Working Air Battery

[PeteIdl4]

This is what I think is pretty amazing.  I ran the outside mag A most of last winter under load.  It was still working fine this spring but coming apart at all the splices.  I dug up all the underground ribbon and it's the very same ribbon I have been using in all my air battery experiments up until the last two large carbon rod models on my latest YouTube video.

I agree with Jeanna i also think that's truly amazing. On my first plant batteries and earth batteries, i got just about the same results as Jeanna. The mag ribbon would last about a week running about 4 LEDs continuously.

On my first Air Batteries I used an old shirt for the cotton then i moved on to cotton gauze, but still not a true Air Battery as i had to keep it really wet down to get about 20-25ma of power. The magnesium lasted about a week and a half on these before the mag would eventually deteriorate and break somewhere.

As for these new ones I  just built, we'll just have to wait and see but they should last longer since they use a lot less water.

@billmehess,
As Jeanna stated studies on the Air batteries is still incomplete. Although if you were referring to the light, I can tell you as of right now the two Air Batteries will light the fluorescent for about an hour before i have to add another ML of water to each to light it up again.

I have a couple more pictures to share with everyone before I go:
First one is lighting a red LED with no added water, just from moisture in the air. Then I added just one drop of water to the center, and i got enough power to light these three white LEDs.

-Pete

[billmehess]

Hi Pete
Your voltmeter is showing a reading of .57 volts. How are you able to run 3 LED's on this small amount of voltage?
Bill

[lasersaber]

@Pete

It's great to see you making these.  I really think we need to keep sharing our results and trying new things to improve on the design even more.  Thanks for the great pictures.  Great job!

[PeteIdl4]

Hi Pete
Your voltmeter is showing a reading of .57 volts. How are you able to run 3 LED's on this small amount of voltage?
Bill

Hi Bill,
Sorry I probably should've mentioned I have a joule thief glued to the back of those lights.
oops

@Lasersaber,
Thank you and I agree about sharing our results on these batteries to improve designs and efficiency. Thank you for all the contributions you've made as well.

-Pete

[capthook]

lasersaber, thanks for posting/sharing your info - good vids.

Have you checked out aluminum-air batteries?  Similar idea yet most of the aluminum can be recycled/reclaimed from the aluminum-oxide in the electrolyte making for a cheaper and closer to a 'closed' loop.

Rate of magnesium consumption:
I know it's been asked and you probably don't have the answer as of yet, but this is of great importance to determine.

Carbon rod:
what other materials(cheaper) might be used as a replacement?

Electrolyte:
as has been mentioned - water pH levels, salt content, other additives/solutions/concentrations.

Useful amp/hours and $ per amp/hour:
A typical AA battery is rated 2 amp/hours discharging from 1.5V to 0.9V.
The discharge curve is relatively linear in that range, so the average voltage is 1.2V.
The power then, is 1.2V times 2 amp/hour = 2.4 watt/hours.
$0.25/2.4 watt/hours = $.104 watt/hour = $104 kWh for AA battery power

Power from the grid = $.12 kWh

graphite rods: 2x$30 = $60
magnesium 25g: $7 (what is total grams of magnesium used on each?)
total: $67

Say the 2 ran for 1 month (seems a very long time to be able to produce full power):
1.5v x (2 amps x 24hours x 30 days) = 2160 watt/hours
$67/2160 watt/hours = $.03 watt/hour = $31 kWh
BUT - if the *consumable" cost is $7 of magnesium:
$7/2160 = $0.0032 = $3.24 kWh

So: the final cost analysis needs to be determined.

Power Grid =   $0.12 kWh
AA Battery = $104.00 kWh = 866 times more expensive than grid
Air Battery =  $3.24 kWh = 27 times more expensive than grid

Summary of cost:
Considering a magnesium consumption of $7 as the only consumable cost,
the air battery would have to provide full power for -> 27 months or 2.25 years to compete with the cost of grid power using 'arbitrary' efficiency  assumptions.

Some ideas/thoughts/questions/efficacy issues to consider.