Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[Rigel]

Hey Guys!
Ive been following this thread closely for a while.. GREAT WORK!
- this is truly exciting.
Im going to start some crystal cells of my own this week.
few things:
http://www.youtube.com/user/neuberlintourist#p/u/4/E6x3ufpJzlA
This Guy seems to be using relatively simple materials with different enclosures

I was pondering if it would be a good Idea to use aluminum cans and copper wire for the anode and cathode apposed to opening batteries.. would it make that big of a difference?
if the energy is ACTUALLY coming from the crystal cell and not from the Electro-Potential difference in the two metals The electrons should simply accumulate at Cathode nomatter how weak it is. With this said I'm going to try and avoid the use of water in the mixture but try and melt the metals instead, if you use water it may act as an electrolyte and promote corrosion in the metal as well as just set up a 'standard battery' (boo!). as well, it would be much less pain staking and economical to use Al/Cu when setting up larger systems.

Keep up the Great work Everyone!
Cheers.

[ian middleton]

G'day all,

Just back for a quick visit. This year has just got better and better. 2 heart attacks and now a divorce. but hey at least the pyrite cell hasn't let me down 

@jeanna. What would I do without you my dear. The lost cell of 2008 was found behind a packet of frozen blueberries ( use by date 11th  may 2008). Thanks for reminding me to check the freezer.  . Must get in there more often. It was a standard sodium silicate cell with just a trace of sulphur (sulfur). At -15oC no current but by the time it had warmed up to room temp it was pumping out a massive 15uA @ 0.38V  .

I would just like to say " well done " to all those who still contribute to this forum. Keep up the good work.  At the moment I have to put cell building aside but I have devoted alot of time to this and I'm not going to give it up. I'll be back.

keep the good ideas coming and hopefully I'll catch you guys soon.

Ian

[rock321]

Just made a crystal power cell. It's the size of a few quarters and is putting out 1.17 volt and I'm not sure about the current yet, but my meter is saying 2.6 ma. I'm going to make another and run them is series to light an LED. Hopefully the second will have more voltage as I'm going to add another ingredient to the mix.

Blessings,

Littlechristgod

[mrbr00k5]

@ Rigel
Welcome to the thread! Glad to have someone else interested in this line of research.
“standard battery (boo!)” I agree fully!  Copper and aluminum is a good combination for these. Also like Das aloda Bullspit mentioned, bismuth works nicely with aluminum too. I find that the electro-potential between the metals, if it’s great enough helps to stop the polarity from swapping around. If you’ve read back a ways in the thread, you’ll see that can happen sometimes with a crystal cell, despite the electro-potentials of the components, the positive and negative can swap sometimes. So far by using zinc and graphite I haven’t noticed this. I had it happen when I used aluminum and brass though. Anyway, welcome to the board!

@ ian middelton
Good to hear from you Ian. It sounds like your having a pretty rough time. Take it easy, and try to recover. Thanks by the way for the suggestion, which jeanna mentioned again, and reminded me, since I had totally forgot, of putting the cells in the freezer, it seems to have helped quite a bit. Anyway, hang in there mate!

@ rock321
Welcome to the thread! Those are some good readings from a cell the size of a few quarters. Could you share what the ingredients are? I look forward to your work!

@Everyone
Hello everyone, no I haven't fell off the edge of the internet! Sorry for not posting more, here is what I’ve been up to. Well first of all, this may be of interest. I got a reply from Marcus Reid, who was gracious enough to respond to an E-Mail I sent him. I didn’t expect of course for him to give me list of ingredients or anything, but I did ask him about how he polarizes his cells. And it seems that he doesn’t polarize them at all. Here’s the E-Mail I sent, followed by his reply.

To Marcus Reid
“I have a question about the polarizing of the crystal cells. I saw a picture on the Rex Research site, of one of your cells, which had a blue-green discoloration around the electrode. I've been tinkering with these crystal cells for a little while, they are a very interesting hobby of mine, and I notice that this discoloration happens when a current is passed through the cell for a period of time. My question is, do you recommend polarizing the cell until this discoloration happens? Or is it bad for the cell's performance? I appreciate any info you could offer. Thank You! - Jonathan 

“Hi Jonathan,
I do not polarize the cells at all. Any kind of polarization does not increase the power output. The potential difference develops automatically due to the Aluminum and Copper Electrode. The electrons can move from the Copper into the silicate (normal Schottky diode) and then from the silicate to the Aluminum. The discoloration seems to be meaningless but the current causes a blocking layer at the aluminum with time and that is why the power output drops down to 2mW-kg after two to three years and then it stays there. If we could only keep the higher value of 50mW-kg which we have after the manufacturing process then we would have a valuable technology.
We are looking for investors. If you have any contacts....

Kind regards
Marcus Reid”

So there you go, interesting stuff. Now onward to a cell report. I attached a picture of a cell I’ve been experimenting with. The face was my sister’s idea, but I kinda like it...
Here are the specs:
Made on 5/31/2010
Zinc container, Carbon rod.
40% Pyrite
30% Concrete
10% Bornite
10% Quartz Sand
5% Plaster of Paris
5% Alum
And just enough water to harden the concrete.

Then I put it in the freezer on the same day it was made, 5/31/2010, and finally took it out on 6/27/2010. The voltage right after it was made, before it went in the freezer was 1.414 volts. I didn’t measure the amperage then...I was feeling lazy... Anyway, I then connected this cell to a joule thief on 7/3/2010. I let it run day and night, until today, 7/23/2010, I took it off today, to do some other stuff with the joule thief, but the test should demonstrate the point. That’s twenty days of continuous use! Right now the cell is still recovering from being under load, but it’s at 1.090 volts 1.067 milli-amps. So I’m pretty happy with this cell, and I certainly recommend sticking your cells in the freezer! So that’s about all for now. Oh, and I just bought some Calcium Chloride, it’s used for making pickles crispy apparently...I'm serious...you can find it in the grocery section. It’s really exothermic if water is mixed with it. I whipped up a quick cell with some, and it made the whole cell hot to the touch for a while. I haven't done much with it yet, but maybe you guys can find a use for it. I remember early in the thread everyone was trying to find a mixture that would sort of cook itself, with a little help from a stove burner, like hutchinson. Anyway, keep throwing rocks in the blender!

[Mk1]

@all

I confess i did not read all the good stuff , but i have questions for the experts , if you do use a galvanic pair for electrodes do you power condition them , like John dose with electrical power ? if yes respecting the galvanic positive , or opposing it , if no care is taken in looking at it that could explain the cell reversal .

Those cell make me think about 2 things batteries and diodes , the diode way would be 2 similar electrode one rusted and one pristine ...

You maybe interested in finding out more , check self made diodes and diy borax diode ...

Thank for your time ...

Mark