I used an electrolysis system to de-rust a bunch of Miata suspension parts a few years ago and just used the battery charger I had at the time to supply the power. After a couple of weeks of all day use the charger died. I want to do similar rust removal again and will need to buy something to be the power supply. Both my current chargers are "smart" and won't supply the electrolysis tank. Would any "old fashioned" manual charger do the trick, or would a larger unit from an auto parts store or garage be better? I'd be running the tank all day for 8-10 hours, just swapping in more parts as I remove clean ones, so the duty cycle would be high, but the amperage would be low (I think). Anyone have experience with this ?
Edit: Would something like this be the ticket?.....https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/464499794114099/
You can probably use a smart charger if you hook it to s battery and then use the battery as the power source.
That way the battery will provide the nearly 12v signal the smart charger needs to see to provide current.
A battery might be just as expensive as a power supply though.
What car guy doesn't have a bunch of extra batteries hanging around? I've got at least four :)
I have used the "battery in the loop" method for electro-etching. The nice thing about using a battery and a charger is that you get a battery and a charger out of the deal. Now I use an adjustable power supply that lets me dial in the voltage or amperage I want, but it won't charge a car battery.
In reply to Keith Tanner :.
I have no extra batteries laying around. I get rid of them and have been pretty lucky with most lasting 8-10 years.
I have one on the bench for when I need a quick 12v power supply in the shop (the power supply is in another workspace), a car size AGM in a bag for jumping/running the QJ and a couple of truck batteries that I hang on to just in case. I also have one at work that I use to power up 12v modules so I can program them. Most of these are ones that have been retired from vehicular use but are worth more for this sort of use than turning them in for a $12 core charge.
And heck, with my fleet, an 8-10 year battery life means I'd be replacing 1-1.5 batteries per year on average.
I'm probably mis-remembering this- I think it was in some youtube video about electrolysis somewhere- but isn't consistent DC voltage the best for electrolysis instead of the changing/stepping functions of standard chargers?
Also, how frequently have you cleaned off or replaced your sacrificial electrode?
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
The electrodes get cleaned off pretty routinely and I put lots of them in around the perimeter of the tub.
An old fashioned manual battery charger would work, that monster charger in the Facebook for sale ad is a good choice (and is a pretty good deal for a battery charger, assuming it still works.) You could also just get a DC power supply of the appropriate voltage and amperage, they can be found cheaply on Amazon or eBay. Another method often used is to salvage the power supply from an old personal computer.
In reply to stuart in mn :
The power supply for a computer isn't very big. If that's all it takes I'm sure I saw a 12V power supply for some landscape lighting at the Habitat Restore a few days ago. It was only $5 , I think. I'll have to go fetch it tomorrow and give it a try.
Edit: I took a picture of it and it looks like it's a 150 watt unit. Seems like that's too small, but what do I know.
Sounds like a job for a microwave transformer. You can replace the secondary coil with fewer winds of a heavier cable to get not-dangerous voltage, and higher amperage if you like.
In reply to Curtis :
I don't like, nor do I trust electrons, so I won't be rewinding coils. 
Vigo
MegaDork
11/19/19 4:03 p.m.
I've messed with electrolytic rust removal a bit. The thing about hooking a battery to the circuit is that if your tank is draining the battery faster than you're charging it then you'll damage/kill the battery by leaving it on for a long time. As for a computer power supply, it may have some kind of overcurrent shutdown but if it doesn't it should work. 150 watts at 12 volts is over 10 amps which is plenty, but those numbers are usually a total of all the 12v, 5v, 3.3v lines and not based purely on what you can get out of a 12v line.
I just used a car battery with a <4amp charger on it. It would drain the battery so i couldn't leave it unattended. I ran it when i was in the shop (which is hours at a time) and within a couple of days i was happy with the result.
In a time long ago, in a land far away ( grade 10 science class) we did an electrolysis experiment. A 12 volt transformer wired to a cathode and anode. We did successfully collect O2 and H2. My question is would a transformer from an slot car set work? Or get something newer?
I've been using a pc power supply for a couple years now, and it works great. It has never tripped.
@Deadskunk- if you like I can look and see if I have an extra one. Or you can try mine out.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
In reply to stuart in mn :
The power supply for a computer isn't very big. If that's all it takes I'm sure I saw a 12V power supply for some landscape lighting at the Habitat Restore a few days ago. It was only $5 , I think. I'll have to go fetch it tomorrow and give it a try.
Edit: I took a picture of it and it looks like it's a 150 watt unit. Seems like that's too small, but what do I know.
They come in a variety of sizes, but even a small PC power supply will often have a 12 volt output available that's 5 amps or more, which should be plenty. That landscape lighting power supply you saw is 150 watts / 12 volts = 12.5 amps so it would be better.
