I will be sealing up with wax my 18 count panel later in the evening today.The six cells in front I was worried about due to leaks are still around 1.45 volts each.I am worried about too much water in the cells.I could wait till monday or later?triffid






Remember I sealed five cells after just 36 hours?I wonder now if that was too soon?


Also I need to reveal that in making my cells in a panel that i use three sprinkles of salt sub not just two.And more glue to cover the vitamin C on top of the epson salts and the second sprinkle of salt sub.And the third and final sprinkle of salt sub on top of everything.Stick the electrodes in and set aside to dry.No testing until dry at least 12 hours later.Gives the electrodes time to stiffen in the glue.

happy b-day phi!

NASA supposly did some experiments in the 60's with gallium as a negative electrode for a battery. Gallium seems to be good but I won't know until i get some. Its not cheap so i got 15 grams for $25 so that i can play with it. Its cool stuff and its a semiconductor too! And it also has a low melting point, it will melt in your hands.
I've also found that if you coat your magnesium or aluminum electrode with petroleum jelly it will help to cut down on corrosion.
I'm going to see if i can get my hands on some vitamin C. Do they sell it in pill form or should i get some oranges? Or is there something better?

Gallium seems kind of exotic LOL!!! Way cool though IB. Definitely make a vid or something when you use that stuff... What are you going to use it with BTW?
I got 25 vitamin c tablets for a dollar (dollar store) but I'm sure you can find them cheaper. Probably available in a bulk powder somewhere...
Plengo 'treats' his magnesium slugs with a borax/H2O bath that seems to put a protective layer over them that prohibits corrosion. You might wanna check out his videos if you haven't already...
I bought an Oscilloscope today on ebay (WOOT!!!!) for $50.95 AFTER shipping... Can't wait to put some of these cells on a scope... And I found an old analog tester which will be another nice thing to have... Both together came out to within a dollar of my birthday money!
Anyhow, I didn't get a chance to make any cells today. My 'saltsub container cells' that just contain epsom salt and Durham's for the electrolyte (the ones I tried charging a few times) seem to stabilize at around 1.3v (probably lower, I haven't left either connected for any long term measurements) and around 0.6v (ouch). Ah well, maybe I will get some time tomorrow to make more vitamin c and aspirin cells with higher mix ratios.
Til then, happy experimenting!
PC

Possible reasons for this panel not meeting expectations of 44 watts?


Cells were dryer
Crystal mass leaked from four cells in front.
Panel is limited by the weakest cell.
Vitamin C pills were not crushed but left whole.volts seemed ok but amps were not.



Despite that I expect this panel to make 1.89 kilowatts a week.


regards,triffid

PC,Paper style egg carton 30 count flat is what I tried in the beginning.The cells were so bad off in the end I had to believe that harmful chemicals were leaching in from the paper.I think the panel I got such good results with maybe had too much water left in the 5 cells after 36 hours?Thats great that you are getting the scope.It will like getting radar for the house.Be sure to see if you get an ac current from your cells.
triffid

Hadn't thought of chemicals leaching 'from' the paper cartons.
One of my 'tester' cells in the subsalt containers is reading steady around 1.2v, but the other dropped quickly down to around 0.6v. (I may have 'overcharged' one of them?) EDIT:Now at .4v... Need a different mix heh heh...
I will definitely be doing some homework before the scope arrives, can't wait!
Time to contruct some new cells I think.
Happy experminting all!
PC

Heres a video clip called"onward to the edge(of the universe)  Our rock batteries will take us there thru the interstellar dark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY&feature=related .I plan to build another 18 count panel soon.This time I will crush each vitamin C pill and make sure there are no holes in the egg carton.triffid




http://hho2u.hubpages.com/hub/hho_fuel_hho_Generator  just parking this here it gives some unusal info on hho electrolytes.


May be useful to me in making rock batteries.

@ triffid: I'm trying to stay away from anything really toxic as far as under counter chemicals.
Tonight I made four 'tea candle' cells using 5:3 aspirin/Durham's and the same ratio of vitamin c. I also made two cells using epsom salt (same 5:3 ratio only .5tsp H2O instead of 1tsp for the first two). One I crushed the salt a bit and mixed it dry, the other I tried to solulize (and crush more) before adding the Durham's.
The aspirin cell I made sweat water pretty good! I had to set some paper towels on top for a little while to wick away the condensation... Water going out is good! Have you had similar results triffid?
I have a sea salt cell I made about a week ago that holds 0.6v+ Will have to revisit that...
My itty bitty cell got a little (ha ha) broken so I scraped off some of the electrolte and now there is a tiny aluminum nub I can still attatch a clip to. It still seems to land at 0.56v
Um... I have a 'kitchen sink' cell that has a little epsom but mostly salt sub and a dash of sea salt (in the Durham's 'base') that starts at over a volt but it isn't quite dry yet (I don't think).
Vitamin c seems like it 'rises' a little bit (like a muffin only not so much) as it dries but I'm not having nearly the success triffid is (so far anyways...).

Happy experimenting,
PC

Sodium sulfate is much weaker than lye,.Citric acid was mentioned also.May we should go from dry organic acids to dry organic bases?What about cleaning products?triffid

Lye is pretty much the stuff in AA batteries. Its very Toxic and highly corrosive.