Brunton Hydrogen Reactor - 1 week’s worth of smartphone power

Forums › Off topic › Brunton Hydrogen Reactor - 1 week’s worth of smartphone power

Klipspringer

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#136471 28-Nov-2013 12:38

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2013/product/brunton-hydrogen-reactor

Customs may have a problem if I shipped it via my youshop address

A single Hydrogen Reactor cartridge carries a week’s worth of smartphone power—more juice than any other portable source. When a user inserts one of the 3-inch cartridges into the Reactor, a catalyst frees electrons from hydrogen. The freed electrons move into a circuit that delivers power to gadgets over USB. The remaining hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce the process’s only byproduct: water vapor.

STATS

Output: 2 amps
Cartridge capacity: 8,500 mAh
Price: $150 (includes two cartridges)

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#942220 28-Nov-2013 13:04

Possibly illegal to transport by air?
Useful if you are away from a powerpoint for a week, but pretty expensive option otherwise.

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freitasm

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#942228 28-Nov-2013 13:19

I doubt it would be illegal to transport by ai - it only really generates power when the cartridge is inserted.

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andrewNZ

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#942231 28-Nov-2013 13:25

But it comes with the cartridges. You'd have to ask, the cartridges are probably dangerous goods, but it might be below a threshold.

Klipspringer

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#942233 28-Nov-2013 13:26

Anything that is labelled "reactor" or "core" will sure generate a buzz in the customs office

Zeon

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#942235 28-Nov-2013 13:27

When they are transported as long as they aren't in a depressurized state they should be fine. Still kinda dangerous considering they are filled up with Hydrogen. That's what caused the explosions at Fukushima remember

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wasabi2k

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#942236 28-Nov-2013 13:28

Given Hydrogen has a whopping 1 electron, what happens to all those protons and neutrons left over when the electrons are "freed"?

Gadget makers should stay away from non sensical non-science babble.

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Klipspringer

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#942237 28-Nov-2013 13:32

More info here

http://www.snewsnet.com/press-release/brunton-earns-popular-science-best-of-whats-new-award/

andrewNZ

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#942238 28-Nov-2013 13:33

@wasabik. The electrons are pretty big, I think it's 4 per tin. The protons and neutrons stay in the tin, and when you recharge it, it stuffs the freed electrons back in.

Geektastic

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#942263 28-Nov-2013 13:58

Klipspringer: Anything that is labelled "reactor" or "core" will sure generate a buzz in the customs office

Yes - they should have called it a "Power Wizard"!

Just tell the Customs people it works by magic - the science is probably beyond most of them.

wellygary

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#942266 28-Nov-2013 14:03

The big problem is that "hydrocore solid state hydrogen cores" don't grow on trees, although you could probably power your devices on the buzzwords alone for at least 48hr :)

A more interesting tidbit in the portable power field in this part of the world is that the NZ military have certified a methanol based portable fuel cell.

methanol is a lot more widely available and would be my personal choice as a source of electrons for a fuel cell,

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464285913702840

ubergeeknz

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#942273 28-Nov-2013 14:18

wellygary: The big problem is that "hydrocore solid state hydrogen cores" don't grow on trees, although you could probably power your devices on the buzzwords alone for at least 48hr :)

A more interesting tidbit in the portable power field in this part of the world is that the NZ military have certified a methanol based portable fuel cell.

methanol is a lot more widely available and would be my personal choice as a source of electrons for a fuel cell,

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464285913702840

They also sell a hydrolysis unit to let you reload the hydrogen cells.

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Fred99

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#942325 28-Nov-2013 15:05

They don't tell you the voltage, but Wikipedia tells me that a single hydrogen fuel cell generates 0.6- 0.7V at rated full load.
2A max, or 8.5Ah could be really useful at 12v, but if it's 0.7v, I think I'll pass. I suspect that if it did produce a useful voltage, then they'd tell us. About the only thing you could use it for is to test a voltmeter. With three of them, you could get a red LED to glow.

timmmay

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#942329 28-Nov-2013 15:12

Fred99: They don't tell you the voltage, but Wikipedia tells me that a single hydrogen fuel cell generates 0.6- 0.7V at rated full load.
2A max, or 8.5Ah could be really useful at 12v, but if it's 0.7v, I think I'll pass. I suspect that if it did produce a useful voltage, then they'd tell us. About the only thing you could use it for is to test a voltmeter. With three of them, you could get a red LED to glow.

It says "standard USB output", and the USB specificiations will definte the required voltage, I think it's 5V. No-one's going to release a product that just doesn't work, it'll get returned and they'll go bankrupt.

Edit - specs here.

SepticSceptic

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#942424 28-Nov-2013 17:42

The Hydrogen core- " 2 Hydrogen Cores – Each is Capable of 6 iPhone recharges; 5v 2amp output"

Can't quite figure out what the Hydrolizer does - does it recharge the Hydrogen Cores ?

ubergeeknz

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#942425 28-Nov-2013 17:49

SepticSceptic: Can't quite figure out what the Hydrolizer does - does it recharge the Hydrogen Cores ?

Yep.

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