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How about some easy to make homemade batteries?

13K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  arleigh 
#1 ·
http://www.arizonaenergy.org/AltEnergyClub/homemade batteries.pdf

Learn how to build a powerful homemade water cell battery right in your own home.
Research has proving that you can build a simple water cell battery, powerful enough
to run a car as well as your home lighting. Although these plans are simple in design,
you can provide yourself with hours of fun as well as doing complex research in this
field. To recharge your battery you simply replinish the water tank with fresh water
and your battery is fully charged again. Many people like to use pure water with just
a touch of Chlorine or rain water.
 
#2 ·
Good stuff! Makes me wonder if you could make a roll of aluminum/cloth/copper/cloth the diameter of a pvc pipe, then add an electrolyte and cap with terminals? I'm not electrical engineer so i don't know if the shape would affect the output, or the lack of separated plates/cells, our if any multitude of other factors would make this a good or bad design.
 
#5 ·
I rely on copper and zinc, placed in an apple (slow, longer lasting) or a lemon (more power, faster corrosion. If currency gets low, I just pull out and stick it somewhere else, using the same fruit. This won't mess up the place, if things get shaky, but there a disadvantage:
It takes some time for the battery to run on full potential while an acid or bleach-solution will work instantly.
Small bits of copper you can find almost everywhere and some bolts/nails are zinc-coated/pure zinc (roofing/building-supply)
The main disadvantage of all batteries of this type is a low current. While adjusting the low-voltage/-current is easy (depending on wiring in row/serial wiring), having something like 15V/1 A out of Apples like a netbook will need, you'd have to stay on an apple farm and do cabeling like some first computers did have ;)
Its usable to keep your house lit or a part of a road marked if you have enough bright-white LEDs, using 3 Apple-Copper-Zinc-Batteries per bright-LED. Others use lower voltage, but they won't brighten up something - even in complete darkness.

In case you'll like to construct bigger, power-batteries: don't forget about gas-emittion! (Depending on sort/strength of Acid/Alkali-Medium used it can be poisonous or explosive) ..while fruit-batteries are safe to use..
 
#7 ·
Rechargeable batteries are quite easy to make with readily available materials. Here's a picture of a rechargeable cell I made in a few minutes time from lead shot, a paper towel, and some alum/distilled water:



In that picture, it is running a 1 watt LED through a joule thief. The joule thief is made of components taken from an old PC power supply.

Here's more information on this project. I plan to develop this more once I get some lead sheet better suited for battery construction.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Another angle to approach this from is reviving dead batteries. Alum is much easier and safer to store than sulphuric acid. I've taken an old mower battery and revived it with an alum solution. Here's my initial findings. It is looking promising so far and costs next to nothing to experiment with. This isn't my idea, I've just been playing around with it to see how well it would work for my purposes.
 
#15 ·
It is best to be patient attempting to mimic some one elses work , some times terms and identifications are misunderstood or miss spelled .
Slopy chemistry will yield sloppy results, so be careful .
I have a few automotive batteries I am about to dismantle and attempt rebuilding just for the education if nothing more .
 
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