Jack:
Just a question, did you hook the positive and negative lead to the same terminals when you deployed this unit in your car as you did when you ran your tests? I understand from reading Ravi's posts and a few others that the plate conditioning must be done both ways... meaning + on terminal 1 and - on terminal 2.... then switch... back and forth until both + and - plates have been "conditioned" properly.
Another thing... I have noticed that most people that are using "Sodium Hydroxide" are using pure Lye or "Red Devil" drain cleaner. The electrolyte that you used, also contains "Sodium Hypochlorite" which could also be adding to your problems.
I am just constructing my first unit, so I do not have a lot of hands on experience, but these are some things which stick out in my mind from the posted results of other researchers on here.
FlashBang!