RC K9 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 OK, so my brother that got injured in Iraq was talking to me the other day about this redneck contraption/DIY hydrogen fuel cell he has seen videos of. Talking about how we should to it to a car, and this and that and the other. You have to know my brother, but he, to put it nicely, marches to the beat of a completely different drummer, (even before his injury). Now I have seen DIY hydrogen separators before, but nothing that was supposed to be installed on a vehicle. So I start poking around on youtube because I told him I would look it up, and I come across this epicness. Now, I am NOT going to be putting this on my DSM as he so kindly suggested we try, and it's not going on either one of my other vehicles for that matter either. That being said, I wanted to see if anyone on here has ever played around with this type of thing for fun experimental purposes, and if so, what gains/losses were seen. I would be willing to play around with something like this on a POS turd of a car I paid $100 for, but not anything I rely on. Thoughts on this hillbilly innovation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaddyBuiltRacing Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 My dad made one of these about 6 years ago. I will talk to him tonight and get a list of what all he used. He had it on an 89 CRX that he used as a work vehicle, claimed it got better gas mileage with it, in the area of 10mpg advantage. The best part about him using one was the fact we was doing work at the Springfield ANG, had to have our vehicle inspected everytime we went to enter the gates. Not once did they say anything about the contraption that resembled a bomb haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC K9 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 This guy used pickle jars, ha ha. Had me cracking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaddyBuiltRacing Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 My dad's wasn't as rigged looking as this one, wish I had pics of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewtoys Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Rolling bomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson1647545504 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC K9 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 I had heard about that years ago, and wondered why it was never put into production. I Was it the petroleum industry that has kept this from mass production, safety, or inefficiency? I would venture to guess it's the same reason the EV-1 got smashed back in the 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffro Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Holy shit. Why isnt this a thing? 22 gallons of WATER to go from NY to CA. From the sounds of it, oil companies have bought out all the patents making it pretty much illegal to mass produce anything that might come close a car running on water. A billion dollar offer in 1985 is pretty serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC K9 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Holy shit. Why isnt this a thing? 22 gallons of WATER to go from NY to CA. From the sounds of it, oil companies have bought out all the patents making it pretty much illegal to mass produce anything that might come close a car running on water. A billion dollar offer in 1985 is pretty serious. I would have taken the billion and ran. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 I would be willing to play around with something like this on a POS turd of a car I paid $100 for, but not anything I rely on. Good news! I'm going to save you a bunch of time. It doesn't work. First of all, a hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen to make electricity, which would then power an electric motor (like, say, the Honda FCX). What you're describing is using electricity to make hydrogen from water, and then burning that hydrogen. Due to the laws of thermodynamics, you're never going to get more power out of that process than you put in via extra strain on your alternator, so you'll never increase your MPG that way. Some claim that the hydrogen somehow improves efficiency, but combustion efficiency on any modern car (last 30 years or so) is sufficiently high that we can discredit this idea without thinking too hard about it. And, even on older, carbureted cars, this still didn't work. Here's some thoughts from the editor of popular mechanics about this myth that just won't die. Holy shit. Why isnt this a thing? 22 gallons of WATER to go from NY to CA. It's not a thing because it's bogus. Think of all the things that automakers are doing to get tiny improvements in efficiency -- electric engine accessories like power steering, low rolling resistance tires, expensive hybrid systems, moveable aerodynamics, complex cylinder coatings, variable everything in the cylinder head, small turbochargers.... there's no magic here. From the sounds of it, oil companies have bought out all the patents making it pretty much illegal to mass produce anything that might come close a car running on water. A billion dollar offer in 1985 is pretty serious. I have a bridge to sell you.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coltboostin Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 . Due to the laws of thermodynamics, you're never going to get more power out of that process than you put in . So, are you saying it takes more energy to build a hydrogen bomb, than the energy released at its detonation? Just and example as food for thought. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limitedslip7 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Not this shit again... It's not found on your car because of the 1st law of thermodynamics. The same reason there isn't a giant windmill on the back of your car generating electricity. It only works in the realm of troll physics... NVM... you guys beat me to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 So, are you saying it takes more energy to build a hydrogen bomb, than the energy released at its detonation? Just and example as food for thought. Well, comparing chemical reactions to nuclear reactions is silly, but there's two points here. One, these hydrogen generators start with water, split it into hydrogen/oxygen, burn it to get some energy (which is just recombining the hydrogen and oxygen), and then you end up with what you started with, water in the tailpipe. If you started with a nuclear bomb, blew up a bunch of shit, and then still had a nuclear bomb, we could talk. Two, it absolutely takes more energy to build a nuclear bomb than the energy released at detonation. It's just that that energy was stored inside of stars billions of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Not this shit again... It's not found on your car because of the 1st law of thermodynamics. The same reason there isn't a giant windmill on the back of your car generating electricity. It only works in the realm of troll physics... NVM... you guys beat me to it Yeah, and that's the thing... these people aren't thinking big enough. You could put a water condenser on the exhaust and run a hose from the condenser to the water jar under the hood. You'd never have to refill it! 22 gallons to go cross country? Bogus, you'd need less than 1, and then you'd still have a gallon when you got there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboTank Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 if you get it to work, and get invited to dinner at cracker barrel in grove city by a couple business guys....dont go lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 There are as many useful applications for this system as there are sexy singles in ANONYMOUS PROXY waiting to meet you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffro Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 I feel mentally and emotionally violated. I want a refund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 It would only be economical if you created hydrogen gas off the electric grid and stored it. But that makes a bomb, don't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 It would only be economical if you created hydrogen gas off the electric grid and stored it. But that makes a bomb, don't do that. If you're doing that, it'd be cheaper to just use natural gas. You'd probably want to compress it to save space, though. Then you could call it a compressed natural gas vehicle, maybe even an CNG vehicle for short. I wonder why nobody's done this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 If you're doing that, it'd be cheaper to just use natural gas. You'd probably want to compress it to save space, though. Then you could call it a compressed natural gas vehicle, maybe even an CNG vehicle for short. I wonder why nobody's done this. http://www.lindsayhonda.com/cng-honda-civic-.aspx pretty sure it was 2012 only. I've met a few people with CNG conversions on their F-150. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mensan Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 If you're doing that, it'd be cheaper to just use natural gas. You'd probably want to compress it to save space, though. Then you could call it a compressed natural gas vehicle, maybe even an CNG vehicle for short. I wonder why nobody's done this. It would be cleaner and more economical to burn hydrogen in vehicles extracting the hydrogen from natural gas, compressing the hydrogen into liquid form. Just because people aren't doing something now, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 It would be cleaner and more economical to burn hydrogen in vehicles extracting the hydrogen from natural gas, compressing the hydrogen into liquid form. Just because people aren't doing something now, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Hmm, great idea! I don't think there's much that's not being done right now. I'm not saying there couldn't be some breakthrough in fuel efficiency by some guy in his garage with some pickle jars, but at this point, with the millions of dollars being thrown at R&D, it seems unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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