Distance between the plates makes a huge difference to performance. The closer you can get them, the better they will work. I think this is a capacitor rather than a battery, because the current is behaving like it is stored as opposed to being produced by a reversible reaction. All in all, I like what you did here. Just for fun, make one with a steel wool “plate” on one side and a carbon felt “plate” on the other. Carbon felt is readily available as air conditioning filter material.

keep the work bro.....

@MyEngineeringProjects

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I will

Well made video, this construction seems more akin to a capacitors, it just throws me a bit calling it battery but not to be pedantic here, Lol.. I am just starting to get my head around all of this battery science and technology. So... Thanks very interesting videos... Thom in Scotland.

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

It does act like that the way I tested it. I was trying to increase the total current capacity with the idea of increasing the surface area. There are a lot of problems to solve when building a battery.

Size is no matter, main things is cost, pollution free water based,and easily available material for diy

@MyEngineeringProjects

3 ай бұрын

Yes the great thing about it is that you can always just increase the size of the battery

Make an electrolyte of baking soda and lye. Make a paste of graphite and iron oxide with a bit of fine steel wool for the anode, use aluminum foil as the cathode. You will get about 1.8V and a current of well over 100mA per square centimeter. Make sure your aluminum is clean. Using a cathode of pressed machine shop turnings on foil will get very high current output of an amp or more per squre centimeter 😮

@MyEngineeringProjects

6 ай бұрын

I'll have to try that, sounds interesting.

That's very interesting. I've just been conducting my own tests with a few different metals in a solution of 30g salt in 300gm water. I'm surprised at your 1.2V output from salt water. It leads one to wonder if some acid-ionising agent were present, possibly contained in the cloth. The best voltage I could get was about 0.9V between sheet zinc and a stainless teaspoon. Another sample of stainless gave rather less. The best result was copper-zinc which gave me 0.8V - ie considerably better than copper-aluminium which I find gives about 0.52V. As to current, small-ish tabs gave me about 200+mA, so decent areas would potentially give an amp. Two points: 1 - I was using the cell exclusively as a primary cell - it never occurred to me to try and charge it! 2 - Cloth separators will obviously fill up with bubbles very quickly. I make my cells with small, mechanical spacers so that the bubbles can be released by tapping the cell on the bench top. Another approach is to make one or other electrode capable of a bit of up-down movement so as to dislodge the bubbles.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like you are making great progress. I'm curious about the stainless steel. I have not tried that combination yet but it looks promising.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

One other thing. You may have seen 1.2V but this is not the rest voltage. I get about .8 V nominally between copper and zinc. The higher voltage was just after a charge.

@jjmcrosbie

Жыл бұрын

@@MyEngineeringProjects Thank you for your reply. The trouble with saying "Stainless steel" is of course the wide range of alloys. The principal alloying metals one thinks of in st st are chromium and nickel. I suppose I could find an old plated nickel spoon and strip its plating off, but I don't count that as a desirable course. I don't know how to obtain chromium, and I'm not interested anyway. My own involvement is in trying to interest my grandson aged 12. What I can't find on the web is a list of electrode potentials in salt water. Dilute acid yes. Incidentally I tried iron and lead in combination with the other metals, but they don't compete. I admit surprise to find that Cu+Zn give higher volts that Cu+Al. But the salt water series is clearly different from the acid solution series, where for example Cu+Zn give the well-known 1.1V. I'm staying with the salt water cell simply because I won't encourage grandson to play with acid.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

The safety of salt water batteries is one of the reasons I demonstrate them. It's a great learning tool with low risk compared to other batteries such as lead/acid and lithium ion. At one point I found the voltage table you need. If I find it again I'll let you know.

Nice demo, please keep some white paper or cloth on your table so equipments on the table seen easily.

@MyEngineeringProjects

11 ай бұрын

Ok next time

I bought a roll of copper from Aliexpress to make one of these... made the mistake of using it in a much smaller container for the sheet, paper separator, and aluminum can. Holds some charge, but I am still waiting to test amps as my weaker fuse blew in my multimeter and I only have the 10amp fuse working... so I cant accurately test its capacity xD. Highest i get is roughly 0.6 volts, have two others at 0.5 and 0.4 respectively. Hoping to build enough voltage soon, and hopefully shrink them down as well. Just got an idea from optimizing the coffee tins space that might be good...

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

Your voltage looks good. Sounds like you are using the can as one end of the circuit.

That is neat for a copper and aluminum salt battery 1000 mA. Could you build them up and use an DC-DC converter to light several LEDS?

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

You could do that. You could also wire them in parallel for more current, or in series for more voltage.

Using something like glassfiber between them on a one layer will degrease the distance between the metals and if you scrub the metals with sandpaper or somethin to make them have more surface area you increase the amps allso.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

Fiberglass sounds like a good idea.

What kind of steady voltage did this reach before loading it down?

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

About 1.2V per cell

Why didn't you just use a little ACETONE to remove Glue from Copper Foil? Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me. It is appreciated.

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a good idea. I was just testing an idea for more current.

But you could melt that adhesive/cardboard stuff on the back of the copper strip with fire, then clean it up.

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

That's possible or you could just get one that's ready to go without the adhesive. I just needed something with a large surface area to experiment with.

Would it make any difference if you boiled off some of the fresh water?

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

It's possible. It should be tested to see which amount produces the most current.

how can you keep it from discharging so fast ?

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

In the demonstration battery that I built, my only goal was to see the maximum current possible. Current is controlled by the resistance of the circuit. Shorting the wires brings this resistance to near zero. So in order to slow the current rate, you must increase the resistance. This can be achieved by using a real load like a light or by using a resistor in the circuit.

@Gump23

2 жыл бұрын

So in order to make this power a light you need at least 6 cells to make it a 12volt out put correct

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

It depends on the light. Some lights can run at lower voltages. But yes when you put more in series the voltage adds based on the voltage of each cell.

@Gump23

2 жыл бұрын

Ok thank you

It's really interesting but as non engineering I'm just wondering applying the moisture/water is the only thing necessary once it is assembled...Must be modern materials that wont corrode like cotton, because doesnt seem like the salt or any aspect would be depleted.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

The process is reversible so you can charge and discharge but there are degradation issues due to the corrosive salt.

@sampleoffers1978

Жыл бұрын

@@MyEngineeringProjects I hear ya. I thought maybe anti corrosion materials have advanced. I'm going to try to read up about that. I always wonder if electric cars had two battery design, whether one could be charging during drive with this kind of design.

Could you drain power from the ocean? Does water in the ocean have any energy in it?🤔 Ocean saltwater reactor

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

It's an interesting idea. Would be a great project to see if it's possible.

@unicornadrian1358

Жыл бұрын

Yes. Energy density is low, but availability is super high.

have you ever tried aluminum and zinc?

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

No not yet. I made an aluminum and graphite.

What happens if you put only two Zinc in saltwater ? Would it produce a current?

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

If you have multiple plates in parallel in the same electrolyte, it will increase the current. Cells in series must be separated.

@venna_wolf9412

2 жыл бұрын

@@MyEngineeringProjects like without any other electrodes just only zinc? They react with each other in saltwater? 😊

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

oh i see what you are saying. No, you have to have different materials one for the anode, one for the cathode. Two of one type will produce no results.

@venna_wolf9412

2 жыл бұрын

@@MyEngineeringProjects thank you! I thought so but science isn’t my thing so was curious haha

What battery is being used to havw that high current?

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

The one I made for the demonstration

@iwarattrinitykayes.7175

2 жыл бұрын

What do you call this battery? And is it possible i can charge a phone with a series of that solution?

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

This is a salt water battery. A cell phone battery has a much larger capacity than this one. You would need many in series and in parallel in order to charge a cell phone.

@iwarattrinitykayes.7175

2 жыл бұрын

Ohh i see. Thank you, yes we already did a series parallel connection of the solution, we already got 10-12v. I have a question regarding with that, is circuit still needed to provide input 5voltage to charge a phone? Or a dc usb boost module is already fine to connect with the charger?

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

I have not attempted something like this. Probably the safest way to do this is to use a commercial adapter that can charge based on using a backup battery. You have to be careful with voltages so you don't damage the phone. A commercial adapter that can regulate the output voltage and current makes this easier. I would not attempt a direct connection without regulation.

Did you use distilled water?

@MyEngineeringProjects

9 ай бұрын

No I just used regular water for this test

soon 1000l water tanl batteries, not bad if makes 24v

Zinc and copper

@jjmcrosbie

Жыл бұрын

Yes. I got 0.8V in 30gmsalt per 300gm water. I did get over 0.9V with zinc and a stainless teaspoon, but another sample of St Steel gave considerably less. But there are so many different stainless steels, some with chrome, others with nickel.....

@jasonunruh9605

Жыл бұрын

@@jjmcrosbie its all quiet interesting

You got abnormal high current. I tried aluminium and graphite with much bigger surface and i got max 150ma.

@MyEngineeringProjects

Жыл бұрын

Have you tried aluminum and copper?

Ether energy is AC and 6 cycles per second, anode and cathode is just a rectifier to get DC voltage

Take one battery and charge your salt water batter

@MyEngineeringProjects

6 ай бұрын

It can be charged that way or by a power supply

Hi do you have a contact number? My daughter is working on a project related to salt water battery so I need to talk with you. Thanks

@jjmcrosbie

Жыл бұрын

This may be too late, sorry, only just seen this video. My comments: I've just been conducting my own tests with a few different metals in a solution of 30g salt in 300gm water. I'm surprised at his 1.2V output from salt water. It leads one to wonder if some acid-ionising agent were present, possibly contained in the cloth. The best voltage I could get was about 0.9V between sheet zinc and a stainless teaspoon. Another sample of stainless gave rather less. The best result was copper-zinc which gave me 0.8V - ie considerably better than copper-aluminium which I find gives about 0.52V. As to current, small-ish tabs gave me about 200+mA, so decent areas would potentially give an amp. Two points: 1 - I was using the cell exclusively as a primary cell - it never occurred to me to try and charge it! 2 - Cloth separators will obviously fill up with bubbles very quickly. I make my cells with small, mechanical spacers so that the bubbles can be released by tapping the cell on the bench top. Another approach is to make one or other electrode capable of a bit of up-down movement so as to dislodge the bubbles.

its a capacitor not a battery

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 жыл бұрын

No this is not a capacitor. A capacitor does not use an electrolyte. Any battery that is shorted will have a larger surge current than it can sustain normally. This does not mean it's a capacitor. I did this experiment to demonstrate the relationship between surface area and total surge current in a battery.

@randomschittz9461

2 жыл бұрын

@@MyEngineeringProjects electrolytic capacitors called and were wondering why you think they don’t exist, because electrolyte is literally in the name. I know you know the difference, I just had to be that guy. Thanks for the video.

Kids school projects..

@MyEngineeringProjects

2 ай бұрын

Yeah kids love this kind of thing