Surprising current through new silver cell

[Crudmudgeon]

I recently upsized my silver cell to a 5L stainless bowl. With 108g silver/L (1M) as silver nitrate, I am getting 10+A of current at 3V after 1hr of running. This seems unbelievably high... I don't recall seeing anyone report such amperage.
Is there any inherent problem for the silver at such high amps? Should I cut back to 2.5V to prevent copper codeposition and protect purity of the plated out crystals?

Thank you

 

[4metals]

Welcome to the forum. 10 Amps at 3 volts seems in the realm of reasonable. If you go to this thread and select small silver cells, you will see a list of threads that have been reviewed and they will help you with your new cell. It is our hope this selection will help by limiting the number of threads that search will generate for common topics like silver cells. So your reading will not be overwhelming but it will be informative.
I like your screen name, I have surely been referred to similarly!

 

[Master Nater]

that does sound extremely high. do you have an electric meter that you might be able to check resistance with? using ohms law and the fact that i usually run my cell around 3.3v and it runs around 3a of current, the resistance should be somewhere around 1 or 1.1ohms. R=V/I

your 10a draw at 3v will be .3333ohms of resistance, which is very low. are you sure there isn't more silver in solution, or some other electrolyte in solution that is causing things to ramp up? perhaps you can move things and mechanically play with your setup and see where the shorting is, or perhaps how to slow things down??? maybe there is liquid or a metal that is shorting the underside of the lid from the basket to the bowl?

 

[Crudmudgeon]

This was after 36hrs. About 1.2kg
I believe the size of my shot, volume of my new basket, and depth of basket submerged in electrolyte all contributed to massive anode surface area exposure and thus high amperage. I had to reduce voltage to 2.5 to maintain amperage under 10.
The large snowflakes are cool and may represent their own marketable product, is there a relationship between voltage, amperage, and grain size? I would have thought super fast growth would have led to fine crystals as with evaporation or freezing of minerals.

 

[Crudmudgeon]

Thread 'Can only get coral like silver crystals' https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/can-only-get-coral-like-silver-crystals.29510/

 

[Master Nater]

that is very GREEN and not blue. but it just might be the picture. what impurities do you have in your shot? not just copper if not blue.

 

[Crudmudgeon]

that is very GREEN and not blue. but it just might be the picture. what impurities do you have in your shot? not just copper if not blue.

XRF indicated copper. Not more than .01% of anything else. It started nice and clear so I'm not sure.

 

[Crudmudgeon]

"You will NEVER grow large crystals in a SS bowl cell set up - the surface area of the cathode (the bowl) is WAY larger then the surface area of the anode"
- Kurtak in the thread above.

I will need to define what I have done accidentally... measurements and such.
This crystal is large (2" x 1" x 1") and not fragile. Weight is 4g
A beautiful accident... 400g of accidents

View attachment 1000042768.jpg

 

[Crudmudgeon]

that does sound extremely high. do you have an electric meter that you might be able to check resistance with? using ohms law and the fact that i usually run my cell around 3.3v and it runs around 3a of current, the resistance should be somewhere around 1 or 1.1ohms. R=V/I

your 10a draw at 3v will be .3333ohms of resistance, which is very low. are you sure there isn't more silver in solution, or some other electrolyte in solution that is causing things to ramp up? perhaps you can move things and mechanically play with your setup and see where the shorting is, or perhaps how to slow things down??? maybe there is liquid or a metal that is shorting the underside of the lid from the basket to the bowl?

Silver in solution: might be slightly more than 108g/l from adding a bit of crystal to eliminate excess nitrate but wouldn't be more the 10g more
Yes- i think the electrochemistry of the cell is the result of physical dimensions of the cell. I think raising my basket to reduce surface area will reduce amperage and grain size.

I don't think condensation was shorting the cell because it started at high amperage right off the bat

 

[adam mizer]

I'm wondering about your high current.
Possibly very thin filter material, allowing a strong path of electrical conductivity.

EDIT ADD: you have not shown the size of your basket, yes possibly raising basket will change current.

 

[Crudmudgeon]

I'm wondering about your high current.
Possibly very thin filter material, allowing a strong path of electrical conductivity.

Doubled up Craftsman vacuum bag... per the trendy "Sreetips" set up. I think my major difference is i used a reusable coffee filter as anode basket and I filled my bowl to a level which wet nearly all of the material in the basket, not just the bottom surface.