Hydrogen Product By Photovoltaic Electolytic Cell

[Turtle]

Addendum: Going by eye, I have about 2 teaspoons of Hydrogen in my 20 oz. bottle. That's ~1 teaspoon/day, and @6 teaspoons/ounce, that's 120 days to a fill-up!

On another bad note, either through siphon action alone, or a combination of capillary and siphon action, the electrolyte passed through the wire insulation like the pipe that it is, and was dripping out the end near the connection to the panel. I have elevated the conductors in the hope of stauchning the flow. Good grief & oh bother....

[Turtle]

Day 3 Noon: Several developments to report. First, it has broken out in sunshine here for awhile, and the negative terminal is bubbling out Hydrogen like crazy. There is now around an ounce of collected gas in the bottle.

Next, and somewhat puzzling, is the positive terminal is not bubbling that I can tell and the amount of collected Oxygen looks pretty much the same to me as yesterday. I may be losing the gas out through the electrolyte soaked lead wire I mentioned last post.

Moving on to the electrolyte, it has turned a very nice shade of pastel teal. Copper compounds anyone? What , if any, of these can I recover?

Finally, a fella on YouTube who is an electrolysis enthusiast subscribed to my videos overnight. Here's his channel: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Dude is puttin' some serious juice into his electrolytic cell; in one clip he has 150+ volts and nearly 3 Amps goin' in!

That's a wrap.

[Turtle]

Update: 3:00 pm


In spite of strong Sun, the cell stopped working. Looking around a bit, I found that the positive electrode was completely gone, electrolyzed away. I'm using #12 or #14 braided copper wire, so I see already that's not the best choice. Anyway, I just stripped back more wire on the lead and set it going again. On the negative side, the electrode on the other hand is growing.

That's a wrap.

[Turtle]

Update Dusk: Activity is falling off as night sets. Even after stripping new wire, I saw no bubblage in the positive electrode Oxygen producing side. The bubblage that is in that bottle may be at least 1/2 accounted for by air trapped when I originally filled it. Hmmm... Could be either it's leaking out the conductor, or I have too little voltage and/or amperage. I can add another 5 Watt panel of the same manufacture and if I get Oxygen bubblage then I know it was Amperage as all else was equal.

After disturbing the electrodes, the negative electrode shed a bunch of fine brownish-yellow-orange particles so that the entire electrolyte in the bottle is now distinctly ooky, and the electrolyte in the main cell is becoming ookier by the time-step.

That's a wrap.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Addendum: Going by eye, I have about 2 teaspoons of Hydrogen in my 20 oz. bottle. That's ~1 teaspoon/day, and @6 teaspoons/ounce, that's 120 days to a fill-up!

How are you "going by eye" when both hydrogen and oxygen are colorless?

On another bad note, either through siphon action alone, or a combination of capillary and siphon action, the electrolyte passed through the wire insulation like the pipe that it is, and was dripping out the end near the connection to the panel. I have elevated the conductors in the hope of stauchning the flow. Good grief & oh bother....

Hmmm...What does elevating the conductors do to stop either capillary action or siphoning? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean by elevating the conductors. Can you elaborate please?

For the wire insulation problem, perhaps you could poke holes in it at even intervals to prevent electrolyte passage (the holes should lessen any siphoning potential as well). But of course, it would be best to prevent any movement in the first place. And to that end, I'll have to put on the old thinking cap and see what it brings me.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

How are you "going by eye" when both hydrogen and oxygen are colorless?

By the size of the bubble in the bottle. Since the bottle started full of liquid electrolyte, any bubbles in there have to be Hydrogen coming off the electrode. No one answered my earlier inquiry about the pressure of this bubble, which I posited is 1 atmosphere. Do you concurr? Slightly higher than 1 atmosphere perhaps because the opening is submerged and we have to account for the hydraulic head in the main cell?

Originally Posted by Freeylizer

Hmmm...What does elevating the conductors do to stop either capillary action or siphoning? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean by elevating the conductors. Can you elaborate please?

In the video of post #5, you see the conductors leaving the main cell and bend over downward on the outside. They continued down to the shelf the cell is sitting on & there made the connection to the panel. This arrangement of a tube is the classic siphon. I raised the connection point so the leads now leave the main cell directly up; I may still have capillary action in there, but the leaking has stopped.

Originally Posted by Freezwired

For the wire insulation problem, perhaps you could poke holes in it at even intervals to prevent electrolyte passage (the holes should lessen any siphoning potential as well). But of course, it would be best to prevent any movement in the first place. And to that end, I'll have to put on the old thinking cap and see what it brings me.

I'm going to make a new electrode for the plus side out of some solid copper wire, and seal the gap with the insulation where I strip wire bare; will try using hot-melt glue.

Looking over some of the references I gave, I see they have platinum as the preferred metal for both electrodes when the aim is electolysizing water for Hydrogen. I've seen gold suggested as well, and both these noble metals are highly resistant to break down by electrolysis. Takes care of the growing crud problem I have now by using copper, but I'm not likely to procure any platinum any time soon.

That's a rap...erm...wrap.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

By the size of the bubble in the bottle. Since the bottle started full of liquid electrolyte, any bubbles in there have to be Hydrogen coming off the electrode.

Ok, I'm an idiot. I had not watched that video until now as I can't watch utube at work and that's where I've been following this thread mainly.

Originally Posted by Turtquisitiv

No one answered my earlier inquiry about the pressure of this bubble, which I posited is 1 atmosphere. Do you concurr? Slightly higher than 1 atmosphere perhaps because the opening is submerged and we have to account for the hydraulic head in the main cell?

That seems like a valid assumption. Q would probably be helpful for calculating this. I'm not savvy with pressure equations.

In the video of post #5, you see the conductors leaving the main cell and bend over downward on the outside. They continued down to the shelf the cell is sitting on & there made the connection to the panel. This arrangement of a tube is the classic siphon. I raised the connection point so the leads now leave the main cell directly up; I may still have capillary action in there, but the leaking has stopped.

Gotcha, thanks!

I'm going to make a new electrode for the plus side out of some solid copper wire, and seal the gap with the insulation where I strip wire bare; will try using hot-melt glue.

Looking over some of the references I gave, I see they have platinum as the preferred metal for both electrodes when the aim is electolysizing water for Hydrogen. I've seen gold suggested as well, and both these noble metals are highly resistant to break down by electrolysis. Takes care of the growing crud problem I have now by using copper, but I'm not likely to procure any platinum any time soon.

That's a rap...erm...wrap.

Maybe you could use an iridium-rich meteorite as the *odes.
On second thought, Cu seems perfect.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

...

Maybe you could use an iridium-rich meteorite as the *odes.
On second thought, Cu seems perfect.

Roger on all that. I love iridium odes!

Now check this. I was watching my video again for the first time too, and when you view it from YouTube there is an item below the player titled "Links", and when I clicked it I got this thread and some foreign page (Turkish?) that has my vid on their front page!
electrolytic cell operating day 1 video izle ELECTROLYTIC CELL OPERATING DAY 1 videosu indir electrolytic cell operating day 1 youtube vidyo

My plan for a New World Order ripens in the Sun.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Roger on all that. I love iridium odes!

Me too, I wonder how much iridium is in moldavite, or other tektites? Probably very little eh?

Now check this. I was watching my video again for the first time too, and when you view it from YouTube there is an item below the player titled "Links", and when I clicked it I got this thread and some foreign page (Turkish?) that has my vid on their front page!
electrolytic cell operating day 1 video izle ELECTROLYTIC CELL OPERATING DAY 1 videosu indir electrolytic cell operating day 1 youtube vidyo

My plan for a New World Order ripens in the Sun.

Hahahaha...Wtf?
You are a pioneer, Johnny Appl...errr...Tortuga Malus.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Me too, I wonder how much iridium is in moldavite, or other tektites? Probably very little eh?


Hahahaha...Wtf?
You are a pioneer, Johnny Appl...errr...Tortuga Malus.

Another emergent mystery of the world wide web.

Update Day 4, Noon: I replaced the positive electrode with a copper rivet and hot-melt glued the edge where the insulation stops/begins. Still little to no Oxygen collecting, but the Hydrogen side is bubbling away and the bottle has collected a wonderful amount of ooky goo. I wonder if it still tastes salty? Here's the vid: .... >>

YouTube - Photovoltaic Electrolytic Cell...

Addendum 1:00PM: I disconnected the panel from the cell and measured the panel's output voltage in full Sun at 21 Volts. I then metered the electrolytic cell leads and found the same capicitance effect, but it rose to only .3 Volts, then fell as before but more slowly. Eye estimate ~4-5 fluid ounces of collected Hydrogen @ ~1 atmosphere of pressure.