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Author Topic: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell  (Read 71339 times)

shylo

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #30 on: October 14, 2010, 01:24:20 AM »
To All,..this is very interesting stuff,..........b-rads,...did you just wrap the copper foil around the galvanic?...shylo

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #31 on: October 14, 2010, 05:31:28 PM »
b-rads,...did you just wrap the copper foil around the galvanic?...shylo
@shylo
Welcome and thank you for your interest.  While the power output is very small, the cells are so easy to make and as @the_big_m_in_ok posted earlier “One set in series with the other?  Voltage and current combined.  Several set added gives you proportionally more power to work with.” 
I believe it was @jeanna who indicated in another thread that developing circuits using a small power source challenges the builder to make efficient circuits.
The cell shown in the picture below is my best performing zinc and copper cell to date.  The design is so simple – many can be built in a very short time.  The copper cost me 50cents per cell and the conduit is less than 7cents per cell. 
Do not let the copper and zinc come into contact with each other.  I hope this answers your question.
Brad S

the_big_m_in_ok

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #32 on: October 15, 2010, 08:52:10 PM »
@the_big_m_in_ok
1.  I totally agree that by adding cells parallel and in series would increase power.  I am still searching for the best way to recover the energy created from the galvanic interaction. ...
Well, chemical physics is what it is.  The idea for me is to build water cells cheaply.  And have enough room to amass quite a few cells for reasonable power output.
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2.  Once I add water to the cells, I have connected red led’s and leave them on.  This way the cells are under a constant load.
Right. I see.  They last how long with either resistors or LED's?
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3.  I have just started exploring the mysteries of the joule thief circuit and have found that torroids vary tremendously.  I have built 3 basic circuits and all 3 behave differently.  The one with a small ferrite bead from a cfl outperforms the other two by a significant margin with these cells.
Oh, yeah.  Toroids can be made from a wide variety of materials.  Commercially, they're usually the least expensive available that'll actually do the job.
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BTW: Have you made the move to your new abode yet? 
No, but that's okay.  The place I had in mind was a *dump*, figuratively.  Too much money for what I got in return.  I'm still at the same place with the same restrictions of freedom to experiment.
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Update:  I have discovered 40g copper foil.  Replacing the copper wire cathode with the copper foil has increased the power output over 100% from the galvanic wire and copper wire cells and over 40% from the copper wire and conduit cells.  I think I am making progress here. 
Brad S
Sounds like you're right.  With me, as with others, money is an issue.  I know a couple of  places(hardware stores) that might sell copper sheet---and shears to cut it with---but until I look, I speculate the price may give me "sticker shock".

I can check on that later, I guess.

--Lee

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #33 on: November 18, 2010, 04:16:11 PM »
Status Report:

I have constructed an 18 cell configuration putting 6 cells together for 3 groups.  The initial readings are 1.87v and 2.97ma.  My experience with these batteries indicates that the voltage will remain stable and the current will drop in the first 24hours before reaching stability.  After 24hours the joule thief is still lighting the 2 leds, although not quite as bright.  I am very encouraged.   ;D

I will try different cell configurations after the cells have fully stabilized to see if I can drop the voltage and increase the current for more lights than I am currently running.  This is the same as connecting solar panels together (series and parallel) for the desired output.

I did increase the size of the conduit to ¾ inch from ½ inch and this places the zinc much closer to the copper.  The voltage results in a very slight increase, but the current increased significantly. 

The Observer

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #34 on: November 20, 2010, 03:50:07 PM »
B-Rad,

Way to go.
I appreciate your setup and look forward to your updates.

Best Regards,
                     The Observer

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #35 on: February 10, 2011, 10:02:56 PM »
Can someone please explain this to me.  Using the batteries shown in www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=9752.10 I tried the following experiment.  I connected a 12v Lawn & Garden battery as shown in the picture below.  Logic tells me I should expect the water batteries to gain a little boost and the L&G battery to drain.  When I first connected the L&G to water batteries the Voltage read 9.97 and the Amps with meter set on 10A at 0.09.  One hour later the meter read 10.23Volts and 0.09Amps.  Two hours after starting the meter reads 10.37Volts, and Ten hours after beginning the meter reads 10.31Volts.  I failed to get a standing voltage of the L&G battery prior to starting the experiment however, two hours after disconnecting the setup the L&G battery reads 10.71Volts.  The water batteries started out at 1.64V and the amperage was negligible.  When disconnected, the water batteries read 1.85Volts and with the meter on 20mv it reads 2.12.  The next time I try this experiment I will get the standing voltage of the L&G battery before starting. 
If someone knows what is going on here – could they explain it to me?

WilbyInebriated

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #36 on: February 10, 2011, 10:11:05 PM »
Can someone please explain this to me.  Using the batteries shown in www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=9752.10 I tried the following experiment.  I connected a 12v Lawn & Garden battery as shown in the picture below.  Logic tells me I should expect the water batteries to gain a little boost and the L&G battery to drain.  When I first connected the L&G to water batteries the Voltage read 9.97 and the Amps with meter set on 10A at 0.09.  One hour later the meter read 10.23Volts and 0.09Amps.  Two hours after starting the meter reads 10.37Volts, and Ten hours after beginning the meter reads 10.31Volts.  I failed to get a standing voltage of the L&G battery prior to starting the experiment however, two hours after disconnecting the setup the L&G battery reads 10.71Volts.  The water batteries started out at 1.64V and the amperage was negligible.  When disconnected, the water batteries read 1.85Volts and with the meter on 20mv it reads 2.12.  The next time I try this experiment I will get the standing voltage of the L&G battery before starting. 
If someone knows what is going on here – could they explain it to me?
so actual voltage of the l&g 12v is unknown and you were using it to charge a bank of 3 copper/zinc cells that were approx. 1.6v each making a bank of approx. 5v?  and no diode used between the l&g 12v and the 5v bank?

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #37 on: February 10, 2011, 10:18:47 PM »
@wilby
The 3 cells were connected to increase the voltage for a combined voltage of 1.64 and you are correct, there was no diode.

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #38 on: February 10, 2011, 10:26:21 PM »
Oops - I failed to mention, I changed the configuration to:
Pos L&G to POS batt1 to Pos batt2 to Pos batt3
Neg L&G to Neg batt3 to Neg batt2 to Neg batt1

WilbyInebriated

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #39 on: February 10, 2011, 10:31:59 PM »
@wilby
The 3 cells were connected to increase the voltage for a combined voltage of 1.64 and you are correct, there was no diode.
ah my misunderstanding. i thought each cell was 1.64v
yeah, seems strange. i have no explanation with the available data, sorry.

wattsup

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #40 on: February 11, 2011, 01:05:05 AM »
@b_rads

Nice going with your small voltages.

A while back I made an animation of what I call a Voltage Grabber Circuit that only needs a small voltage input to accumulate it into large pulses.

I put it in my OU FTP site located here;
http://purco.qc.ca/ftp/Wattsups%27%20stuff/voltage-grabber-circuit-VGC/
Just click on the gif file and it will open up.

This is only to give you some ideas on how to harvest that energy that seems frivolous when you first look at it but which is in fact a tremendous amount of energy if it can be harvested in mill-second intervals.

I am not saying you should do it like in the animation, but think many smalls, to mids to high uF capacitors. You can start off with three or four 5vdc capacitors, that load individually, then you put into series to discharge into a a larger set of caps individually, one by one, then the larger are put in series to discharge into another larger set of caps.

It does not have to be electronic. Think maybe a small wind fan that turns with little wind and can turn a connected set of contacts to which you connect capacitors. The contacts are arranged something like an old player piano that have all those reeds being plucked by a turning drum with protrusions placed at the right position and interval. Such a system could control the opening and closing of capacitors. There are low cost micro contacts that require almost null force to activate and they have N/O, N/C and Common terminals to give you some connecting flexibility.

So let's say this is working with wind and you are producing constant energy output. Then you put a small dc motor instead of the fan and see if you can loop the action and have it work without the aid of the wind. Just a small battery to start it up.

There are many ways to go about this and I only wanted to give you some ideas on how to maybe move forward.

wattsup


b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #41 on: February 11, 2011, 06:59:54 PM »
@wattsup
I went to your link and looked at the GIF; it took a little while before the lights turned on.  I need to digest this some more, but thinking out loud – the copper/zinc water battery is sort of like a turtle,  keeps running at pretty much the same speed until it dies of old age.  The track I am currently on came about when I connected 4AA batteries to the water batteries for a few seconds and almost instantly the water battery jumped way up in amperage and lit the LED nicely for over 6 hours.  When I say a few seconds – I mean no more than 15 seconds.  Now, taking liberties with what you have presented to me – could excess energy from the water battery be stored and dumped back into the water battery to extend the life.

Back to weird recharging results – I replicated the test and the results were different.  I will wait until the water battery is nearly dead before repeating this test again.  I have tried to summarize the test a little better as shown below.
Brad S

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #42 on: February 14, 2011, 06:48:19 PM »
While these new cells constructed this past weekend proved to be disappointing – an important observation was made.  As for the disappointment – I can only conclude that the threaded rod is not as good a source for zinc as conduit.  The observation worth noting is as follows:
Green Cell – Control cell – 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, and tap water.
   Output 0.94v
White Cell – 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, activated carbon, and tap water.
   Output 1.00v
Yellow Cell - 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, activated carbon, and Alum.
   Output 1.14v
Conclusion – Voltage increased .2v by adding activated carbon and Alum electrolyte.
Brad S

dasimpson

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #43 on: February 14, 2011, 07:01:20 PM »
what was the ampage range of each cell and would a shorter zinc rod change that when i messed with earth battery i noticed the further in i moved the zinc nail the more the ampage changed
 
While these new cells constructed this past weekend proved to be disappointing – an important observation was made.  As for the disappointment – I can only conclude that the threaded rod is not as good a source for zinc as conduit.  The observation worth noting is as follows:
Green Cell – Control cell – 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, and tap water.
   Output 0.94v
White Cell – 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, activated carbon, and tap water.
   Output 1.00v
Yellow Cell - 20” copper pipe, 5/16” threaded rod, activated carbon, and Alum.
   Output 1.14v
Conclusion – Voltage increased .2v by adding activated carbon and Alum electrolyte.
Brad S

b_rads

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Re: Copper Zinc Tap Water Fuel Cell
« Reply #44 on: February 14, 2011, 08:32:58 PM »
what was the ampage range of each cell and would a shorter zinc rod change that when i messed with earth battery i noticed the further in i moved the zinc nail the more the ampage changed
 
I know this is going to sound goofy to anyone who reads this reply.  I purposefully try to keep the amperage low on these cells to extend to life of the battery.  Currently, my cells run 3 months and better before they die.  An LED can be lit with a fraction of a milliamp as long as it has enough voltage.   I am trying to get as much voltage in as small of a space as possible.  Also of note is the Alum electrolyte.  With this electrolyte, the amperage stays low – however, it provides a neat recharging effect not seen with plain tap water.  I have cells that appeared to be dead and after recharging, continued to run for weeks afterward.  They can then be recharged again.
Brad S