Battery Suggestions

I have had my Red top Optima for 5 years and 2 rigs now. It has been the best battery I have ever had. Most batteries around here last 2-2.5 years. Be fore the Optima I used to buy AC Delco no-maintenence batteries. I don't think they sell them anymore.

Sealed batteries for me are the only way to go. I hate cleaning/replacing battery connectors and if I wouldn't have had a sealed battery last weekend I would have been in trouble (I stood my Jeep on it's rear end for quite a while).

One hint if you get an Optima: if you discharge it (leaving lights on or whatever) slow charge it back to life. They don't like quick charges and I believe (JMO) the quick charge dries them out inside and will kill them.

--James

Look at this:

Bill is right though, until someone comes up with an efficient way to produce hydrogen, it won't be the fuel of choice.

--James

They do have pressure regulators on them and modern kits have a shutoff valve if they detect excess leakage. However, if they leaked after the pressure regulator (e.g. damaged hose) ...

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Loose hydrogen has the good manners to dissipate upwards which will tend to cut the concentration quickly. Petrol tends to settle, making it more dangerous if there is a leak. Granted that it is far easier to see a petrol fire than a hyrdrogen or even alcohol one.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III proclaimed:

I had an lpg carb-backfire once which wasn't nice.

"Why isn't my car running, and what is that strange noise from under the bonnet...?" "Why is the airpan rather hot ?" Grab fire-extinguisher and spray into air pan ... Luckily the nearest one to hand was a CO2 extinguiser not a powder one, so almost no cleaning was required...

LOL, that's cool. I did a thesis on Hydrogren Powered Vehicles, part of involved safety and still another part delt with cost.

At STP Hydrogen is a gas, also Hydrogen is lighter than air at STP. At STP gasoline is a liquid and is heavier than air. To make a reasonable sized fuel cell for a vehicle, the Hydrogen has to be pressurized until it is in liquid state. In liquid state neither gasoline or Hydrogen is flamable.

Thus the picture. Gasoline will creap along the ground in liquid state until it is vaporized and ignites. Hydrogen is not liquid at STP, will not creap, will only ignite at the point of vaporization and the flames will only go up because it is light.

Have a great day,

--James

The great myth of the Hindenberg. Several studies have proved the great fire produced by the Hindenberg were cause by the glue used to make the zepplin. The glue used was extremely flamable and was very unstable. Search for a paper done by Dr. Vorst of UCLA, that's a good start.

--James

Fuel Air bombs do a really good job when vapourised right.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Although hydrogen *can* burn cleaner, it does this in a pure oxygen atmosphere. If you think hydrogen is dangerous, you've never played with oxygen. In real air, the hydrogen burn isn't as pretty since it will cause the nitrogen in the air to form rather nawsty compounds.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III proclaimed:

One of the funniest programmes on recently, pretended to be a "science" program. It included burning various things in oxygen, and culminated in a guy in a cheap nylon shell suit standing on a rubber mat creating a big enough static charge to fire a detonator leading to a caravan full of oxygen with a *very* small amount of fuel inside. Blew the thing apart spectacularly.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ