Some electronic knick knacks powered by water.

[spacecowboy]

Around 1.566 volts, the voltage is equal for all intents and purposes to a regular AA battery, however the current they supply is much lower. But its still enough to power things like Ive shown in the video. To increase the power output all one has to do is wire many in series. But on the up side they supply power for many years.

[dieter]

Delivering little current is why they last so long. Add some lemmon juice and they run down quickly. But sometimes it's better to have a low max. current.


Also, water can be controlled, while a drypile (eg. Duluc Drypile) cannot.


I wonder what happens when you use destilled water (PH 4) or demineralized water at PH 7.

[spacecowboy]

Actually I have used distilled water, and about every other kind. The magnesium makes its own ions, so no added electrolyte is needed. As to if I had a choice to buy throw away batteries that supply power to run my wall clocks maybe 6 months, or would I use a water battery that will power it for many many years, Ill choose the water battery. As to adding acids to the water, yeah I know that will increase the current, but at the expense of the electrodes wasting away much faster. Thats why most batteries dont last long, the acids they add destroy the electrodes. When your electrodes are gone so is your power. And of course thats why rechargeable batteries eventually stop working, they dry out, and when your water is gone, also so is your power. Ever notice your rechargeable batteries feel warm or hot, thats because the water is drying out in them, and that increases the drying out process even faster. I still think water batteries have great potential, given a single water battery can power a wall clock, or a joule thief led light, or a motorized rotating stand, and many other things, that of course are low current devices. But one can increase the power output by adding more water batteries in series, as Ive even recharged regular rechargeable AA batteries with water batteries. But just my take on it there, knows opinions vary.

[dieter]

I didn't mean it is bad or something. But what do you mean by magnets create their own ions? Are there magnets involved? Is there a video about construction details?
Edit: Ah, I misread that, nvm.

[spacecowboy]

I said the magnesium makes its own ions, the center bar is pure magnesium, the coil around the bar is pure copper, that is your electrodes, they dont touch, just close, but not to close, thats what a water battery consist of other then water, must have been a misunderstanding. Yeah some of my videos I show the water battery out and apart, I dont recall which ones, you can get the general idea by what I said above, by the way if you use one to power a clock, you must have a capacitor across the terminals of your electrodes, from positive to negative, try different ones till you get one that keeps the clock going. If the clock stops, be it an hour to hours, you have a minor boo boo, try add more copper to the coil, move the coil windings closer or further apart, or move the copper closer or further from the bar. Once it runs a day, you most likely got it right and it will then run for years, assuming you dont have any electrical shorts from erosion. Its not an exact science, there is some kind of resonance going on between the coil and the bar, but thats just my opinion, others may disagree, and once you get that coil right, as I said it will run for years.