Hydrogen Hybrid Automobiles
of East Texas

Schedule of Meetings and Projects.

Next meeting Saturday July 11 at 9:00 AM at the Spreadbury car barn. Contact below for directions and/or more details.

June 13 Meeting

This meeting had me bring a hastily assembled cell that came apart on me before I could fill it with electrolyte. Lyman Eppley brought a better cell and we ran it connected to the alternator on my AMC Gremlin. Unit performed remarkably well producing substantial amounts of HHO. We filled the cell with very weak electrolyte as Lyman had already partially filled the cell with some strong electrolyte. Don't remember the amps exactly, but think we were drawing under 20 amps seeing great volume of gas pouring out. I neglected to bring the volume measuring device so we didn't get any information on output or efficiency. What was remarkable with the fact that the alternator upgrade to 100 amps on the Gremlin appeared to be money well spent. Even with the unit already installed running at 12-14 amps the alternator pulled the extra amperage of Lyman's unit and still showed 13.5 volts on the volt meter. I was impressed with that.

Our next meeting has been moved to our normal meeting date of July 11. This meeting we plan to attempt to run our 1200 CC test engine on pure HHO from water. I've already done this on the larger engine, 1600 CCs, in my 67 Beetle. The club engine being small, 1200 CCs, should be much easier to run on hydrogen than my larger VW engine, 1600 CCs. As of now our plans are to run an engine entirely on hydrogen produced from water at the July 11 meeting.

May 9 Meeting

At this meeting we discussed club business for the future of the HydroStar project and set into motion goals for the club. Discussion into designing simple easy to install units that any club member could install and utilize to save money on fuel in the meantime while the club researched new ideas and technologies. It was decided that by the end of summer any club member could have a simple yet efficient unit on their vehicle, should they desire, to save money on fuel. Also I committed to researching the best efficiency range per square inch of plate (electrode) at a standard 1/16th gap and 3 neutral plates (4 cells). This way anyone could build a unit for their vehicle and get peak efficiency without guessing. The membership also decided to sell certain parts of the HydroStar on E-Bay that we will never use and no longer need. Money from this sale could be returned to the club treasury for future projects. Relating to club members building units to install on their vehicles, I handed out charts that gave savings in gallons of fuel per 25,000 miles of driving depending on vehicle mileage prior to the increase in mileage. On these charts a person could evaluate how much savings in gallons could be achieved, depending on percent mileage increase on any particular vehicle. I wanted the membership to plan ahead as spending an excess amount of money to increase mileage, especially on vehicles getting good mileage, could take a long time to return the investment while high consumption vehicles would see bigger savings more rapidly. This way anyone can evaluate the cost effectiveness to install any fuel mileage device depending on cost.

Once club business was concluded Lyman Eppley and I requested a volume test on one of the Mason jar units some club members currently employ on their vehicles. Dr. Spreadbury let me connect a volume tester on the Mason jar unit in his Beetle. Once we got the unit operating we could not get enough HHO from the unit to measure within 3 minutes at 1.1 amps. After checking hose connections we decided to disconnect the volume tester and moved it to the Mason jar unit David Kirby brought which was sitting on a table. We increased the strength of the baking soda until the unit was drawing 4 amps We never could not get enough HHO to measure even after passing 5 minutes time. We decided to drop further testing as this clearly was not a design we wanted to incorporate into any further projects. Possibly these units act more as a humidifier to increase mileage instead of being an efficient HHO generator. That being said, even very small amounts of HHO have effects on mileage if not drawing very much current.

After the meeting, about one day, I noticed I had received a message on YouTube relating to one of the HydroStar videos I posted. The sender provided information that the plans we were using on the fabrication of the HydroStar were faulty and there existed better information. The implication was that a properly operating HydroStar would achieve "overunity" and that the designer had worked with Stan Meyer. At this time I'm holding off listing the HydroStar printed circuit board on E-Bay until I get a reply on the possible HydroStar revisions. Lyman Eppley was in the process of checking the contents of the circuit board kit and making a list of parts to be used in the listing on E-Bay should we decide to continue with the sale.

April 11 Meeting

At this meeting members present were treated to some good demonstrations of different hydrogen cells brought by myself and Monty. Monty's cell is a tube cell that was encased in a clear container so performance could be watched. Monty's cell resembles a shorter version of the Stan Meyer cell. At this meeting Monty gave members great information on places to purchase unique fittings that make construction of these units better and easier. He also brought a long lead that could be connected to a running car which seems to be the ideal power source to power these hydrogen generators.

I bought my cell to this meeting to demonstrate the dramatic effect of water circulation provided by the venturi action of my cell. My cell was running at an impressive 1.3 liters per minute gas production (65% efficient Faraday) to show members what is possible from one of these units. One experimental feature of my cell was the utilization of some stainless steel screen material in the neutral plates. No data to show any improvement in efficiency and no way of knowing how well this will hold up to long term use. As my unit ran for several minutes I brought a temperature sensor to show how fast the temperature in the cooling tube also rose showing great water circulation. I had a bubbler connected to the unit to show production. Unbeknownst to me the bubble had a slight leak which didn't show much on my unit due to the dramatic HO production. Later when we connected the HydroStar tubes to the bubbler the production was so low that it could not push enough gas into the bubbler to move the water down. I didn't realize this until I arrived home and began to check out the bubbler. None-the-less I was impressed with the simplicity of my unit's construction and low cost to fabricate. Until we discover something better and more efficient I felt the membership could profit from constructing similar units for immediate use to save money on fuel.

I also laid out my own observations in plate size, number of neutral plates and overall amount of electrode sections affect amperage and efficiency. I feel strongly each unit should be designed for a particular application depending on engine size or whether the engine burns gasoline or diesel. These cells have an area where efficiency peaks at certain amperage and HHO production depending on size and amounts of electrodes. If a unit is too big for a smaller engine, then it loses efficiency as electrolyte is diluted down to lower the amperage. If amperage is too high for an engine depending on size or type, then mileage and efficiency also suffers. If the unit is too small and production is increased by using stronger electrolyte then the unit efficiency also drops affecting performance. I had figures showing how one 12 square inch positive plate and one 12 square inch negative plate perform with 3 neutral plates of the same size. This set up has an area where efficiency peaks, therefore if an engine requires more HO production it should stack these units being careful not to pass the maximum amperage the engine can pull. I tested different configurations utilizing zero, one, three, four and six neutral plates and found at 12 to 14 volts the efficiency best with three neutral plates. I did these tests using stainless plates of approximately 12 square inches and also used the same electrolyte. I did not test the different configurations at different electrolyte strengths or amperage ranges which could affect results. I also did not test whether two sets, for one example, were the same as one set of twice the square inches. I plan to do more research on this later and have better information.

We also studied the HydroStar electrode performance using a clear tube for better observation. More at the HydroStar page.

March 14 Meeting

At this meeting more discussion on the HydroStar as we discuss recent testing with some circuit changes and using higher voltage from batteries and chargers combined. The results have been disappointing thus far and we discussed a plan by Lyman Eppley to build a stand alone circuit for the toroid coil that increases voltage and hopefully magnetism. It was also decided that at this meeting we would meet less often for the club and meet as needed for the officers to update progress on projects in progress. Communication would be by e-mail and phone to keep members apprised of new information.

March 7 Meeting

This meeting was to bench test the HydroStar. Didn't go well as the unit did nothing but sit there. We had this connected to a fully charged battery and Lyman Eppley dialed the pots in every combination imaginable. Later we added a small amount of tap water to the distilled water already in the cell and some electrolysis began to occur, but very little. Also as time went by a lot of brownish slime began to form in the water. Later it was determined this was due to using tap water drawn from the Lufkin public water supply which is chemically softened. As this meeting ended we decided to take this unit, the cell with the tubes, to my house to further test run the cell and condition the electrodes. Eppley decided to change a 15 amp transistor on the circuit board to a 60 or possibly a 75 amp one to see if that affected performance. About mid week Eppley and I were planning to get together to once again make another test run of this unit so we could have better information for the club membership to evaluate on the meeting March 14.

February 28 Meeting

This was a casual meeting where members took inventory of what we need to do a bench test of this unit by the following week. I decided to take the responsibility of sealing the toroid coil and mounting it into the CPVC tube. Once this is accomplished nothing would stop us from doing a bench test to become familiar with the operation and adjustments outlined in the plans. We plan to set up the unit next week utilizing some sort of volume tester to measure gas output. Once we get this operating at peak efficiency we planned to get a base line of operation to compare improvements to in the future.

Next meeting March 7 should be an exciting one as this will be the bench test of the HydroStar. At the next meeting plans will be made to install this unit on our test engine for a first run. Hope to see everyone there!

February 21 Meeting

At this meeting we decided to change the design of the unit to include another threaded end cap for the top which holds the float switch as well as the pressure safety valve. It was decided that if this cap is glued into place as called for in the plans then if something fails, such as the float switch, the the entire unit would be lost including the toroid coil since it could not be disassembled for repair. Using the threaded end cap this unit can be serviced at any time should a part malfunction. We also slightly ground away more material from the ID of the CPVC tube to allow the toroid coil to easily slide into place. We trimmed the float switch so that it could be glued into place on the threaded end cap later and operate properly.

We decided to once again meet Saturday February 28 to see about the assembly of the main body and new design utilizing the threaded end cap. Also here we will make final plans to epoxy seal the toroid coil and install it into the CPVC tube.

February 14 Meeting

This was the meeting to make short term plans to set a time table for the assembly and bench test of this HydroStar Hytronic unit. I expressed a desire to set a goal to bench test this unit by the March club meeting (2nd Saturday). However, the club membership felt that by the March meeting we could have bench testing completed and be ready to run this unit on our test engine, a 1200 CC VW powered air compressor. Most of the membership felt comfortable committing to having the toroid coil ready to mount by the weekend of February 21. Things are moving at a remarkable pace and I was presenting ideas to make the next unit easier to manufacture and stronger. We also decided as a club to build and test our version of the Stan Meyer cell and compare it to the HydroStar Hytronic unit now in our possession. These are totally different concepts and we have no idea which works best. Possibly combine features from both? Lot to do and consider for this very energetic and progressive group, but everyone seems up for the challenge!

January 31 Meeting

I've been busy and didn't list the business of the regular January meeting. This meeting on January 31 was to get updated on progress being made on the construction of the electrodes and the electronics. This was a great meeting with many more in attendance than expected. We evaluated the progress and quality of the electrodes as well as got feedback from the membership on ideas on how to proceed. We decided that by the February 14 meeting we would have most of the components ready to begin to assemble this unit for a bench test. The February 14 meeting promises to be exciting!

December 6 Meeting

The December 6 meeting was a busy one as we went over the revised club By Laws. The By Laws for the Hydrogen Hybrid Automobiles of East Texas were approved by all members present. The the club's business went to the election of officers. Club's officers were nominated and approved by the members present. Club dues were discussed and it was decided the dues would be used only for club expenses and not for club projects without approval by the members. The amount of yearly dues were set and agreed upon by attending member at 60 dollars per year and should be paid prior to January 1, 2008. Funding for club projects would come from the members voluntarily by way of donations. Also discussed more in detail were the definition of club "Charter Members." It was also decided the final Charter Members would be decided by December 31, 2009.

Officers elected were as follows:

President...David Kirby
Vice President...Randy Ellison
Secretary...Arthur Nesmith
Treasurer...Wendall Spreadbury
Technical Advisors....Lyman Eppley,  James MacDonald,  Joe Carranza.

At this meeting was discussed technical problems with the current Hytronics project the club is working on. Some discussion was made on fixing a target date for having this project complete enough to test. Discussion on the construction of the electrodes centered around the possibility of using a hydraulic or manually operated pipe stretcher to increase the diameter of the inner electrode to provide more accurate tolerances in accordance with the instructions. My goal for having these fabricated and ready for use was early January, but I expressed desire to maintain a certain level of quality for adhering to the tolerances outlined in our instructions. Also were discussions on several parts of our instructions that may have some omissions or errors. After these discussions the membership agreed on possible actions to correct problems with the instructions or to find alternatives. Lyman Eppley provided several possible solutions to problems with the electronics and the membership present seemed anxious to pursue these solutions enthusiastically. The meeting ended with the membership discussing the inventory of parts already acquired for this project as well as parts yet to be acquired.

The next meeting was scheduled for January 10 to avoid possible conflicts with the holidays. Meeting was concluded with all present feeling a new level of confidence in the future of the club and current project.

November 15 Meeting

This may have been our most "spirited" meeting to date as we discussed plans for the future of our club including by-laws, dues and goals. Despite the large agenda all attending provided great input as we worked out the details for our club's future and goals. Wendall wrote down ideas on changes to club by-laws that were discussed and at the next meeting we plan to finalize the club by-laws. All should attend this meeting as we need input especially if you happened to miss this meeting or haven't yet read a copy of the original club by-laws draft. Wendall came up with the club name, Hydrogen Hybrid Automobiles of East Texas abbreviated H2!8. We felt this unique and all decided this would be the name of our club. The discussion was more than could easily be put here at this webpage, so please contact me or another member who attended for more details. At the next meeting we plan to more clearly define the roles of members as well as the basic club structure, dues and goals. Please try to attend so we can bring you up to speed.

A large portion of our discussion on club business this Saturday also centered around this club's short term and long term goals. Short term goals were agreed to be the construction of our Hytronics unit and perfecting it in any way we feel necessary. In those short term goals it was agreed that once we have a good design properly working unit we would set out on getting enough units made for all members that desire one of their own. The prototype unit or units this club manufactures would be property of the club and used in a manner agreed by the club membership during the testing phase. The long term goals of this club are yet not clearly defined and will evolve as our club completes the short term goals. This is why attending the meetings is very important so you can participate in the input for the long term goals or our club.

This club project, the Hytronics unit, is moving along great. Lyman and Richard used an oscilloscope to test the electronics that Lyman has assembled. I have taken upon myself to construct the electrodes for this unit. Without further details we can say this project has proceeded to a point where we feel we might be seeing entire sections of this unit assembled or partially assembled by year's end. All agreed that this first unit must be built strictly adhering to the plans and that any experimentation would be discussed for implementation on future projects.

November 15 Meeting

This may have been our most "spirited" meeting to date as we discussed plans for the future of our club including by-laws, dues and goals. Despite the large agenda all attending provided great input as we worked out the details for our club's future and goals. Wendall wrote down ideas on changes to club by-laws that were discussed and at the next meeting we plan to finalize the club by-laws. All should attend this meeting as we need input especially if you happened to miss this meeting or haven't yet read a copy of the original club by-laws draft. Wendall came up with the club name, Hydrogen Hybrid Automobiles of East Texas abbreviated H2!8. We felt this unique and all decided this would be the name of our club. The discussion was more than could easily be put here at this webpage, so please contact me or another member who attended for more details. At the next meeting we plan to more clearly define the roles of members as well as the basic club structure, dues and goals. Please try to attend so we can bring you up to speed.

A large portion of our discussion on club business this Saturday also centered around this club's short term and long term goals. Short term goals were agreed to be the construction of our Hytronics unit and perfecting it in any way we feel necessary. In those short term goals it was agreed that once we have a good design properly working unit we would set out on getting enough units made for all members that desire one of their own. The prototype unit or units this club manufactures would be property of the club and used in a manner agreed by the club membership during the testing phase. The long term goals of this club are yet not clearly defined and will evolve as our club completes the short term goals. This is why attending the meetings is very important so you can participate in the input for the long term goals or our club.

This club project, the Hytronics unit, is moving along great. Lyman and Richard used an oscilloscope to test the electronics that Lyman has assembled. I have taken upon myself to construct the electrodes for this unit. Without further details we can say this project has proceeded to a point where we feel we might be seeing entire sections of this unit assembled or partially assembled by year's end. All agreed that this first unit must be built strictly adhering to the plans and that any experimentation would be discussed for implementation on future projects.

October 18 Meeting

At this meeting the club more clearly defined their goals for the future and member's participation in our current Hytronics fabrication. We have decided to speed up our efforts in order to have a working unit as soon as possible. One of the main hold ups for this project is the procurement of the proper sized electrodes. It was determined that we probably would need to have them machined for us, so we needed to get quotes from different local shops to see what we can get done on this one, but critical, part of the unit. Also we collaborated on the instructions and drawings provided us to clear up some construction details. By the November 15 meeting we were hoping to have a better idea of how much of this unit we can have finished within the next couple of months.

October 4 Meeting

I missed the October 4 meeting, but have been brought up to speed. Our next meeting is October 18 and we are proceeding with our hydrogen generator project. I am going to draw up a diagram to take to machine shops to quote us on machining the tubes for the electrodes so we can keep the proper tolerances outlined in our manual. I believe that once this is done we will only have to gather many odd parts to finish assembly on the main unit. This unit will be able to hold 65 PSI pressure and have water pumped into it from a holding tank, so many components are required such as the water level switch, etc. One thing that we seem to be running short of is money donated for the project to buy the materials. At the next meeting hopefully we will know better how much the electrodes will cost us for completing one unit. It may be possible we may see some savings per unit should we decide to construct more than one unit.

September 6 Meeting

Last meeting on September 6 we discussed our current project which is to build one of the hydrogen projects found from the Internet that seems to show great promise and have many who swear by the results. At this meeting we divided into several groups and delegated parts of the fabrication of this unit with a goal of having a working unit to test within 3 months. There has been a lot of enthusiasm and participation for this project with many participating financially and with labor. Lots of pieces of CPVC and stainless pipe have been donated already for this project as well as many electronic components. This unit is very complex in the electronics, but promises to produce lots of hydrogen/oxygen gas with little heat. Once this unit is finished and tested we will know the extent of its performance.

Our objectives are to separate fact from myth such as do this units actually work? Are they bad for your engine? Seems so many people have constructed some of these units and swear by the performance. Many of our members have either built a simple unit or purchased a unit with positive results which would indicate these are worth the effort.

We invite all who want to participate or have any input to join us at any of the meetings. You can contact us by e-mail by clicking the link above. For spam control don't change the subject line as this is how I screen credible e-mails from others. You can also find more contact information at the Contact Us page.