Ibpointless2 Crystal Cells

[PhiChaser]

Picked up some supplies today at the dollar store and made some 'wood putty' batteries.
Each 'battery' has 4 'cells' so technically each battery is really four batteries... I used weekly pill containers; Each 'day' has four compartments for pills so you get 28 little plastic compartments for a dollar... I cut the edges of an aluminum cup that a tea candle sits in for little strips of Al for one of the conductors. I used little pieces of the pultruded carbon tube for the other one. Pics coming eventually...
I made three mixes with salt sub of different ratios, three of epsom salt of different ratios, one of crushed epsom salt (I swear you can crush a tablespoon into a quarter teaspoon!). That mixture turned out nice and creamy though... Since I was almost out of putty (I knew I should have bought the 32oz size!!) I put together one that was equal parts crushed epsom salt and salt sub both.
Each 'cell' holds about one teaspoon of electrolyte...
Just putting some stuff together... I will be trying to impregnate paper towels sometime this weekend...
Will have to try aspirin as an additive...
Oh, almost forgot!!! Got the scoop on the Elmer's wood putty I'm using, check it out:

                                                                     % by weight
        546-93-0 Magnesium Carbonate (MgCO3)         5-10
       1317-65-3 *Limestone                                     50-70
       1318-59-8 Chlorite (Mineral Class)                     1-5
      13397-26-7 *Calcite (Ca(CO3))                           1-5
      14808-60-7 *Quartz (SiO2)                              0.1-0.99

Hmmmm.... (EDIT: So it is somewhere between 10-30% water maybe?)
PC

[triffid]

Very generic aspirin its put out by A&S Pharmaceutical Corp,480 Barnum ave.,Bridgeport,Ct 06608  1-866-368-2539


I either bought it at family dollar or walmart for only a dollar per bottle.


I took the evening off from the cells,My LED is not lit.


If the cells have too high a resistance to being added in series,Maybe a capacitor and diode network could be made Where each individual cell
is hooked to a capacitor and a blocking diode so that when the capacitor is discharged it goes to recharge a regular battery and not back into the glue power cell.  triffid

[triffid]

Add about ten more hours to the aspirin cell its running at.55 volts.down from a max of .6 volts.I used aluminum pie plate(small) and a red shield brand new (2011) penny(my copper plated zinc disks are brand new pennies).So just call it copper and aluminum that I used.If the aspirin can do its magic for magnesium and copper cells that would be fantasic.triffid




remember I put the whole aspirin in the cell without stirring.Used a pair of pliers to crush it.































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[PhiChaser]

... the cells have too high a resistance to being added in series,Maybe a capacitor and diode network could be made Where each individual cell
is hooked to a capacitor and a blocking diode so that when the capacitor is discharged it goes to recharge a regular battery and not back into the glue power cell.  triffid

@triffid: The drawback to diodes is they eat 0.7v (yeah, that is a scientific term... ) from your line voltage so maybe a transistor or MOS network of some kind that dump into the capacitors?? I still have yet to make a joule theif circuit (sigh...)...
Funny thing happened yesterday, although I'm sure there is an explanation for it: I looped two cells together and took a measurement. Voltage was way down (I'm guessing current up?), not totally unexpected. I will get back to looking at that, the amps part of my VOM is dead so no way to verify amperage at this time...
These battery 'caps' (not capacitors heh...) start around 0.8 volts and discharge semi-quickly to about half a volt. When I tested them hooked together closed series they were reading something like 0.15v. Both of them seemed to be giving this same voltage reading only when I hooked my meter clips to one battery it read positive 0.15v and the other one, hooked up the SAME WAY (black lead to aluminum, red lead to carbon) gave me NEGATIVE -0.15v. 
When I connect the red lead to the aluminum it ALWAYS gives me a negative reading and using the black lead on aluminum always gives positive reading as well. How come it gives a negative reading with the leads reversed with the cells in closed series? Can I get some verification on this? Easy test guys, let me know if you get the same results or why I'm getting these results...
Who can explain this so it makes sense?
My hypothesis is the VOM is getting it's polarity confused; It IS a cheap Greenley DM-20, so I'm leaning that way; OR  there is voltage (current) moving in BOTH directions (AC?!?)... This has implications. Anybody wanna explain?
I will upload some pics over the weekend.
Happy experimenting!
PC

[triffid]

PCI ,sometimes these cells reverse polarity although I have not seen that myself.I searched and found some lecture videos on what is happening here.The vidieos were fuzzy but the audio is crystal clear.I will try to repost them here for you.In the next post I do.triffid