Zinc Plating Voltage Drop

[motobrox]

I'm using a variable voltage transformer attached to two steel rods clipped above my plating bucket. When I messure the voltage without the anodes in the solution all the readings correspond to the setting. When I put the anodes in the solution the voltage drops from 12v to about 1.5v. I attached a battery charger to the rods as a check and the charge was over the top, but it proved a point. Not really being to au fait with electrics I'm lost. Help please. TIA

[CarWiz]

See Ohms Law:
Ohm's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

With the rods out of the solution, resistance is very high (infinity/Meg-ohms) so amps will be near zero and voltage isn't performing any work. When the rods are submerged in electrolyte, resistance drops and amps go up. What you are seeing in the voltage drop is the pressure, or work, required to maintain the amps. If you move the rods closer together, resistance between the rods drops, amps go up and volts go down. If you move the rods apart, resistance goes up, amps go down and volts go up. Changing any one of the variables changes the others.

When plating, it's necessary to maintain a constant current (amps) over a fixed voltage. As you may have noticed, varying the distance of the item or cathode to the anode(s) in electrolyte will change the current and volts because you are changing the resistance between the anode and cathode.