Perhaps I PERCEIVED Vance's post where it
stated that I knew all the answers as him stating that I am a
"know it all". Perhaps I was wrong and that was not really what he
meant.
If I perceived an imagined wrong and spoke out
of turn accordingly, then for that I apologize to Vance and this forum
for my misunderstanding. I guess I am so very careful to always strive to be
polite to everyone
that when I perceive (wrongly or not) an insult
to me, I do get a bit sensitive. I will try and work on that and strive to
not be so thin skinned and sensitive in the future.
That being said, on to further design
discussion.
After more thought on the matter and even
though I still believe the hydrolator and hydrocaps (along with
the pressure induced intake of air and outgo of exhaust of the
battery pod/motor pressure equalization system itself) would be sufficient
to preclude any hydrogen problems, I have decided to change one aspect of my design. By making this change it should
increase the safety factor and eliminate any possibility of any motor
sparking causing a hydrogen explosion no matter how remote that possibility
may be.
This change would simply entail installing a
"T" fitting on my scuba regulator replacing the mouthpiece so that the air
from the regulator can go into two seperate hoses. Then INSTEAD of
just pressure equalizing the battery pod and allowing the pod to extend
that equalization to the motor via the
flexible conduit going to the motor steering shaft, I would seperately
pressure equalize the motor and battery pod. Here is exactly what I
mean.
First install the tube onto the scuba regulator
that will replace the mouthpiece. Then attach a "T" fitting to that tube
unless I can find a "T" fitting that will attach directly to the regulator
and in that case omit the tube and just install the "T" fitting directly to
the scuba
regulator. Then from both ends of that "T"
fitting attach air lines. One of which will go to the battery pod and the
other that will go to the motor's hollow steering shaft. Then by sealing
with bondo, silicone, or epoxy both ends of the conduit that carries
the wires from the battery pod to the motor,
I can isolate both systems, which will prevent any however slightly remote
possibility of hydrogen from ingressing into the motor housing. But there is
one more thing I would have to do as well to make SURE the conduit would not
transmit hydrogen from the battery pod to the
motor. Since air or hydrogen can actually seep thru the open ends of the
insulation of the wires and between the strands of insulated wires
themselves, I would have to do more than just seal both ends of the wire
conduit.
That would not be enough because the air/hydrogen could just seep thru the wire's
open ends and then thru the insulation even though the ends of the wire
conduit would be sealed. So to insure total air tight integrity I will have
to epoxy the wire ends themselves so that where the strands of wire in the
battery pod exit the insulation, the epoxy
covers and seals the strands and insulation leaving only the round
connectors not epoxied at the ends of the wires. That way the conduit
between battery pod and motor is now sealed at both ends with epoxy and the
ends of each wire are also sealed against any
air/hydrogen seeping thru the wires themselves.
Although it might not be necessary to do all
this with the hydrolators and hydrocaps taking care of the hydrogen, it
still seems a good idea and potentially safer way to go since with this
method it insures (no matter how small the possibility) that
hydrogen could not enter the motor and and
possibly ignite due to motor sparks.
Both the battery pod and the motor will still
be pressure compensated against the outside water pressure by the use of
just one scuba regulator. Just with seperate air hoses.
I am going to constuct a tray that will hold my
4 batteries in the pod. This tray will slide out as a unit and allow access
to the batteries by unscrewing my pvc pod endcap when needed to check the
hydrocaps and hydrolators and also to check the acid and water
level
within the batteries..
But to avoid disturbing the large O ring seal
on the endcap every time I recharge, I will install a forced air system in
the pod that wil allow me to vent hydrogen out of the pod when charging the
batteries. I will only have to install one fitting because the other end
of
this forced air system will be the open end of
another tube that will contain the wires to go to the charger that I
describe immediately below.
Also I will install a short pvc tube into the
battery pod that will have a screw on waterproof cap with an O ring seal.
This tube will contain the wire ends that I will attach my charger to so I
will not have to remove the batteries every time to recharge
them.
In addition to all this I will have absorbant
diapers in the bottom of the battery pod just as a precaution to help
soak up any small amounts of water in the bottom of the pod that may
accumulate from the hydrolators dripping any water into the bottom of the
pod.
And the final component will be a leak
detector installed about one third of the way up the side of one
of the batteries so it will not give me a false reading that it might
if I installed in on the bottom where it might contact any wetness on the
absorbant diapers
that might be caused by small amounts of water
dripping from the action of the hydrolators.
After much research, personal thought and
taking into account other helpful member's advice from both this forum and
many other sites and forums, I believe this will be a safe and efficient
system for a battery pod and air pressure equalization system.
Does anyone have any comments?.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.