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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Run your car with water


keener
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OK - quick bit of pseudo-science (all I'm capable of):

 

As you probably know water is composed of Hydrogen and Oxygen. A process called electolysis (passing an electrical current through a fluid) can (under the right conditions) separate water molecules into their constituent parts, i.e., Hydrogen and Oxygen.

 

Hydrogen is combustible which basically means that it releases energy when it reacts with Oxygen; the by-product of this reaction (the 'emission' if you like) is water.

 

The basic principle of this idea is that you use some of the electricity generated by you car's alternator to break down water into Hydrogen and Oxygen which can be burnt alongside the petrol (or diesel) in your engine:

 

H20 > HHO > H20

Free energy? Well, of course the answer is "No", I'm afraid. This is another one of those 'perpetual motion' things, i.e., non-existent. The enery required to 'split' the water is more than that given back when the hydrogen and oxygen are 'burnt' and recombine into water.

 

If your alternator was generating a lot more electricity than was required (to charge your battery, ignition, lights, a/c, etc.) then, yes, this might appear to work for you BUT it would actually be more efficient to change your alternator. If it really worked, ask yourself why you couldn't run your car completely on water and get rid of the petrol completely...

 

"There's no such thing as a free lunch"

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If your alternator was generating a lot more electricity than was required (to charge your battery, ignition, lights, a/c, etc.) then, yes, this might appear to work for you BUT it would actually be more efficient to change your alternator. If it really worked, ask yourself why you couldn't run your car completely on water and get rid of the petrol completely...

 

"There's no such thing as a free lunch"

 

Of course it is not free and energy used to split water to H2 and O will be higher then output from burning those 2, that's why those guys are talking about HYBRIDS. They are not getting rid of petrol engine, they just offer instalation which will SUPPORT petrol engine and gives you savings because you will partially run your car on water :p

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Of course it is not free and energy used to split water to H2 and O will be higher then output from burning those 2, that's why those guys are talking about HYBRIDS. They are not getting rid of petrol engine, they just offer instalation which will SUPPORT petrol engine and gives you savings because you will partially run your car on water :p

 

Where's the saving come from though? Obviously not from the money you spend on fitting the kit. More importantly, neither does it come from this so-called hybrid set-up: if you use your alternator to supply the electrical energy to do the electrolysis bit then you're putting an extra load on your alternator, which in turn puts an extra load on your engine (requires it to do more work - ever notice how your idle speed increases slightly when you turn on your a/c?) and you're back to where you started or, in fact, slightly worse off which is the point I was trying to make.

 

Now, if you could generate the electricity for the electrolysis some other way, like regenerative brakes for example, you could be onto something but all this costs big money - not just to buy but design, build and fit in such a way that you're really increasing the thermal efficiency of your engine. That's your true hybrid and is not available for just a few bucks more ... yet!

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Where's the saving come from though? Obviously not from the money you spend on fitting the kit. More importantly, neither does it come from this so-called hybrid set-up: if you use your alternator to supply the electrical energy to do the electrolysis bit then you're putting an extra load on your alternator, which in turn puts an extra load on your engine (requires it to do more work - ever notice how your idle speed increases slightly when you turn on your a/c?) and you're back to where you started or, in fact, slightly worse off which is the point I was trying to make.

 

Well, all existing hybrids work like that - petrol engine goes, charging batteries, when batteries are ok you go on electricity, when you put your foot down, petrol engine is supporting electric one. In this scenario I would say, that petrol engine is supporting alternator, instalation kit is producing H2 and oxygen (which are used to drive car around and to recharge batteries - supporting harder working alternator). I do not know if it is efficient, never seen this kit or use it, without testing it we have to guess I suppose...

Besides you are talking about car standing on idle - it is not a case as you usually drive with at least 2,5k rpms, so even if alternator is working harder it makes difference of let's say 1 litre/100 km. Now all depends, how much oxygen and H2 can kit produce and put in use for a cost of additional 1 litre of fuel/100km.

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so even if alternator is working harder it makes difference of let's say 1 litre/100 km. Now all depends, how much oxygen and H2 can kit produce and put in use for a cost of additional 1 litre of fuel/100km.

 

You see how this perpetual motion concept works? I think we're back to where we started (can't get more out than you put in) ...

 

Hey, it looks like it even works with posts in a thread but you won't catch me like that - I'm butting out here. :)

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You see how this perpetual motion concept works? I think we're back to where we started (can't get more out than you put in) ...

 

Hey, it looks like it even works with posts in a thread but you won't catch me like that - I'm butting out here. :)

 

Ah, but it is NOT perpetual motion machine! It still get energy from fuel engine to get H2 and oxygen! I would say it is impossible to create machine, which will produce oxygen and H2 to power up itself and recharge batteries enough to keep cycle going

And you do not listen! Tell me, how is this one fuel/water concept different from fuel/electricity hybrids? And hey, latter one are already going on the streets! Difference is only that eg. Prius is using electricity to drive around on electric engine and this concept *CAN* use electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen to burn in petrol engine - partially replacing petrol (here's your savings).

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