Smack booster running HOT

[Ronzukin]

I am having a problem getting my booster dialed in. It runs good with seemingly good production, but blows the 15 amp fuse I have wired inline fairly quick, the wires get hot also.
My booster is just like Smacks but I only have 7 pairs of plates instead of 8, I couldn't get all the plates I needed. I have soldered ring connectors on the wiring and soldered a fuse holder inline on the positive side, all on 10 gauge wire.
I am hooking it up straight to a battery. I cannot hook it to my charger, it's electronic and must be hooked to a battery to run. I have tried to trick the charger into running to control amps, but it runs a check on the battery every few minutes and cuts off when it doesn't read any voltage.
I have mixed the electrolyte at about 1-1.25 teaspoons of lye to almost a gallon of distilled water.
Any help you guys could give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks...Ron

[wpage]

Check a few items on your design

Here are a few things you could try one at a time to see what works for your design.

Suggest you use a larger fuse size up to 30 amps...

Check your wire gauge it should be over 14 ga. recommend 12 or 10 ga awg...

Dilute your electrolyte with some added distilled water to slow process down...

Any one of these could solve your issue.

W

[Ronzukin]

If I run a 30 amp fuse, the contacts get real hot.
I am using 10 ga. wire for everything.
I will try taking about a 3rd of the solution out and replacing with clean distilled water.
Thanks For help....Ron

[ashtweth]

Smack Gen II now has an extra plat each side (floaters) and shrring wrpa about the bottom for extra insulation.

You only need ONE TEASPOON to start a smack.
you have waaay too much electrolyte in there

[rickoff]

Re: too hot

Hi Ronzukin,

The optimal voltage drop across each pair of plates in a Smack Booster is 1.5 volts. With 7 pairs, you have 1.714 volts, and thus a greater amperage draw per plate than would be desired. The excess goes into producing heat, rather than HHO. So first get those additional plates and reassemble the unit, then fill the unit half way with pre-heated, pure distilled water only. You can heat it to about 120 degrees in a kettle on your stovetop. Pour a little into a small cup, and check the temp with a meat thermometer. Assuming that you saved your previous electrolyte mix during the teardown, and ran it through a couple of paper coffee filters placed in a clean plastic funnel (to remove any contaminants from the previous break-in period) add enough back in to raise the level suitably on your sight tube. If you didn't save your electrolyte, then proceed exactly as shown below, which would be a good method for anyone breaking in a Smack Booster. But if you did save your electrolyte, then do not add more in the manner directed below:

For a good break-in of the booster, it is actually best to start with only pre-heated, distilled water in your booster, and a 10 amp fuse. Then very slowly add 1/4 teaspoon of KOH every 10 to 15 minutes or so, but no more than 1 teaspoon total during the initial stages. Hook your charger to the battery at a trickle rate only. Run the booster for perhaps 2 or 3 hours at a time, with an equal or longer intervening time disconnected while the battery gets a break. As time passes, and the plates become conditioned after a few days, the current draw will increase and may actually blow the 10 amp fuse. Then you will know where you are at. If this hasn't happened after 3 days, and the booster definitely is bubbling up some HHO, add 1/4 additional teaspoon KOH for each additional session, until the 10 amp fuse blows. Don't rush things and be in a hurry to get that 10 amp fuse to blow, because if you continue to add more KOH begore an adequate break-in period then you will end up with well over 20 amps, and you will have to start removing electrolyte. After you slowly reach the 10 amp point, go for 15 in the same manner. The fuse method is fine for an initial break-in period, but once you install the unit in a vehicle, you really need additional protective devices. Wire a 12 volt, 30 amp rated relay by tapping into your oil presuure switch for the ground connection (just splice into it - don't cut the wire), and over to the normally off side of a manual heavy duty switch with light emitting diode, on your dashboard, for the low relay's low power side positive connection. Not much power going through those 2 lines, so 14 or 16 gauge wire will be fine. The hot lead on the switch should be a 10, or 8 gauge (preferred) wire from your battery positive, and the load out positive lead from the switch should be connected first to a 30 amp circuit beaker, then to one of the relay output contacts, and then from the other relay output contact to the booster positive, all with the same 10 or 8 gauge wiring. Test the operation to make sure you have wired it right. With the dashboard switch off, the LED should be off, and the relay will not be activated, thus the booster should not be running. With the dashboard switch on, but the engine not yet running, the ground connection to relay should not be made, and the booster should still not operate. The booster should only operate if the LED on the switch is lit, the engine is running, and the circuit breaker has not been tripped open by a high current surge of 30 amps or more. Note that for purposes other than testing your installation, you should get in the habit of starting the engine before pressing the dashboard switch, and shutting the switch off a few seconds before you shut the engine down. Allowing the engine to run on gas only for 5 to 10 seconds ensures that any small amount of water vapor inside the engine's combustion chambers is burned off and exhausted. And turning the dashboard switch off ensures that the HHO unit can not possibly keep running, even if your oil pressure switch shorts out. If you want to add an ammeter to or below your dashboard, connect the battery positive lead to one side of the ammeter instead of the switch, and run a short 8 or 10 gauge jumper from the other side of the ammeter over to the switch. Then you have it all. You can buy a lighted ammeter on Ebay for about 12 bucks, and it's nice to know the amperage you are actually drawing. A sudden rise above normal would indicate a problem even before the 30 amp circuit breaker is triggered, and you could then manually shut the switch off and investigate. It really pays off to use every possible safety precaution. With that in mind, you might consider adding a safety blow-out device to the top cap of your booster, as seen here: My Smack Booster .jpg - Windows Live SkyDrive For further details on this safety device, see my post #65 in the "HHO For Vehicles Questions" thread, which is a good place to ask any future booster questions that you may have. http://www.energeticforum.com/renewa...html#post22353

Good luck to you, Rickoff