Successful replication of the Aquion battery technology

[hartiberlin]

Hi All,
Lidmotor also replicated it and verified it here,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azgh6NIFd1U

P.S:
My hands were also pretty dirty, cause I used no gloves and also disassembled an Alkali Manganese D-Cell !

Wash the MnO2 at least 5 to 6 times with water until you get it to PH level 7.

If you remove it and just use it, it still has PH level 12 from all the KOH from the inside of the Zinc container from the
D-cell battery... So you really have to wash it several times to get the PH level down..
Be carefulll there with the centered Zinc container.
It contains highly concentrated KOH !
If you spill this and get it into your eyes, it could blind you ! So wear safety glasses !
You can still make the cell more powerfull if you add lampblack or graphite powder to the paste or to each charcoal rod... ( better uise carbonfiber sheets for the electrodes )
Regards, Stefan.

[hartiberlin]

P.S: YOu can get MnO2 from either an Alkali Manganeseoxide Cell or
from a Zinc-Carbon cell.

Best use D-Cells for it, cause then you get enough of this powder.


But there is a difference between these 2 types of cells !

At the Zinc-Carbon cell the MnO2 sits in the center around the positive pole´s graphite rod
and at the Alkaline Mangnese cell the MnO2 sits at the outer stainless steel casing, more like a donat
shell...

I used an Alkaline Maganese D-cell battery to get my MnO2 and Lidmotor probably used
a Zinc Carbon cell, as he also got the graphite rod from it...

Here is a good overview of the inner structures of both these different cells:

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/batteries/batteries_zn_c.php

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/batteries/batteries_alkaline_mno.php

Hope this helps to extract the MnO2 safely from these batteries and remember to wear
gloves and safety glasses !

Regards, Stefan.

[hartiberlin]

P.S:

To the ones who don´t have carbonfiber sheets and want to quickly replicate these homemade rechargeable cells:

If you disassemble 2 Zinc Carbon D-Cells you will have 2  graphite rods from it and
these 2 graphite rods will be good  for the electrodes...

So to all out there who don´t have charcoal rods like Lidmotor used them, just get 2 Zinc-Carbon D-Cells and you will
have all the stuff you need !

Just add lampblack or graphite powder to the MnO2 mix or around these graphite rods and this will enhance the power density even more !
You can also usefor the electrolyte  Epsom salt or Alum or NaSO4.
not much difference.
Good luck !

Regards, Stefan.

[hartiberlin]

To form the battery do the following;

Charge and discharge them with  a 6 Volts battery or a battery charger put on 6 Volts.
( you can also use a 12 volts battery but this will heat it up much more and might
break the cell early on...)

If you use a multimeter or ampmeter to do it,
charge the cell with about 1.5 Amps and if you shortcircuit it then
it will start with around 150 mA and it will drops down then.

Discharge to around 10 milliAmps shortcircuit current shown on the ampmeter. Not lower...!
Then begin to recharge again.
Do this a few more times.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Stefan.

[hartiberlin]

P.S: 6 Volts Latern batteries also have graphite rods in them which are also bigger than D-Cell graphite rods.

Also you can get pretty nice graphite rods from a painters shop.
There they also have real graphite rods and not just charcoal rods...

Charcoal rods are probably cheaper, but they don´t conduct very well... so graphite rods are prefered,
but better order some carbon fiber sheets from ebay like these ones:

Carbon Fiber Sheet

Regards, Stefan.