Keith wrote:

Really. Haven't we beaten this to death? Steam distilled will be as good as
you can practically get. If you're really anal, get triple distilled
deionized HPLC grade water from Fisher Scientific or similar. It'll probably
cost $50 a gallon, but hey... it's really pure H2O!


I couldn't afford to run my nuclear water distillery anymore, so I sold
it and with the proceeds bought three AGM batteries.


--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.

On 30 Sep 2003 22:21:31 GMT, (BOEING377) wrote:

Do those so called catalytic battery caps actually work? The are supposed to
use a catalyst recombine outgassing molecules back into H2O which drips back
into the battery cell. I am sceptical.

Too funny. The gas is hydrogen. Wonder how they get it to combine
with oxygen without a hydrogen explosion? Amazing science, isn't it?

Ever see an idiot dropping aspirin into a dead battery?.....(c;

I 'spoze the caps might catch evaporating water....but regular caps do
that....

Thanks for the chuckle.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

Dunno, but they do get good reviews.

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On 30 Sep 2003 22:21:31 GMT, (BOEING377) wrote:

Do those so called catalytic battery caps actually work? The are supposed
to
use a catalyst recombine outgassing molecules back into H2O which drips
back
into the battery cell. I am sceptical.

Too funny. The gas is hydrogen. Wonder how they get it to combine
with oxygen without a hydrogen explosion? Amazing science, isn't it?

Ever see an idiot dropping aspirin into a dead battery?.....(c;

I 'spoze the caps might catch evaporating water....but regular caps do
that....

Thanks for the chuckle.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

They do work and work well. We use them on our floor polishers because
the custodians are bad about checking water levels before putting them
on the charger. These L16s (28 of them) get discharged below 50% every
night and the chargers are heavy duty Triplite 3 stage commercial units.
The maintenance supervisors check the level every month and acording
to their logs only add water occasionally. Before we went to Hydrocaps
he had to check them twice a week.

I believe there is a little strip of platinum in the cap that acts as a
catalyst to recombine the hydrogen with oxygen before it vents.

You do have to remove them before equalizing or they will get
overwhelmed and you have to take care not to get acid up inside them.

Cost wise I believe they were well worth it. We paid right at $600 for
90 of them and our battery replacement costs have been cut in half over
the 3 years we have used them.

BTW, we use Kroger and Publix distilled water. :-)


BOEING377 wrote:
Do those so called catalytic battery caps actually work? The are supposed to
use a catalyst recombine outgassing molecules back into H2O which drips back
into the battery cell. I am sceptical.


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On 30 Sep 2003 22:21:31 GMT, (BOEING377) wrote:

Do those so called catalytic battery caps actually work? The are supposed
to
use a catalyst recombine outgassing molecules back into H2O which drips
back
into the battery cell. I am sceptical.

Too funny. The gas is hydrogen. Wonder how they get it to combine
with oxygen without a hydrogen explosion? Amazing science, isn't it?

Just basic chemistry. Use the right catalyst and you get a controlled
reaction instead of an explosion.

Meindert

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 23:12:54 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

Dunno, but they do get good reviews.

Boat reviews are mostly just sales brochures designed to move
inventory. There aren't many places, like David Pascoe's, that will
just say something really sucks when it really sucks.

I've even seen excellent reviews on Bayliner's crap with the riveted
hatches put on crooked......



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 08:23:48 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:


Just basic chemistry. Use the right catalyst and you get a controlled
reaction instead of an explosion.

Meindert


I'll play along for a while. What catalyst will combine hydrogen and
oxygen without an explosion? I'm sure the submarine navies of the
world will be interested in that product. They spend millions venting
hydrogen from the battery banks in the bilges.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

Does anyone know how this miracle works? How does hydrogen passing
platinum produce water at room temperature? Where does the oxygen
come from? Air vents out of the cell as soon as hydrogen displaces
it, leaving pure hydrogen.

Now let's look at batteries.......

Run down your deep cycle battery to 11 volts. Put the charger on at
10 or 20 A and wait 20 minutes for it to charge a while. Open up the
cells and look inside. Notice it's not "perking" away? Why?

A long time ago, lead plates in lead-acid batteries was supported by a
grid of antimony built into the plates. Lead is too soft to hold
itself up in thin sheets. During charging, the antimony reacted with
the water, splitting up the hydrogen and oxygen and causing the
hydrogen to vent out of the batteries in LARGE amounts, causing an
awful explosion hazard as it had to be vented out of the batteries.
WW2 subs had bad hydrogen problems in their battery compartments and
many died from the explosions.

Modern batteries no long use antimony to support the lead dioxide
plates. The alloys used now react much less and produce almost no
gas. (Notice the maintenance-free battery in your car? Why doesn't
it gas like hell and use lots of water?)

Great information is available on:
http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/00.Glossary/
http://www.flex.com/~kalepa/technotes.htm
http://www.4unique.com/battery/battery_tutorial.htm
http://www.ctts.nrel.gov/BTM/pdfs/evs_17paper.pdf

Most of the outgassing is caused by CHARGING TOO FAST...charging it
faster than it can chemically react. Charge them as slow as you
can.....with the latest pulse technology is nice, too!



On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 23:18:26 -0400, Glenn Ashmore
wrote:

They do work and work well. We use them on our floor polishers because
the custodians are bad about checking water levels before putting them
on the charger. These L16s (28 of them) get discharged below 50% every
night and the chargers are heavy duty Triplite 3 stage commercial units.
The maintenance supervisors check the level every month and acording
to their logs only add water occasionally. Before we went to Hydrocaps
he had to check them twice a week.

I believe there is a little strip of platinum in the cap that acts as a
catalyst to recombine the hydrogen with oxygen before it vents.

You do have to remove them before equalizing or they will get
overwhelmed and you have to take care not to get acid up inside them.

Cost wise I believe they were well worth it. We paid right at $600 for
90 of them and our battery replacement costs have been cut in half over
the 3 years we have used them.

BTW, we use Kroger and Publix distilled water. :-)


BOEING377 wrote:
Do those so called catalytic battery caps actually work? The are supposed to
use a catalyst recombine outgassing molecules back into H2O which drips back
into the battery cell. I am sceptical.


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

Google "hydrogen catalyst" and you'll find links like:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/view.html?get=8740


"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 08:23:48 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:


Just basic chemistry. Use the right catalyst and you get a controlled
reaction instead of an explosion.

Meindert


I'll play along for a while. What catalyst will combine hydrogen and
oxygen without an explosion? I'm sure the submarine navies of the
world will be interested in that product. They spend millions venting
hydrogen from the battery banks in the bilges.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

Doug Dotson wrote:

Dunno, but they do get good reviews.

A company selling devices guaranteed to increase your motorcycle's HP
and mileage set up a demo booth at a major rally and one of the foremost
cruising bike rags paid them several $100 to install a set in a bike
they were testing. Sure enough, they got more apparent power and
measured a 10% increase in mileage and gave the device a stunning
review. Naturally, the company hyped that report to sell 1000s of their
devices.

Meanwhile, performance oriented rags said "BS!", if they worked why
didn't mfgr.s like Honda use them to whup their rivals on the track? One
rag did a before-after dyno test that proved the things actually cut
power and mileage. Miffed, the first rag decided to dupe that test.
Since the devices were already in their bike they did runs with them
first. Then they tried to remove them and guess what - to their
everlasting chagrin the crooks selling them had never installed them and
they were left to explain why an *unchanged* bike had made more power
and used less gas!! At least they were honest enough to admit they'd
been duped - which is more than most will do. I've been leery of reviews
ever since ....