Quote from: btentzer on January 05, 2008, 08:45:01 PM
I tried using a carpenters pencil, sharpened at both ends as one electrode, and a zinc nail for my other electrode.  The reading was 750 mv.  No ma.  Zero!
Bruce

@Bruce,
I also had zero mA with the carbon zinc pair and around 0.7vdc also. Your results look right on to me.
EDIT: Oops I just re read all my results. I usually get 1.02vdc or 1.08vdc.
jeanna

Hello All,
Well, I have gone back and read all of the patents from:
http://giuli.com/earthbat/

And I do see Carbon, or Copper or Zinc as popular electrodes.  And surface area is for sure, needed.  Pencil only exposed a small amount of carbon to the soil.

Tomorrow I will try copper and zinc and increase the surface area.  My goal is to see some amperage, and not just volts!

Bruce

EDIT:
Very Important patent information about connecting couples (pos/neg electrode) in series.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=OcFuAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=patent:329724&as_drrb_ap=q&as_minm_ap=1&as_miny_ap=2008&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=2008&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2008&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=2008#PPP1,M1

Jeanna:

Excellent!  1.76 vdc. That's up there in my world.  I would bet you also had some mA too.  This arrangement will light your led circuit and charge the cap. I believe.  Great work.  I did not get a chance to work on my new cell today, maybe tomorrow.  I thought I had some copper wire but, when I found it, only like 6" on the spool.  I have had it forever and don't recall where I obtained it from.  Once we start winding coils and and employing other devices known to this group, I believe we will see something.

A side note:  I received a reply to my first earth battery video on youtube last night and it said, helpfully, (ha ha) that with the power I am making, I could "recharge a AA battery in like 1.5 years. Wow!"  Not a very helpful comment. Let's see where we are this summer and what "they" say then.

Bill

Most seems to have grasped the fact this is a battery of sorts not a power supply from planet earth, what you all get differing results is simple, materials and soil composition.

You are basically building a dual supply battery, one is the reasons batteries work in the first place, a current generated by a chemical reaction with the electrons trying to complete the bridge, some of you will have better results during the sunlight hours, this is because of an old school trick, did any of you ever make a solar cell with leaves?? and oohh guess what else??? you guessed it, copper sheet, the greater the plant matter in the soil or organic matter the greater the effect, even better still, you could use a ceramic pot just like the old ceramic batteries found in Egypt made from clay.

The discovery is not new by any stretch, but it's really cool that someone found it by accident, i proves that without question, if an inventor dies without revealling his secrets, someone else eventually will find the same solution.

Direct ground sheet has more surface area than pipe more like the photovoltaic school toys using leaves, however pots work better then the actual ground, whilst current will still travel in a fairly direct line across a puddle of water on the floor to kill you if a live wire is dropped in it, dissipation is always an issue.

If you like battery tech, probably the most interesting market products available under researched as to their use are uncharged batteries using charged electrolyte, you buy an empty flat battery and fill it with a bottle of electrically charged electrolyte, and instant power, aircraft use them already.

Although a liquid moving battery has a whole lot of potential, forget solid battery cases and think fluid for the battery itself and see what new products you can come up with.

OK guys...how viable is this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=y9wktSQdyaE