O.K... Trying this electrolysis thingy...

[Micro469]

I took my buckey, fileed with water and washing soda, clamped a steel rod on the side, clamped another steel rod on the rusty pan and attatched my 10 amp battery carger to the rods... POS on side NEG on pan. Turned it on.... nothing happened. Got out my meter... no power on leads. Thought for a while.. why doesn't this work? Got my battery, and connected the leads to the battery, and the charger worked. Connected the leads to the rods... it didn't work. So now I have my charger connected to the battery, and my battery connected to the rods, and I got a little bit of reaction going on. But only on the side closest to the POS rod. What have I done wrong? I shouln't need the battery in between.... do I have the wrong type charger?

What is the right type of charger do I need????



If you read this, you are allowed to reply......

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

John,
What is a Buckey? Is it a non conductive container like plastic???
I use a big plastic container.
I take a c-clamp and attach it to the black pot, submerge black pot into the water with part of the c-clamp above the surface to attach the negative lead of my charger.
Then I hang a piece of scrap steel into the water and postion it so it faces the black pot, but touches nothing except water. I then attach the postive lead of my charger to the piece of scrap steel. (The part that sticks above the surface... Don't want to mess up my leads)
When I plug the charger in there is an imediate reaction, especially if I stick my finger in the water.
Stainless steel works the best for the sacrificail steel, but do note... Using stainless steel in this manor will produce hydofloric acid fumes, so use in a well ventilated area.
The process works well, but having a friend like Kevin, who has access to a GLASS bead blast cabinet works better.

[Steve_Cox]

My Wal-mart (cheap) automatic battery charger won't start working without a battery attached to it. My neighbor brought over a battery to charge that had been drained to 0 volts, and the charger wouldn't start up. I thought something was wrong with the charger and got the jumper cables out to charge his battery from my truck. After a quick jump start the charger, still attached to the battery came on and charged OK.

[Micro469]

My Wal-mart (cheap) automatic battery charger won't start working without a battery attached to it. My neighbor brought over a battery to charge that had been drained to 0 volts, and the charger wouldn't start up. I thought something was wrong with the charger and got the jumper cables out to charge his battery from my truck. After a quick jump start the charger, still attached to the battery came on and charged OK.

Maybe some chargers have a built in saftey feature....if they don't sense any resistance or something, they don't start charging.

[MrgrumpyNJ]

I have found that the newer (digital) type chargers do not work as well or at all when I use this method for
cleaning cast iron. I have had them do anything from throw and error code when hooked up to turning off and on
every 2 min, but connect them to a battery they work just fine. I hav found the older (non digital) type work better.

I have done about a dozen pieces so far and think this is one of the best ways to clean your CI

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Well I'll be... Guess I'll hang on to my old charger and just replace the frayed cords instead of buying a new one.

[eamarquardt]

I bought a new "electronic" battery charger that uses hi frequency stuff to desuphate batteries, can float them, and all sorts of cool stuff the old fashioned kind can't do.

BUT, when you connect it to a "dead" battery the indicator lights tell you you have a reversed connection and nothing happens. After discussing it with the factory they realized what was happening and that the charger won't start on a battery less than 5 volts (for protection reasons) and when connected to a battery of less than 5 volts gives the false reverse connection light combination.

There you have it, the world according to Gus.

Cheers,

Gus

[Steve_Cox]

I knew I kept my 30 year old Dayton charger for a reason, it'll even charge 6 volt batteries.

[Will Smith]

Not saying this is safe or anything, but could you put a battery in the circuit -either parallel or in series?