Large Salt water battery ideas and questions

[profitis]

i forgot,welding suppliers sell large carbon arc-rods by the dozen..

[Mungo]

oooOOoooh I had forgotten about welding rods.  Thanks...also arclight rods are probably still available.

[conradelektro]

I did many experiments with salt water batteries.

Copper, aluminium, steel and carbon just do not give enough power to make it worth while. The reaction also stops pretty soon due to deposits on the surface of the metals.

Magnesium works better, but is expensive and kind of dangerous in larger quantities (fire hazard, toxic reactions). Also, a magnesium salt water battery (with carbon as the other pole) does in no way compare to a standard 12 V battery, it just can not come near it regarding the power output.

There is a reason why salt water batteries are not used, they do not work well.

The best option on a boat:

Fife to ten 100 Ah 12 V batteries charged by solar cells and a small wind generator. That really works.

http://www.emarineinc.com/pages/Wind-Generator-vs-Solar-Panels-Which-is-Better-For-Your-Boat.html

Greetings, Conrad

[profitis]

@conrad,there is no reason why a saltbat wont be practical if its done using right materials.just gota test on smal-scale until you get it right.if its porous carbon then it will function as an air electrode and pull more power.aluminum responds well to chloride ion activity.

[Poit]

What you want is a bank of Nickel-iron batteries... will live longer than you!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery