Converting the car to run on HHO
Welcome to the second episode of me trying to convert my car to run on water. I know it has been a long time since the first episode, but we have encountered some obstacles, the biggest one being that my team-mate and I don’t have as much time to work on the project as we would like. So rather than knocking it out in a few weeks, like so people do, we spend a few hours every month or so. But hey, I got patience, I can wait. And now that gas prices are so much lower, I am in no rush at all. 
As I mentioned in the first post about converting my car, we are basically creating a hydrogen fuel cell that converts water to HHO gas in real time to supplement the gasoline engine in my 2000 Ford Focus.
Our advances towards converting the car
In our last couple meetings we have successfully…
- Installed the Fuel Cell into the car
- Built and successfully tested the pulse width modulator
- Installed the pulse with modulator (that is the black box you see below) in the car
- Ran wiring between all the components in the car
- Tested the fuel cell’s ability to produce hydrogen via the car battery
- Tested all pieces working together
- Performed a road test to see how gas mileage was affected by the fuel cell
The last meeting involved installing a safety mechanism and verifying that the car was burning the created hydrogen. We installed the safety device, which made me feel a lot better and we confirmed that the car was actually burning the hydrogen as a supplement to the gasoline. Next was the road test…
The road test
Well, the first road test was quite a disappointment. I would call it laughable. It really is so feel free to join me in laughing about it.
We picked a 20 mile loop starting from a gas station with very few stoplights and almost all highway. We wanted to calculate the MPG’s as accurately as possible so I drove exactly the same speed for each loop. The first loop the fuel cell was off and after calculating the gas mileage we ended up getting 37.8 miles per gallon. The laughable part is that on the second loop, while our device was running, we got 31.6 miles per gallon!
We have successfully created a device to dramatically reduce fuel efficiency! Einstein would be proud!
What is next for the water powered car?
Well, just like any good cliff-hanger I didn’t write this episode to concede and wave a white flag. I am a firm believer that every failure is just a step to reach the next success. So, needless to say, we are going to continue working to convert the car to run on HHO gas. We have a couple theories as to why we got such dismal results. So anyway, I will keep you updated as we continue our progress!
Related posts:
- Converting my car to a water-powered hybrid (Part 1)
- My video-contest entry
- What to do with old cell phones?
- Chevy Volt – the electric car
- Drive slow = Save gas
- The best time to purchase gas
- How to make natural toothpaste
- Get FREE long-distance calls through the internet
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Bob,
Good luck with the conversion! I find it really interesting.
I did a lot of research into biodiesel not too long ago and find alternative energy sources very intriguing. I’m sure you’ll figure out what’s going on. It could easily be the programming of the car that’s controlling the fuel/air ratio. I think you can reprogram it/tweak it with the right tools (something that hooks into your car’s computer system).
Sorry to hear your first trial was a failure. I think this idea is probably impossible, but I’d love to be wrong.
Oh Matt, I am going to prove you wrong baby! I hope
It’s highly possible, Matt. Just do a little googling, and you’ll find that there are a bunch of people around the world doing it with fantastic results. The trick is…you just have to do it right! Trial and error!
Don’t give up! I’m rooting for you guys, Bob.
Hey, kudos on trying to mod your vehicle. I have some plans to try something similar.
http://www.eagle-research.com/
This link is another good site, albeit cheesy design, that has research about car fuel efficiency modifications. They sell both books and complete kits.
One thing, which you may already know, is that if you are tinkering with the fuel/air mixture you will be fighting against your cars computer. You will need a device on your O2 sensor to fool the computer into performing correctly. You can buy and/or make such a device, but it will be necessary at some point.
I love hearing about this type of technology. With the advent of the hybrid vehicle, much like with open source coding, there will be an advent of people making add-on’s and modifications to the hybrid to improve it. THAT will be the catalyst to improved fuel consumption. So, kudos to you for pushing on with the technology and keep us posted. My hat is off to you!
Not saying you can’t run car on water, 99% of people out there did it the wrong way to produce powerful hydrogen gas. You don’t want to add any salt, Baking Soda, Vinegar, POH, etc.. You generate other poisonous gasses, not good for you and your car. It will leak into the driver/passenger compartment.
One more thing, and the most important thing is, 90% car out there consume 60% – 80% more fuel than they should. If you can eliminate that first, then you will see a big move on your hydrogen gas.
At Optimum Fuel Systems, we are able to produce pure hydrogen with so little power, less than 4 amps total power consumption to produce 5-6 LPM of H4O.
Is there some resource online that explains the theory behind this? Preferably something with actual numbers.
I’m not a chemist, so I’m not technically qualified to evaluate this project; but speaking as an electrical engineer, the whole thing sounds like crap
I hope I’m wrong, and I wish you luck.