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JingleJoe
HG Supreme
Joined: 01 Apr 2009
Posts: 52
Location: England
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 Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:24 pm Post subject: Ye olde battery made in my kitchen |
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This has probably been done a million times before but I just wanted to share my electrical endeavours of this evening 
A battery!
Made from;
Salt
Water
Copper wire
Zinc coated nails
Lolly-ice maker (or popsicle maker for you yankies  )
How? In five minutes that's how 
Mix lots of salt into hot water so you can disolve more into it, atleast two table spoons to one glass.
I also added acid (vinegar) which increased power a little bit but adding alot of vinegar did not increase it (it acctually decreased it) one or two drops per lolly-ice compartment was best.
Next connect one wire to some copper (or just strip a long section of the wire if it is copper inside) and connect another wire to one of the nails, putting the copper in one side of your battery fluid and the zinc nail in the other will give you current flow! Test with a low range meter or LED.
Double or tripple or quadripple up your batteries for more power! This is why I suggest using a lolly-ice maker, lots of nice little compartments which are easily connected between
More pictures 
I acctually got the LED about twice as bright as in that photograph by experimenting with different concentrations of salt and vinegar but my camera eats batteries like theres no tomorrow so ran out after a few photographs, not even my home made battery was up to the task
Tomorrow I might try all 8 battery compartments filled, I only used 4 tonight because I only made 3 short jump cables with copper on one side and a zinc nail on the other and I am too tired to make more now
Anyone care to join me in some maniacal laughter?
MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Turd
HG Ruler
Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 274
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:39 am Post subject: |
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Cool stuff, JingleJoe. Was it this that inspired you?
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JingleJoe
HG Supreme
Joined: 01 Apr 2009
Posts: 52
Location: England
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:02 am Post subject: |
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Thanks and wow thats fantastic, I hadn't seen it, I had acctually been reading up about Alessandro Volta, hence the title
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gridleak
Newbie
Joined: 15 Mar 2008
Posts: 3
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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Hi all,
Long ago and far away, my daughter did a science fair project that got her into the regional fair later.
The project was "What materials found around the home can make a good battery"
The cells were made from empty 35mm film containers.
Electrodes were;
1> 14guage house wiring(copper)
2> 1/8 inch pop rivet(Aluminum)
3> A 2 inch long galvanized common nail(Zinc)
4> A scrap piece of silver solder(silver)
Electrolyte consisted of;
1>Lemon juice
2>Salt water
3> Vinegar
4> Pepsi Cola
She made a combination of cells from the parts, then measured the voltages each of the cells gave out.
I can't remember all the voltages, but if I remember correctly, the highest voltage we got was 1.04 volts from copper, zinc and Pepsi
It was kinda neat I thought, especially the Pepsi for electrolyte. Makes one wonder what to drink nowadays. 
Cheers for now, Bob
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Alan
Site Admin
Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 1399
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| gridleak wrote: | Hi all,
Long ago and far away, my daughter did a science fair project that got her into the regional fair later.
The project was "What materials found around the home can make a good battery"
The cells were made from empty 35mm film containers.
Electrodes were;
1> 14guage house wiring(copper)
2> 1/8 inch pop rivet(Aluminum)
3> A 2 inch long galvanized common nail(Zinc)
4> A scrap piece of silver solder(silver)
Electrolyte consisted of;
1>Lemon juice
2>Salt water
3> Vinegar
4> Pepsi Cola
She made a combination of cells from the parts, then measured the voltages each of the cells gave out.
I can't remember all the voltages, but if I remember correctly, the highest voltage we got was 1.04 volts from copper, zinc and Pepsi
It was kinda neat I thought, especially the Pepsi for electrolyte. Makes one wonder what to drink nowadays.
Cheers for now, Bob |
Kinda neat (and scary) when you can drink your electrolyte. |
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Alan
Site Admin
Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 1399
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:00 am Post subject: |
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| Hey JingleJoe I love the gauges, did you get them out of some old equipment? |
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JingleJoe
HG Supreme
Joined: 01 Apr 2009
Posts: 52
Location: England
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Alan wrote: | | Hey JingleJoe I love the gauges, did you get them out of some old equipment? |
No, I have collected most of them from ebay oh but I did remove one or two from some homemade variable-range voltmeters (you should have seen the resistors in them, they were ancient!)
I have a cardboard box 2 thirds full of old voltmeters/ammeters like those And a few more stashed around shelves and scattered around my floor (in use) They were probably from some old equipment before I got my hands on them but one or two came boxed and unused  All my collection are from before 1959, most from before 1945.
Thier original use is unkown to me but I have put them to new better uses!
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