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Posted

This isn't especially fun anymore.

 

Thank's guys for the suggestions on the Power supply, Ti Pb Anode material /mounting, cell additives, and voltage ripple problem as well as startup and collection of product

Posted

"If I had that mercury hydrometer handy maybe I would Lloyd "

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Yeah... And if you had an auto parts store 'handy', maybe you could get one for five bucks! And if that didn't suit the SG range you needed, it's an afternoon's job to make a 'custom' one that will suit the range you need, or about ten minutes' work to ADJUST a cheap glass 'float' version to meet the SG range you require.

IF you're doing this kind of stuff, it at least implies that you're an 'experimenter'. And if you are, you build (or buy and/or modify) the necessary instruments to DO your experiments, not merely to guess at what might be happening! Anything less suggests that you don't really care what your results are, so long as they're 'easy'.

 

My point was that you're not attending to the issues. You're not reading the literature. You don't seem to care if your physical states are correct. You don't even seem to care if you're just throwing away chemicals!

 

I believe Mumbles was right.

 

(sorry, Mumbles, I'm way out of my 'legal' bounds, now... but I just... just... whew!)

 

Lloyd

Posted

I guess the "not fun" things here to a large extent comes from the fact that pretty much everything this far has been "said" at least a couple of times in the long (per)chlorate thread. This means people poke fun at you for not reading it. It's a boring, long, and sometimes hard to follow, thread, i've read it a couple of times, some info contradicts it self, or at least indicates that different approaches can be made, and without a great understanding of the actual chemistry involved it's pretty much guesswork as to what approach one should take. Personally... I just want a foolproof cell that provides perchlorate if i feed it money. As always, if you make something fool proof, someone instantly makes up a better fool, and you are screwed all over again. So, i have had little luck at that concept. So i've been playing around with KCl to KClO4 systems, but have yet to build "the dream cell", that gets at least close to my initial "wants". Anyway. Don't give up, and do stick around. One of these days Lloyd will feel like your grumpy old uncle. He's not a bad guy, and he actually does know things. For what ever reason he loves to poke fun at people, and can quite easily throw a tantrum if you say something he doesn't like, but as i said. He's that old grumpy uncle you have, who, some days, show that he has a heart of gold inside that scrawny chest. Remember and cherish those days.

 

Speaking of hydrometer, i wouldn't bother with one.Keep notes of running time, and current. Voltage should be fixed, so no need to note that. After a few runs you should be getting a pretty good idea of how long it has to run, and/or when the current drops x amount, it's time to stop the process, chill the solution, and reap the gains of all the efforts. Top it of with water, preferably the water you used to wash the (per)chlorates with, charge it back up with salt, and start over.

  • Like 1
  • 2 months later...
Posted

:) Will buy another 30# bag of kcl in the future, everything is going well. I thought the update might be helpful, my last power supply was pretty crappy got a new one.

 

 

 

I ended up buying this switching power supply, the last one failed due to some small underrated exploded transistors and burnt up SMD components. This new one has more robust components inside, no smd and I epoxy most of it to keep some of the moisture & cl gases out to some extent.

model link eBay ---> A-5-400 5V 400W 80A, actual tested output at least 26A seller name "nytrading" ~$40

 

current setup,smaller bucket with fiberglass insulation, pt, 4x surface Ti, silicon seals that don't really last, thermocouple sensor tube -> thermal power controller just as safety, and CL gas vent tube

 

http://www.pyrobin.com/files/CHLORATE%20CELL%20PICS.zip

 

 

I will switch to a TI-lead electrode whenever the mfg from china decides to make and ship my sample piece. My pt electrode got a bit crispy from overloading it at @ 24A for one run, but its still running at 17A. The new Ti Pb Anode is going to be 8"x11" should be able to take 20A and not get damaged, will make matching 4x area Ti cathode.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

Just a final note on this project...

don't use sodium floride (NaF) additive with lead dioxide titanium substrate anode.

 

If you do, it will cause all the lead to crumble off your anode, I figure it anyone ends up reading this thread, I thought I should update it so it would save someone some time/money.

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