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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 12:23 AM
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Hydrolysis!

I've got this red button on my dash which is currently hooked up to my horn, which is dumb. I'm gonna put that wire back to normal but I want to use this red button...

Hydrolysis is basically an electrical system that converts water into hydrogren by use of electricity. I did a quick search on the subject and nothing really came up. Since I've got plenty of room in the engine bay here on my 22re I was thinking I could set up one of these machines. I would run the electricity off the alternator and have the device create some hydrogren and then let the hydrogren flow into the intake somehow.

Some questions, do hydrogren and gasoline burn at diff temperatures? If so, will this create possible detonation/knock/something bad? How rich of a mixture could I get away with? Will I have to tune my ECU to account for this new fuel? And finally, will I see any mileage/hp gains from running a gas/hydrogren mixture?

I kind of had this vision where I would hop on the freeway, hit the switch and let the truck cruise creating its own fuel

Last edited by Jadri; Sep 17, 2008 at 12:32 AM.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 12:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Jadri
I've got this red button on my dash which is currently hooked up to my horn, which is dumb. I'm gonna put that wire back to normal but I want to use this red button...

Hydrolysis is basically an electrical system that converts water into hydrogren by use of electricity. I did a quick search on the subject and nothing really came up. Since I've got plenty of room in the engine bay here on my 22re I was thinking I could set up one of these machines. I would run the electricity off the alternator and have the device create some hydrogren and then let the hydrogren flow into the intake somehow.

Some questions, do hydrogren and gasoline burn at diff temperatures? If so, will this create possible detonation/knock/something bad? How rich of a mixture could I get away with? Will I have to tune my ECU to account for this new fuel? And finally, will I see any mileage/hp gains from running a gas/hydrogren mixture?

I kind of had this vision where I would hop on the freeway, hit the switch and let the truck cruise creating its own fuel
A guy I work with has been making these with his neighbour for the last little while and has been singing their praises.

I can't help but think it sounds a little too good to be true. Not sure of the ins and outs of the build but basically it takes a bit of tweaking to get it all working right. You have to find the balance between how lean you run your fuel to maintain the original performance of the vehicle.

He told me parts cost about $100.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 05:02 AM
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There are at least 2 LOOONG threads discussing it on here.

NOBODY has presented statistically valid data to show any improvement to my knowledge.

The math shows that it probably violates the Laws of Thermodynamics.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 12:39 PM
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If you are talking about the same system we were on the Subaru forum, it's changing the air density / composition, throwing the air testing sensors off, it leans out the mixture to compensate, thus saving you gas. Knock Knock? How long do you think that will last before you scatter you motor?

Quote from another forum.
"The only way to improve fuel efficency is to burn less gas. Wow, what a concept. Lets repeat. Want more MPG? You need to put less gas in the engine. The way you do this is leaning it out. It's the only way. Too much air and not enough hydrocarbons (those wonderfully explosive things that drive the modern world) = a short lived engine."

Last edited by stagger_lee; Sep 19, 2008 at 12:47 PM.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 12:50 PM
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You want to do this just because you have an unused switch on the dash?
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 05:32 PM
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Research I have done says that the supplemental hydrogen makes the burn more efficient, therefore requiring less throttle because you get bigger bang from your fuel. Makes sense if it works. Wanna try it myself. Made a small generator, and drawing 15amps, apply lighter, get loud bang. Might actually work.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 08:44 PM
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And where did you do this research? On one of the sites shilling the kits?
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 08:48 PM
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http://www.searcypress.com/fuelcell/index.html

Check out the "$10 fuel cell video" if you are interested. Its kinda long
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 08:51 PM
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Everyone here DOES understand this violates a fundamental law of physics, right?

Anyone got some REAL before/after data?
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by tc
Everyone here DOES understand this violates a fundamental law of physics, right?

Anyone got some REAL before/after data?
Ok so how does that translate? Are you saying that the power/voltage required from the alternator to run the hydrolysis machine is more than the hp/mileage gains?

If anyone knows their average mileage they could test this really quick. The video says $10 will get you one of these. I wouldn't recomend it offroad..

Last edited by Jadri; Sep 19, 2008 at 08:56 PM.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Jadri
Ok so how does that translate? Are you saying that the power/voltage required from the alternator to run the hydrolysis machine is more than the hp/mileage gains?
Yes. Contrary to popular belief, the alternator does not produce "free" or "extra" power. One of the big tenets of these guys is "use the power you're making anyway!" That would be a generator, an alternator works differently. The regulator applies a voltage that controls how much power is being made. The higher the field voltage, the greater the load on the engine and the more fuel you have to burn to make it.

In terms of efficiency, the combustion process is VERY efficient at turning the chemical energy in the fuel into heat. Unfortunately, the engine is not very efficient at turning that heat into kinetic energy.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:03 PM
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In that video their fuse is rated at 40 amps so the amperage they designed the machine to run at never exceeds 40. What kind of voltage or amperage does an alternator put out? They also said something about 7 watts of power, I forget.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:05 PM
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Originally Posted by tc
Everyone here DOES understand this violates a fundamental law of physics, right?

Anyone got some REAL before/after data?
For real, but I'm not exactly sure which law you're talking about.
For one no machine is even close to 100% efficient, so how do you get the engine to somehow split water atoms and get hydrogen. Yeah, 15 amps, you all realize one of the main problems with hydrogen fuel is that it requires massive amounts of energy to do this?.?. thereby somewhere in the power chain this clean energy is not really so because the fuel was produced with electricity from coal/fossil fuels.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:06 PM
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Alternators usually run about 14V, and in our trucks about 60A max, so that's 840W.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Mic09dcsm
For real, but I'm not exactly sure which law you're talking about.
First Law of Thermodynamics - energy can change form, but cannot be created nor destroyed

Last edited by tc; Sep 19, 2008 at 09:09 PM.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:23 PM
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Originally Posted by tc
Alternators usually run about 14V, and in our trucks about 60A max, so that's 840W.
How did you come up with that? Voltage = resistance x amperage
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:27 PM
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Originally Posted by tc
First Law of Thermodynamics - energy can change form, but cannot be created nor destroyed
I didn't read all the posts, so they thought they could get "free" energy? No such thing, everything has a cost.
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Old Sep 19, 2008 | 09:39 PM
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Ok so with their setup the machine pulls 25A at 12v volts off the alternator. They also claim 8mpg increase on their chevy 1500.. so thats like double

Last edited by Jadri; Sep 19, 2008 at 09:40 PM.
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Old Sep 20, 2008 | 07:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Jadri
How did you come up with that? Voltage = resistance x amperage
Well, what's the resistance? I know the voltage and the current, power = voltage * current.

Originally Posted by Jadri
Ok so with their setup the machine pulls 25A at 12v volts off the alternator. They also claim 8mpg increase on their chevy 1500.. so thats like double
See, here's what pisses me off about this deal - no REAL data. Where did they get 8 MPG? On one tank over another? Was one tank city and one tank highway? One with flat tires? I am open minded about this process, but nobody has shown me data I can use to make a scientific decision. There is considerable variation in normal gas mileage measurements that need to be accounted for. I would like to see (at least) 10 tanks without the system and 10 tanks with it, a variety of driving in both cases, tire pressure kept consistent, no drafting or other cheating.
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