[HarryA]

Hello all,

I am trying to get hydrogen by electrolysis for a RC blimp project  but I am having no luck. Would someone look at my generator and tell me what I am doing wrong?

see: http://bobbear.org/rcblimp/rcblimp/index.htm

thanks in advance.

[billnotgatez]

@HarryA
I looked at your web page and I am having trouble in my minds eye fully appreciating your electrode set up. I am going to read it again as many times as I have patience for so as to understand what you are doing. Can I assume you made provision for both cathode and anode separated by the solution.

But some side notes - just in case you or others reading this thread might be interested.

During the USA Civil War ballooning hydrogen was created using metal filings and an acid. For instance they used Iron filings and dilute sulfuric acid. I supposed they could have used Zinc and Hydrochloric acid.
In another era they would run steam over Iron to produce hydrogen for the Hindenburg airship.

By the way, it is very easy to get an explosive mixture of air and hydrogen due to the range of the mixture that will support said explosion. I personally know that a airship like structure filled with slightly impure hydrogen mixture that was about 3 to 5 feet long and 2 feet or so in diameter gaving a convincing explosion when a spark was applied.

I wait for your report of success/

[Borek]

Are you using DC or AC?

At 6A you will need an absolute minimum of 2 weeks to fill the blimp. That's assuming no loses and 100% efficiency.

[HarryA]

Thanks.

I just download "The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen" by Teed
I will see how the Brits filled their airships  in 1919.

Also Amazon.com shows " Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought -
Dictionary of Explosives " download that and the NSA would be peeking in your window 

I have a 13.8 v 8 ampere power supply - also a battery charger I could try.

[HarryA]

If you use two bottles connected by copper wire there is activity at the
-cathode but non at the +anode; it is at the copper wire in the anode bottle.

I added two photos to the above link.

[billnotgatez]

I am wondering how well the copper is holding up to your process?

[HarryA]

The copper wire is coated black in the +anode bottle but remains bright in the -cathode bottle.
There is green coloring in the -cathode bottle that precipitates out of the solution overnight.

As there is no physical path between the bottles does that mean that in the cathode bottle the water is being enriched with oxygen and in the anode bottle the water is being enriched with hydrogen? They can not move through the solutions.

[billnotgatez]

As I suspected doing electrolysis using copper electrodes will typically have a reaction between the copper and your solution.
Do you have a web site that suggested the 2 jar method you are using.

[HarryA]

Do you have a web site that suggested the 2 jar method you are using.

No. I was reading in Teed:

If a plate of conducting material was placed between the anode and cathode the cell would
work as before but it would be found that on the side of the plate facing the original cathode
oxygen would be liberated, while on its other side hydrogen would be given off; that is the
plate becomes on one face an anode and on the other face a cathode. The polarisation or
back E.M.F resistance of the cell is doubled. The cell becomes two cells with no electrical
connection to the plate.

So I wanted to see if one needed a path for the hydrogen and oxygen in the solution  to pass between electrodes. That is does the hydrogen at anode pass to the cathode,etc.
 Looks like it does not.

From Teed also: "one ampere-hour will liberate 0.0147 cubic feet of hydrogen."

I am thinking I need a bigger power supply:
"Pro-Grade Ultra-Portable 100-Amp Electric Arc Welder - 110V" for 70$  on Amazon.com
"100 Amp Schottky Rectifier Diodes" for 7.49$ on ebay

That should be good for 30-40 amperes.
 

[billnotgatez]

@HarryA
I looked at your 2 jar setup and can not think of anything like it.
I am having a hard time seeing where it will give the results you want.
Can you give the source to include the page number?

Right now, as best as I can tell, you would be producing Hydrogen and another gas within the same container in the exact concentrations for recombination if a spark were present. If that were true, it is not what you want in your blimp.

Again, I am having trouble, truly being able to comprehend what you are doing from your web page. I think, I would actually have to see your setup in person which is my failing.

[HarryA]

It was only an experiment to answer the question "do you need a
physical path between the electrodes."

I got a pound of Sodium Hydroxide to experiment with.
Pennsylvania does not have a can or bottle return law so there are
plenty of beer cans along the road for aluminum.

They do not keep it (lye) on the shelves you must ask for it.
I asked "why?"
They said "that it gets stolen."
I asked "by little old ladies making soap?"
Nope by people making meth.

[billnotgatez]

So you plan on using aluminum cans and sodium hydroxide to make your hydrogen for your blimp?

You might want to price a bottle of hydrogen from a gas supply company

But, I am the last to dissuade you from experimenting.
And, I love airships
bill