Water Battery

[topothemtn]

I put a zinc nail in a glass of tap water. I then put a copper wire in the glass on the opposite side. I then made up 8 of these and connected them in series. When I attached a multii-meter to the ends I am reading 5.15 volts.

This is nothing new. Many have done this.

My question is why can't I use this 5 volts to light up a flashlight bulb?

Is there a way to save this energy or at least be able to use it to power something?

Thanks topothemtn

[FlashBang]

[Jehu]

[topothemtn]

[Jehu]

Well, it sounds typical for a "battery" like this. It will supply the voltage needed but can't supply the need current.

When something demands more current than the supply can provide, the supply voltage will drop. The load will then try to pull mmore current to make up for it but then the voltage will drop even further. A catch 22. Check with your multimeter while the load is connected.

The solution to this is to put a bunch of cells in parralel. If you have 8 cells making 5V, just do that again with another group of 5 cells and connect the two end wires together and connect to your load as usual. Do this as many times as you need to supply the needed current.

[topothemtn]

Thanks Jehu.
That is what I'll do.

I did add some KOH to the cells. It about doubled the voltage. It will light up an LED. So there is hope I can build it to be of some use.

The neat thing is without the KOH it is pretty pollution free.

Thanks again. Topothemtn

[Jehu]

No probs mate. Now watch the trodes over the next few days. See if they start to corrode or not, with or without load. Also check if there is any gasses being produced.

[topothemtn]

[Jehu]

yep, that seems to be the common theme with alot of these devices. They work but are impracticle.

What I think is happening is that there is a voltage differential between the zinc, iron and copper.

Check out AlaskaStars thread on this

And read everything in the thread. EVERYTHING! Then it all just falls into place. That lightbulb will appear above your head and that's a great feeling.

[mrdovie]

Hi, I posted a water battery today that uses aluminum foil and either stainless steel or silver plated wire (called memory wire) but not the neat wire that snaps back to a learned curve when heated, it is for making bracelets. The problem is internal resistance of these cells can be a meg ohm or so. Try other electrolites (fluids) and metals instead of making parallel cells, you can make bigger multi-layer cells. The foil is good for this. Google the "pee battery" they get quite a bit of power from that, like a AA battery. You can remove the nickel screen from a DEAD 3 volt lithium battery, make sure it's dead and have a bowl of water there to throw the parts and your fingers in if it leaks on you, wear eye protection, too. I use a pair of small wire cutters to pry open the seal and peal it like opening a can. I think the screen is carbon coated and I've got over a volt with 1mA current. Some LEDs don't use much power. You could charge a large 1000mF capacitor and get a burst of power that will rebuild over time. This stuff can power a radio or a hearing aid, I don't see a car yet, but at 63, I'd like a car that runs on pee.