Crystal Cell Research for Experimenter

tgraca · November 24, 2014, 05:48:14 PM

Quote from: tgraca on November 24, 2014, 05:44:46 PM
#344 is going up... not sure what this means... interesting...

I have a barometer in my office and noticed something that may be causing this... It has been very dry in my office... less than 15% humidity, but it was warm today and I opened the window... it's showing 21% humidity at the moment, so maybe the cell is drawing humidity from the air... -t

tgraca · November 25, 2014, 03:34:57 AM

Less than 4 days old, #345 died. 608 mV and 372 uA on short. It's interesting that the cell has been shorted out for a couple minutes and is still holding at around 366 uA. When setting back to the mV reading, it grew to 628 mV. I disconnected the JT and the voltage shows 1547 mV. On short, it is showing 418 uA. After 1 minute, it is showing 402 uA. I am debating whether to dissect it or water it... I'll do nothing for now, let it sit a while, and test it again in a few hours.

tgraca · November 25, 2014, 03:37:06 AM

#344 is showing 921 mV. Barometer is showing 20% humidity.

tgraca · November 25, 2014, 04:17:08 AM

Quote from: tgraca on November 25, 2014, 03:34:57 AM
Less than 4 days old, #345 died. 608 mV and 372 uA on short. It's interesting that the cell has been shorted out for a couple minutes and is still holding at around 366 uA. When setting back to the mV reading, it grew to 628 mV. I disconnected the JT and the voltage shows 1547 mV. On short, it is showing 418 uA. After 1 minute, it is showing 402 uA. I am debating whether to dissect it or water it... I'll do nothing for now, let it sit a while, and test it again in a few hours.

After 30+ minutes shorted, the cell is showing 335 uA. When disconnected, it built up to 1.58 volts quickly and settled at around 1.5 volts. I connected it to one of my low powered JT configurations and it lights that one fine. Not bright, but has a steady light and is drawing 180 uA. Under load, and showed 620 mV prior to hooking up the circuit. If anyone is interested, here's the configuration for the extra low powered JT circuit.

http://offthegridsolar.net/Solar/REC_images/JT_Test_Circuit2.png

tgraca · November 25, 2014, 06:12:06 AM

Quote from: tgraca on November 25, 2014, 04:17:08 AM
I connected it to one of my low powered JT configurations and it lights that one fine. Not bright, but has a steady light and is drawing 180 uA.

Just checked it again and it's drawing 171 uA and we still have a steady light. At this rate, it will probably be dead enough to give up on it in about 6 hours...