neutral plates(one off each configuration total of 2) I think you'll be surprised on the difference in output you'll get.Ht also is giving good advice to closely monitoring your amp draw especially on initial start up.It's always a good idea to bench test using a battery charger until you see how many amps your drawing before you install it in your vehicle.That way if your amps are too high for your charging system to handle without damage,you can adjust you e-lyte ratio to achieve the amperage and output that's compatible with your vehicle.

[Bob]

All good advice guys ! thank you !
... Myself I'ed probably drop 2 plates per cell but absolutely one for sure !
... when using a bench battery charger use a battery in line with it  ( thats what I do anyway)  and a amp gauge... if you don't have an amp gauge wait till you do have one !
...remember that the amp gauge goes in line with the positive lead usually and the power has to go through the meter in order to gauge the amperage .
your output should change for the better in a big way.... if its not enough to your liking you might drop another plate in each cell and try that ... usually that gets a bit more production....
 However  you must remember that you are running on MINIMUM amps here off the bench battery charger... so don't expect miricals  you won't have good output until you give it enough amps to make it really work... that is why I say use a 12vdc battery hooked to the charger and from the battery to the meter and ground of the cell...
... even doing this your output will be great for only a short time till the storage of the battery is depleated... and you must wait while the charger brings it back up ( with the cell disconnected)
....
good luck !
...
Bob.........

[sritter]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.  I guess my disgust has been reading about so many people having too much current, while I have been unable to get mine high enough.  I will try removing a plate or two and see what happens.  I agree that the increased voltage per plate will increase the amperage, but don't know how much.  And will the reduction in surface area with increased current make the gas production a flatliine? 

It's a bit cold in the shop for my taste tonite, but I will give it a shot in the next day or two.  Will post my results.

Thanks again,

sritter