I charged the mini-Nate via 1.5V AA alkaline between posts 5 and 6. I did this for about 10 minutes. Seeing some slight bubbling on both copper and iron wires. This is good. Basically I am trying to burn off any exterior wire impurities. I am also trying to establish some electron flow. The alkaline battery took it all in stride as did mini-Nate.

after charge voltage betwen 5 and 6 was 0.676, amperage was 3.00mA after about a minute of small load multimeter inducing. Going back to check volts showed 0.630 and climbing.

i think i will give this a heavier charge and see what happens. 2*AA cells in series.

I am in process on another charging operation. I thought about using 2*AA cells in series but discovered that it was easier to just prop a 9 volt alkaline upside down on my 5 and 6 leads.

Voltage is measuring 7.5 during this operation. Amperage = (maxes out 300mA scale and does not register on the 10A scale. My analog meter at home so I cannot say what issue with Fluke is at the moment.

There is more activity in the form of bubbles on coil wires now. This is a very robust battery because of near indestructible electrode materials (solid wire). My little overcharging operations do not phase it. If anything, the mini-Nate is experiencing a good preconditioning that was much needed because the iron pipe I used had surface rust, the iron wire is of the dark annealed variety which in my mind tells me has been treated with very high heat. Both copper and iron wire also further contaminated by oils from my fingers when I assembled this thing. Hence my desire to burn through all of this crap. When I worked in the battery industry all materials were 100% clean at assembly.

I'll let this go another hour or so and then disconnect the 9v and discharge the Nate back down to its normal voltage which should be near 0.78 (-.44 Fe : +.34 Cu)

I'm thinking that a copper aluminum chemistry may be much better than this one. (-1.67 Al : +.34 Cu should yeild voltages of 2V) aluminum wire not that hard to find and still fits with this style cell construction. Magnesium wire would be even better.

OK charge up #2 over. Voltage 0.87 but this is artificial, let me discharge it a little - allow it to recover from this and see what voltage really recovers to..... mA starts at 25.0 on attachment of meter (again this is artificial)...falling....falling..... still at about 5.5mA after 5 minutes with the multimeter attached. It certainly has more staying power now. OK where is voltage? .739 so not too far off theoretical. After repeated discharge cycles I am holding .740 volts with 4.5mA after a minute of multimeter load. So this is certainly better than what I started with.

It is also about all I am going to get out of this baby. I do not think any more conditioning will help it. That's ok, I am having fun with this crude little copper-iron cell.

I recommend that others with these batteries perform this same preconditioning. If anything, it will show you what true potentials of your batteries are without the negative distortions of electrode surface problems. I would also imagine this could be sped up by use of a weak acid such as vinegar. Since I am doing this all at work in a cubicle, I had no access to vinegar. On a side note, back during my battery career, we used to regularly condition mercuric oxide cadmium batteries that had sat around static for any length of time. In that case oxide films collected on the barriers between the electrodes thus showing crappy cell performance. After a short discharge beating those cells were back to their normal selves.

According to an earlier report by Bill, vinegar will short out the cell.

I also agree that there is a magnetic quality involved with  the NS cell.

You may want to try pulsing the cell in incrementally to see how it interacts with the earth's pulse.

I wonder if the magnetism of the iron wires provide amperage, and the copper carrying the voltage.

Your winding idea along with pmom's cotton sheet contribution is the perfect way to copy the specs of NS.

Great to have you here btw.

Regards...

MW383,
Those are very interesting things you did .
I had a single layer and tested it with each layer added.
To my chagrin the voltsNamps went down with the additional layers.

I think if you actually change something from the patent, please do NOT change the annealed wire.
The good NS coils of mine are all made with that wire. I think because it is soft iron, it can perform.
If you can find a soft core, (rebar, perhaps)  I expect you will get even better results.
Not in the primary, however. I think you are getting what I expect a good version of this will give you.

Bye the way, I found your paper towel method  worked on 6 layers when I used a thin cotton cloth.
I think it is a better method than some (wrapping the wire as you turn it)  because there will never be a short. 
(I would quote the source for the idea, but I forget who suggested it.)

In the end, you want a secondary and I am convinced that you want to stick the thing into the ground so that the coil is about 6-18 inches above the surface.
And you will want some of the wires to stick up into the air, I think.

The pulses originate from the ground. I have been watching them.
It is possible that there is a spark that discharges the coil and causes a collapse, but I have been watching the waves.
(I have also been watching the waves from just 2 probes in the ground.)
They are greatly enhanced from the plain probes in the ground, but on any given day, the frequency is identical however the peak voltage coming off the NS primary coil is much much higher. (Most of my posts with scope pix about this are on the datalogging or bifilar threads)

The earth currents are pulsed dc not steady dc, and this is something we have only begun to explore.

I just ran into the identical problem with my extended joule thief.
I have a given frequency and I am trying to raise the volts.
Adding more turns does not do it. ... but something will.

thank you,

jeanna

What is the latest diagrams or schematic including explanations available so I have something to chew on?

I use to make Earth Capacitors when I was a kid, is that the same? Is this an attempt at re-inventing the battery? the Earth battery has been around for over a hundred years now. telegraphers used them all the time way back when.