HHO, Hydrogen, and Alt Energy News

Will an HHO Kit Burn Out My Alternator Or Battery?

One of the concerns many newcomers to hho technology have is what kind of a strain an on demand hydrogen kit may put on their car or trucks alternator and battery. You would be surprised it is not as much as you may think!

The Alternator

Most people do not know this, but a standard car alternator is a very efficient electrical generator that creates 24-48 volts AC, in three phase operation. What does all that mean to you? Well, three phase is a special type of winding that is much more efficient than a single phase - it allows a much stronger, cleaner power with less strain on your engine or alternator. Most car batteries only charge at about 13.5 - 14 volts to keep them topped off, so a typical alternator can easily handle 2 - 4 times that.

The important rating on your alternator is the current or "amperage" rating. most modern cars are rated much higher so that all the accessories can be run, like stereos, power amps, TV's, computers, Air Conditioning, etc., so they will normally be equipped with an alternator that powers up to 100-135 amps. But remember- an HHO kit like ours, only needs from 17 to 30 amps on average, so you generally have lots of extra juice to run it.

The rule of thumb ranges from 10 - 20% of your total rating for best results. So if you have a 100 amp alternator, keep the HHO generator adjusted to about 20 amps or so. Some like to upgrade to a high output alternator, which gives them 200-300 amps of power. You get even more efficiency with those because you are using a smaller portion of the power available, and putting less strain on the engine while doing it. But usually, what comes with the car is plenty sufficient, unless it is from 1960's where the alternators only put out 35 amps. Then you definitely need to upgrade!

The Battery

Contrary to some peoples belief, the hho generator kits do NOT operate directly from the alternator. Rather, they are hooked up to the battery. This allows a "chemical buffer" if you will, and keeps the hho kit form putting too much direct strain on the alternator, which only has to keep the battery topped off, not directly drive the hho generator. Believe me- we have tried every configuration over the years and direct to battery is always better.

So dont fret about your electrical system when using a good quality HHO kit like we sell. In 7 years, we have never had a battery burn up, or an alternator go bad as a result of our kits, as long as they are installed and maintained as we recommend.

You can check our hho kits here to see more information on the different sizes we carry: http://www.hhokitsdirect.com/collections/hho-generators

Until later,

Bob