Working Air Battery

[stephenafreter]

I wrapped the outside with some masking tape to prevent evaporation.
After around 1 hour my white LED became BLINDING BRIGHT
So I added 2 more LED, and all three are bright, and voltage still good
I am VERY happy ! It's so cheap and easy to build !

[conradelektro]

@ stephenafreter - very nice experiments with silver - and because silver seems to last (being more noble than the other metal used) one could store some silver foil or silver coated wire for many future batteries which is really not expensive, I found some sources easily (in Europe)


My experiments showed the following:

- copper and aluminium works only a short time (two to three hours) when submerged in salt water, it works well and many days in combination with damp paper

- copper and mild steel works only a short time (two to three hours) when submerged in salt water, it works well and many days in combination with damp paper

Stephen reports that silver and magnesium works better when submerged in water. Therefore I want to try (and want to ask all silver foil or silver coated wire owners to try it too):

silver - aluminum  submerged in water

silver - copper  submerged in water

silver - steel  submerged in water

May be our cryptic rock321 has done that already?

To me a little container (e.g. glass jar) with salt water containing silver (which seems to last) and the other metal (aluminum, copper or steel which probably are consumed) looks more practical than damp paper which has to be replenished with water almost daily (according to my experiments). It would also not be so bad having to change the salt water on a monthly basis. It looks like tap water is enough, no additional salt needed.

I like the silver-ideas a lot (silver foil or silver coated wire), specially in case the silver is not lost.

The obvious strategy: one buys silver once (for as many batteries as one envisions) and recycles aluminum, copper and steel (probably found for free in thrown away products) in home made batteries (silver and an other less noble metal submerged in tap water in a little container)

Greetings, Conrad

[Mk1]

@all

I got some great results from using recycled hard drive disc , they are palladium plated aluminum , palladium is one of the noble element and give the same potential carbon has ...

[conradelektro]

@Mk1 - Could you be a bit more specific about your recycled hard disk batteries (palladium coated aluminum)?

- What is the other metal you are using (may be you tried several metals)?

- Do you submerge the two metals in water (or in an other electrolyte) or do you use damp paper?

- Volts and amperage?

Remark: When submerging two different metals in tap water (or salt water) one has to do the experiment for some days (always driving a load like a LED) in order to see whether the effect becomes weak in the long run. Some metal pairs give very good results for some hours but then they stop producing electricity. One has to change the water after a few hours to get it going again (the oxygen in the water seems to be used up over time). In some cases (e.g. aluminum and steel in combination with copper) it helps to use damp paper (instead of submersion in water) because oxygen from the air can participate in the galvanic reaction.

Greetings, Conrad

[Mk1]

@conrad

I don't have all the results yet , i am still waiting to find the proper materiel (the good size) , but i am talking about the platter .

Now the palladium will not tarnish , and is rated at 0v on the galvanic scale.

The remark about the metal working for some time then stopping , some times its the electrolyte that is not a good carrier , some time the metal deterioration shape and chemical content , trying all type of electrolyte mixes when you got to see that alkaline cancels acid electrolyte ...

There is solution to battery electrolyte , yes we may stumble on something great eventually , but i don't think it will be on the chemical side , but more on the easy fabrication , new shapes (coil Ns type) applications .

We are used to start from zero but with battery we start on 90 ...

I will post some pictures of my experiments ...