EER Joule Thief using an earth battery to start a joule thief.

[jeanna]

I found a page that addresses mg in the soil.
It is an agricultural site and may contain biased info, however, this sentence about dolomite is probably right on.

Proper liming with dolomitic limestone is almost always the most practical solution to low Mg, even if the dolomite is more expensive.

In a paragraph about toxicity of mg it mentions plants grown in  heavy Montmorillonite or clay soils without enough potassium.

http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Mg_Basics.htm

So, my suggestion is that a little dolomite added to the soil of the Cu-Mg plant battery could replenish the mg ions to the battery if the soil doesn't do it for us.

mmm this is fun!

jeanna

[Pardon]

Great job Jeanna

btw you gave me the idea to remake my eer cells. i will be removing them and inspecting them and after cleaning them up. I plan on wraping the magnesium in non printed newspaper then switching my copper pipe to copper wire and wraping the magnesium and paper with the wire. i know my cells work and i do have to water them every once in a wile. but your light is much brighter them mine and i just connect the led directly across the wires. thanks for the idea

Dennis

[jeanna]

Great job Jeanna

btw you gave me the idea to remake my eer cells. i will be removing them and inspecting them and after cleaning them up. I plan on wraping the magnesium in non printed newspaper then switching my copper pipe to copper wire and wraping the magnesium and paper with the wire. i know my cells work and i do have to water them every once in a wile. but your light is much brighter them mine and i just connect the led directly across the wires. thanks for the idea

Dennis

Hi Dennis,
How long has your cu-mg eer been running?
I am guessing that the reason my light is brighter is that it is a joule thief.
The trick the joule thief plays on your eyes is that the light is so bright  even though it is only on half of the time.

When you take it apart, please describe what the electrodes look like and how long they have been in use.
I am very curious to see.
Of course a sharp close up is best but that is really hard to do, so you are already off the hook there 

I was actually wondering if the paper is a good idea.
I think it is a good way to separate the 2 wires from each other, but if my idea is right about magnesium ions in the soil replenishing the magnesium ions that are going into the circuit, maybe the paper will get in the way??

My experiments will be testing this idea about the magnesium in the soil. If yours are not about that then it won't make any difference.

thank you,

jeanna

edit
I just saw your diagram of the pulser.
Is that the one that is not so bright?
I am surprised.

[jeanna]

I just made a small double peat pot with 24 inches each cu and mg wire and lined each with soil then added a single stem with root for the plant because that is all that will fit.
It shows 1.7v
and when shorted through a .5ohm resistor the meter says 2.9mv so applying ohm's law this means I am getting around 5.8mA

and it will not start a joule thief.

I will post the pic of the peat pot arrangement.
I think it is like Shannon's??

@Shannon, do you think I should wait? It seems very wet.

jeanna

edit add
The big plant from yesterday when subjected to the same amps test is 4mV/.5ohm=8mA
That is still very low and close to 5.8, so I will wait...(I was going to wait anyway  )

[jeanna]

It has been a little over 2 hours.
I added more soil so it went over the top of both coils of wires
Then I added more water
And read the joule thief thread from the beginning to find how I made that joule thief etc.
(who needs to eat dinner when you're having so much fun?)

I just tried the germanium jtc again and this time with NO base resistor as freepow suggested for eb's, and it blinked a few times then got pale but solid and now seems to be building a little brightness!
I am glad the memory cap is there. It might be important here.

jeanna