This is Engineering at its finest. A Battery that would compete today
http://www.lizardfire.com/hydroxy/The_Edison_Alkaline_Storage_Battery.pdf
I actually owned some of these cells years ago . You never seem to hear of them now . They were a nickle - iron battery , and most people confuse them with Ni-cad batteries . They were brilliant at standing up to neglect and abuse , but expensive . Also I seem to remember they were bulkier than lead acid cells of the same capacity . I think you could buy them second hand , possibly ex government . For reasons I never knew , they were sometimes used as starter batteries on milk tanker trucks . It was said they would last 10 years , and then with new electrolyte , be as good as new . The link above gives details of their construction for DIY fans , at least in a crude form . I think the electrolyte ,referred to as potash , was potassium hydroxide , which can be bought , or made from wood ash . It is a strong alkali , so take necessary precautions against contact with skin /eyes .
Thats one hell of a battery. I dont think anyone would make those for mass production in modern times. Modern times ='s Suuuuucky batteries.
@all
While the manufacturing techniques used in making these
Edison batteries were impressive I bet the cost were quite
high. I would imagine too eventually they would have plain
rusted out. I imagine that the grid arrays of acid/lead batteries
where simply cast out refractory lead/antimony metal. With sort
of bulk material process control. Of course, large scale lead metal
processing is a heavy metal pollution curse in modern industrial
societies, Until the recent past I'll bet society may have been
better off embracing Edison cells due to that factor alone.
:S:MarkSCoffman
Quote from: Doug1 on January 25, 2011, 08:07:37 PM
Thats one hell of a battery. I dont think anyone would make those for mass production in modern times. Modern times ='s Suuuuucky batteries.
I don't know about mass quantities, but they do sell nickel iron batteries, but they are quite expensive.
http://www.beutilityfree.com/Electric/Ni-Fe
Just a little bit $$$. It would be a good investment for a young person. I would need 100k worth of them.
Deep cycle discharge acid/lead energy batteries are not the same
as auto batteries.
I had never heard of these. Surely they could be replicated by us a lot cheaper don't you think? Maybe starting on a small scale? Great information.
Bill
Quote from: Pirate88179 on January 26, 2011, 09:59:39 PM
I had never heard of these. Surely they could be replicated by us a lot cheaper don't you think? Maybe starting on a small scale? Great information.
Bill
hey bill, i thought you might find this interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84PywMwjZg
they work well.
Quote from: WilbyInebriated on January 26, 2011, 10:03:11 PM
hey bill, i thought you might find this interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84PywMwjZg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84PywMwjZg)
they work well.
Wilby:
Thanks man! When I get some money, I want to make one of these. With a good JT circuit, man we could light leds almost forever if it was recharged with a solar cell...like a permanent camping light. I saved the video to my favorites....thanks again.
Bill
Quote from: Pirate88179 on January 26, 2011, 10:12:13 PM
Wilby:
Thanks man! When I get some money, I want to make one of these. With a good JT circuit, man we could light leds almost forever if it was recharged with a solar cell...like a permanent camping light. I saved the video to my favorites....thanks again.
Bill
no problem bill. and yes you can. ;)
i remembered something from an old popular science my dad had (he had a huge collection, i used to sit and read them for hours) that you might find useful too...
http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=zCgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=276
props to popular science for making their 138 year archive available for free browsing.