Battery charger for electrolysis

Chipk

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I’ve been piddling around with electrolysis removal of rust from some of my items. But I’ve had a problem with using my car battery chargers. They are old but still seem to work ok but gradually I’m getting less and less from them when hooked up to my tank. I’ve had to use all 4 of them on one or two medium sized items. Recently I bought a new charger and hooked it up and a solid stream of bubbles came forth. Later it had stopped. Apparently it was a lemon and is going back.

I know I need a manual charger but don’t want to spend too much nor too little.. which ones work for you?
 
Electrolysis

I have not used electrolysis for coins but have used for cleaning machine parts. I have used several battery chargers with success. Have you cleaned/changed your electrodes? Dirty electrodes really slow down the process.
 
first off, you should never use a car charger for electrolysis unless you are talking about something the size of a cannon!

There are so many threads and discussions I would take a while re-write everything. Basics for common finds should be, small 2-wire charger (less than 1 amp!!) , use clean water with a little WASHING SODA (aka borax) for the electrolyte, clean a section of the object to get a solid electrical contact, use scrap iron bits for your cathode, check the item periodically and scrub off the loosened crud. Electrolysis is a "line of site" process, if there is a side not facing towards and opposite charged pole, it wont clean. If you go too long you will destroy details left on your item. NEVER let to anode and cathode touch
 
I have a lot of experience with electrolysis on larger cast iron items. I mainly clean skillets, griddles, etc. I use a battery charger and the key is it can't be in "automatic" mode. Mine has an auto mode and a manual mode. In auto mode it freaks out and thinks it's shorted and won't work.
The other thing I have noticed is that even in manual mode the size of the item cleaned affects the power output. My charger has a 2 amp and a 10 amp setting. I can set it on 10 amps and with a small skillet it will only put out 4-5 amps and if I put in a very large skillet it will put out closer to 20 amps. I've used it to clean small cast iron pieces the size of match box car and it will only put out an amp or 2 even on the 10 amp setting.
 
...use clean water with a little WASHING SODA (aka borax) for the electrolyte...

Washing soda is hydrated sodium carbonate, Na2C03·nH2O.
Borax is hydrated sodium borate, Na2B4O7·nH2O.

Both are used for laundry, among other things, though they are different substances. The carbonate is a lot more alkaline, for example.
 
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Washing soda is hydrated sodium carbonate, Na2C03·nH2O.
Borax is hydrated sodium borate, Na2B4O7·nH2O.

Both are used for laundry, among other things, though they are different substances. The carbonate is a lot more alkaline, for example.

Well, I learned something new. I have always heard borax called washing soda. Guess I will have to be more exact in the future, thank you sir!
 
Be sure to clean your anode!!! It needs to be cleaned periodically to work correctly. Also by yourself a adjustable dc power supply, so you can control output for different size objects.
 
I use a 20 volt laptop charger, I've used a couple different ones. They all seem to work pretty good. I always keep the old AC/DC chargers anyway, so I just picked one out of the box. Works good, less amperage = more time cooking.
 
I've zapped horseshoes in a 4 gallon plastic tub using nothing but a small power supply from an old cordless phone or something like that. Have a drawer full of them. Doesn't go quick but just let it go all night and the following morning it's pretty clean.
 
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