DIY battery: from lemon, coins, potatoes, jars

Perhaps for some this will be a discovery as significant as the discovery of America by Columbus, that there is electricity everywhere around us. It literally permeates our entire lives. But even knowing this sometimes does not prevent our eyes from widening when we learn that tension can be obtained from the most ordinary things and even from food. Using what you have in the kitchen or garage, it is quite possible to build a simple battery at home.

lemon battery

Even from this fruit you can get electricity. To do this you need to prepare the following things:

• one lemon;
• a piece of something steel;
• something made of copper;
• and two pieces of wire for insulation.

First we will need to clean up our steel and copper items. Regular sandpaper will help with this.

Reference. An object made of steel can be the most ordinary nails. There are plenty of them in any garage. And for “something made of copper”, you can use coins in denominations of ten and fifty kopecks.

Now we stick a nail and a coin into the lemon. Between them you need to make a gap of about three centimeters. These will be our electrodes, all that remains is to connect the wires to them. You can just stick it right next to it. The coin is our positive contact, and the nail, therefore, is negative.

Reference. Lemon can be successfully replaced with an ordinary apple. The main thing is to choose the most sour one that you don’t mind using for experiments. And the acid is useful for the reaction to proceed.

A lemon or apple battery (if you take only one fruit) will produce about 0.5 or 0.7 volts. This is very little - you can’t charge even the simplest mobile phone. You need to somehow bring the voltage to three or even five volts. But how? Yes, it’s very simple - connect more fruits into a single chain.

Reference. To increase the charge of our circuit, it can be charged. It is enough to include a crown battery or even a mobile phone charger into the circuit.

Making lemons or apples produce electricity becomes possible because the copper element interacts with the steel element. The acid contained inside the fruit triggers this reaction. As long as there is at least a drop of acid inside or as long as the contacts are intact, the battery will continue to work.

Area of ​​use

Electrochemistry has many important applications, especially in industry. Its processes are used to make electric batteries. They have many uses including:

1. A fuel cell converts chemical potential energy obtained from the oxidation of fuels, such as gas, hydrogen, hydrocarbons, and alcohols, into electrical energy.
2. Various types of piezo lighters for gas.
3. Electrical appliances such as mobile phones.
4. Digital cameras are lithium.
5. Hearing aids (silver oxide).
6. Electronic watches (mercury/silver oxide).
7. Military power sources (thermal).
8. Batteries A, AA, AAA, D, C and others.

Using chemical reactions to produce electricity is currently a priority for many researchers. The ability to adequately utilize chemical reactions as a source of energy will greatly help solve environmental pollution problems.

Electricity in a bank

Even from an ordinary can you can build something similar to the very first battery in the world. To do this you will need:

• a simple glass jar (you can use a glass);
• zinc or aluminum plate;
• strip of copper;
• several wires;
• ammonia, also known as ammonium chloride;
• tap water.

Our battery will have an aluminum plate as the anode, and a copper plate will serve as the cathode. Their size must be selected so that their area is equal to the palm of a person. This will make our battery more efficient. Solder the wires to the plates. Now our task is to install the plates in the jar so that they do not touch each other. And the height of these plates should be greater than the can itself.

It's electrolyte time. It's easy to do. Mix ammonia with water. For every 0.1 liter of water you need to add 50 grams of powder. Mix everything thoroughly and pour into a jar. Instead of ammonia, you can also use sulfuric acid. To do this, it will need to be brought to a twenty percent state.

Important! If you make an electrolyte based on sulfuric acid, then when diluting it you need to pour the acid into water, but not vice versa. Otherwise, the water can simply boil, and as a result of a violent reaction, everything will splash out. In addition, do not forget that when working with acid you need to wear protective equipment.

Fill the jar with the resulting solution. If you combine several cans into a single circuit, you will get a very good battery, the energy of which is quite enough to charge a fairly powerful device. This battery is similar to salt batteries.

Homemade galvanic cell for autonomous power supply

Homemade galvanic cell for autonomous power supply

Volta element

To power and charge portable electronics in places where there is no power grid, simple chemical current sources and galvanic cells can be successfully used, along with other sources of electricity. Their use is possible at dachas for long-term residence in the absence of an electrical network, as well as in remote villages where there is either no electricity at all, or constant power outages. In Soviet Russia, chemical current sources or galvanic cells became widespread in amateur radio technology in the middle of the last century, since these sources are easy to manufacture and made from readily available materials. Now that portable electronics have become very economical in terms of power consumption, their power supply from homemade chemical current sources can be very effective, since such current sources were successfully used at the dawn of the development of radio engineering. Then the equipment consumed many times more electricity than modern equipment, and now with the development of energy-saving lighting technology. For example, LED lighting consumes 4-5 times less electricity than the consumption of a conventional light bulb. Also, modern mobile phones, PDAs and other gadgets consume no more, but even less, than radio equipment of past decades.

Attention!

The article contains spelling and punctuation errors, because... The material was taken from the site https://soliaris2010.narod2.ru , and the editing of the text remained almost the same as the original. Please don't judge harshly...

THE SIMPLE GALVANIC ELEMENT, VOLTA ELEMENT

Voltaic Column The first chemical current source was invented by the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta in 1800. It was Volta's element - a vessel with salt water with zinc and copper plates lowered into it, connected by wire. The scientist then assembled a battery from these elements, which was later called the Voltaic Column. This invention was subsequently used by other scientists in their research. For example, in 1802, Russian academician V.V. Petrov constructed a Voltaic column of 2100 elements to produce an electric arc. In 1836, English chemist John Daniel improved the Voltaic element by placing zinc and copper electrodes in a solution of sulfuric acid. This design became known as the “Daniel cell.” In 1859, French physicist Gaston Plante invented the lead-acid battery. This type of element is still used in car batteries. In 1865, the French chemist J. Leclanchet proposed his galvanic cell (Leclanchet cell), which consisted of a zinc cup filled with an aqueous solution of ammonium chloride or other chloride salt, in which an agglomerate of manganese (IV) oxide MnO2 with carbon conductor. A modification of this design is still used today in salt batteries for various household devices. In 1890, in New York, Conrad Hubert, an immigrant from Russia, creates the first pocket electric flashlight. And already in 1896, the National Carbon company began mass production of the world's first dry cells, Leclanche "Columbia". The longest-lived galvanic cell is the zinc-sulfur battery, manufactured in London in 1840. A bell connected to it still works to this day. The simplest copper-zinc element consists of two electrode plates immersed in an electrolyte solution; when immersed in the electrolyte, a potential difference arises between the metals. When a copper plate and a zinc plate are immersed in a solution of sodium chloride, a potential difference of approximately 1 volt occurs, and one element, regardless of its size, has a voltage of one volt, and the power of such an element depends on its size and the area of ​​the plates immersed in the electrolyte. To obtain a higher voltage, these elements, like the Zovod batteries, are connected in series to obtain the required voltage.

CHARACTERISTICS OF COPPER-ZINC ELEMENT Copper-zinc current sources. The production of these chemical current sources began back in 1889. Currently, they are produced on a small scale in the form of cells with a capacity of 250 to 1000 Ah. Smooth zinc plates and plates made from a mixture of copper oxide, copper and a binder are placed in a glass or metal vessel with a 20% NaOH solution. The elements have a voltage of 0.6-0.7 V and a specific energy of 25-30 Wh/kg. Their advantages include constant discharge voltage, very low self-discharge, trouble-free operation and low price. Used in signaling and communication systems on railways. In real conditions, the energy intensity can vary greatly and it depends on the area of ​​the plastic, the purity of the metals and the density of the electrolyte. An element assembled in a liter jar, with plates of maximum area, a twenty percent salt solution in the form of an electrolyte, produces a voltage of 0.6-1.1 volts , 10-20A/h, but in such elements the discharge current is very small, and the circuit current can be about 100-150 mA/h, and the less the connected source consumes, the more electricity the copper-zinc element can generate. An element assembled in a liter jar with a discharge current of 50 mAh will work from 200 hours to 400 hours or more, but over time the plates oxidize and the voltage drops, and eventually the element stops working. To restore the element, you need to replace the electrolyte and clean the plates from oxidation and the element will work again. The oxidation process depends on the discharge current; the higher it is, the faster the element will fail, but on average an element in a liter jar before cleaning and recharging will work for about 3-4 months at a discharge current of 50 mAh, and at a discharge current of 2- 5 mAh will last for a year or more. A simple liter cell is not enough to power even a simple miniature radio, and in order to obtain the necessary characteristics you need to assemble a block of several elements. Nowadays, basically all portable electronics are powered by a voltage of 3.6-4.5 volts, and in order to get such numbers you need to connect 4-5 such elements in series; if you connect 5 liter elements, you get about 3.5-4.8 volt, and the capacity increases to 40-50 A/h, and the discharge current can reach 400-600 mA/h, therefore, such a source can easily cope with powering a small radio or LED flashlight, as well as charging miniature phone batteries within 10-30 hours. But such a source will not be enough to power powerful LED flashlights and power modern phones and PDAs. FOR STABLE LONG-TERM AUTONOMOUS POWER POWER FOR PORTABLE ELECTRONICS, you will need something larger, for example, an element with a capacity as in the figure, volume 40-50 liters, for stable power supply of portable indoor LED lamps and other equipment. To make such a chemical source of electricity you will need: 5 copper plates measuring 20x40, and 5 of the same zinc plates, then each plate needs to be soldered or pressed by bending the corner of the plate, insert a wire and flatten it with a hammer. Afterwards, the plates need to be secured to each other through electrically conductive spacers (a wooden block or a plastic tube), then we lower them into containers with electrolyte, this is either a solution of table salt or a solution of ammonia or a solution of sulfuric acid (auto electrolyte), then we connect the resulting batteries in series, that is The copper plate of one element is connected through wiring to the zinc plate of another element. As a result, on one side of the resulting block there remains a copper plate with wiring (+), and on the other a zinc plate (-). The larger the area of ​​the plates and the better the electrolyte, the higher the efficiency of such a current source.

HOMEMADE COPPER VIOLATE ELEMENT In this homemade design, due to the unavailability of pure zinc, an aluminum electrode is used, but the e.m.f. aluminum is lower than that of zinc, is 0.5 V, that is, one can gives only 0.5 volts, because of this the device consists not of 4 cans for a voltage of 3.5-4 volts, but of 6 to get at least 3.6 volts. When testing this device there were no measuring instruments, but as can be seen from the photo, the device freely provides the glow of 12 LEDs - current consumption is 150-200 mA, and charges a mobile phone - current consumption is about 400 mA. When tested, the cell charged a phone battery with a capacity of 750 mA in 2.40 minutes. Approximate technical characteristics of a cell battery consisting of 6 cans, with a capacity of 0.33 liters: 3.7 Volts, circuit current about 500 mA, capacity 25-30 A/h. During the test, the battery of cells worked stably on one tablespoon of vitriol for about 100 hours at a discharge current of approximately 200 mA/h, now the device works the same way, but the current is much less and is about 80 mA/h, the vitriol is almost spent, so if you do the math , then you can determine how long the elements will generally work on a certain amount of vitriol, powering certain devices.

PRODUCTION PROCEDURE

IN THIS DESIGN, ALUMINUM CANS (BEER) AND OTHER ALUMINUM PRODUCTS WERE USED AS AN ALUMINUM ELECTRODE.

IF ALUMINUM CANS WILL BE USED, THEY SHOULD BE CLEANED CAREFULLY OF THE PROTECTIVE INNER LAYER AND EXTERNAL INSTRUCTIONS, SINCE THEY DO NOT PASS CURRENT.

First, the inner surface of the jar is coated with Vaseline or lard at a distance of 3-4 centimeters from the top edge of the jar, this is done in order to prevent salt crystals from crawling out of the element’s vessel. Next, a cylinder is made from a thin sheet of copper, or brass or lead according to the inner diameter and height of the can. Next, you need to make double slits in the cylinder on one side to a depth of 4-5 mm, and bend the resulting brackets outward so that the cylinder hangs on them, on the neck of the jar, not reaching the bottom of the jar by 5 cm, after production solder a copper wire to it, this will be (+). Next, a diaphragm is made, the diaphragm is made of cardboard, a cardboard cylinder is made along the length of the can, or shorter than the can by 5 cm, and then a cardboard bottom is sewn to it with threads, so that there are no gaps left, and the stitching areas are impregnated with hot paraffin to seal it bottom from liquid leakage. Next, several layers of parchment or newsprint, previously soaked in a salty solution, are tightly wound onto the cylinder so that there are no air gaps left, and after the resulting “glass” is tightly sheathed with fabric wrapped in several layers for mechanical strength. Then a ring is glued or sewn onto the top of the diaphragm so that the glass does not fall through, and the attachment points are coated with hot paraffin, a hole is made in the ring through which water is poured into the jar and a stirrer is inserted to stir the vitriol. Then a solution of table salt should be poured into the diaphragm and left for several hours; a properly assembled diaphragm should not leak, and its surface should only be damp. Next, along the inner diameter of the diaphragm, a cylinder is made from a zinc sheet; a copper wire is soldered to it, which will serve as ( -), the zinc cylinder must fit freely into the diaphragm, but at the same time be as close as possible to its walls, that is, closer to the copper cylinder, in order to reduce internal resistance and, accordingly, increase efficiency.

ASSEMBLY OF ELEMENT. In a clean jar, if 0.5 liters, pour a tablespoon of copper sulfate, insert a stirrer, and then install a diaphragm filled with a solution of table salt, then pour water into the hole for the stirrer, and then insert zinc into the diaphragm cylinder, after assembly the element is completely ready for operation, all that remains is to connect the elements in series, like ordinary batteries, and power and charge the devices. The use of a porous diaphragm is due to the separation of electrolytes, that is, the separation of vitriol crystals and brine from mixing, otherwise the vitriol reacts violently and is consumed too quickly, even when the element is not in use, and through the diaphragm the flow of vitriol is uniform and economical, which ensures long-term operation of the current source - galvanic cell.. Hoopoe after element consists of periodically filling vitriol, changing the electrolyte and cleaning the electrodes from oxidation. With a current consumption of about 600 mA (cell phone), a battery consisting of 4 half-liter cells will work on one filling of vitriol (4 tablespoons) for about a month, provided it is used every day for about 6 hours. .When the power drops, the copper sulfate must be shaken periodically with a stirrer. During operation within a month, about 100 g of vitriol will be consumed, and 40 g. zinc

Note. If you replace zinc with aluminum, then you need not 4 or 5 elements, but 6 or 7, connected in series, since the emf. aluminum is lower than that of zinc, and amounts to 0.4-0.6 V.

DIY coin battery

Even the coins that are in your wallet or piggy bank can generate electric current. From coins you can build the simplest galvanic cell, which in science is called a Voltaic column. We need to prepare:

• several copper coins (such as coins of fifty and ten kopecks);
• food foil;
• several sheets of paper;
• table vinegar or a solution of water and salt.

To make our structure look aesthetically pleasing, it would be better to use coins of the same denomination. Before conducting the experiment, you need to wash all the coins in vinegar. He will wash away all the dirt from them. Now we take scissors and cut rounds from paper and foil, the same shape as coins. The number of these blanks should be two less than the number of coins.

Now let's assemble our energy column:

1. We take a piece of paper, soak it in vinegar and attach it to a coin.
2. Place foil on paper.
3. Now again the coin.
4. Until we finish adding the coins, we repeat everything sequentially.
5. As a result, there will be a coin at one end of the structure. This is the positive pole, the other end will have foil. This is the negative pole.

The more coins you can collect, the greater the tension. The coins cannot be reused. After the experiment they will already be rusty.

Method 4. External energy storage with a solar battery

Another interesting option. As daylight hours begin to increase, it is timely to discuss the benefits of solar energy storage. You'll see how to make a portable charger that can be charged from solar energy storage panels.

We have to:

• Lithium-ion energy storage 18650 format,
• Case from the same drives
• 5V 1A voltage boost module.
• Charge board for battery.
• Solar panel 5.5 V 160 mA (any size)
• Wiring for connection
• 2 diodes 1N4007 (others are possible)
• Velcro or double-sided tape for fixation
• Hot melt adhesive
• Resistor 47 Ohm
• Contacts for energy storage (thin steel plates)
• A pair of toggle switches

IMPORTANT. It is recommended to use the drive together with a protection board to avoid damage.

Basic circuit of an external battery

1. Let's study the basic circuit of an external battery.

The diagram shows 2 connecting wires of different colors. Red is connected to “+”, black to “-”.

1. It is not recommended to solder the contacts to the lithium-ion battery, so we will put terminals in the housing and secure them with hot glue.
2. The next task is to place the voltage increase module and charging board for the battery. To do this, we make holes for the USB input and USB output 5 V 1 A, a toggle switch and wiring to the solar panel.
3. We solder a resistor (resistance 47 Ohms) to the USB output, on the reverse side of the module that increases the voltage. This makes sense for charging an iPhone. The resistor will solve the problem with the same control signal that starts the charging process.
4. To make the panels easier to carry, you can attach the panel contacts using 2 small female-male contacts. Alternatively, you can connect the main body and panels using Velcro.
5. We place a diode between 1 contact of the panel and the energy storage charge board. The diode should be placed with the arrow pointing towards the charge board. This will prevent the solar panel from draining the storage battery.

IMPORTANT. The diode is placed in the direction FROM the solar panel TO the charge board.

How many charges will this Power Bank last? It all depends on the capacity of your battery and the capacity of the gadget. Remember that discharging lithium drives below 2.7 V is highly undesirable.

As for the charge of the device itself. In our case, we used solar panels with a total capacity of 160 mAh, and the battery capacity was 2600 mAh. Therefore, under the condition of direct rays, the battery will charge in 16.3 hours. Under normal conditions - about 20–25 hours. But don't let these numbers scare you. It will charge via miniUSB in 2-3 hours. Most likely, you will use the solar panel when traveling, hiking, or long trips.

Electricity in a beer can

After drinking canned beer, do not rush to throw away the empty can. It will make a good battery. To do this you will need:

• beer can (they are made from food grade aluminum);
• fire charcoal or coal dust;
• paraffin candle;
• graphite pencil lead;
• water and salt;
• a piece of foam plastic - the foam should be more than a centimeter thick.

Cut off the top of the can. We cut a circle out of foam plastic so that its diameter matches the jar. We make a hole in the foam, but not through. We will install a graphite rod in the hole. Place polystyrene foam on the bottom of the jar and insert the rod. The graphite rod should be exactly in the center of the can. We fill everything around the rod with coal dust.

Important! Make sure that the rod does not touch the walls of the jar.

Now we make a solution of salt and water. To do this, take half a liter of water and add three tablespoons of salt into it. Mix everything thoroughly so that all the salt is completely dissolved. It will dissolve faster and better if the water is heated. We pour our electrolyte into a jar and seal everything with paraffin. The graphite rod should rise above the level of the can.

We connect one wire to the rod - this is the positive contact. And the second wire to the wall of the can is the negative contact. If you make a circuit of two cans, you can get a voltage of three volts. This battery can power a light bulb.

Advantages and disadvantages of homemade products

The advantages of self-assembling a Power Bank include:

• the ability to create devices with increased voltage or capacity;
• components of old products, lithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride batteries left over from household or computer equipment are used for manufacturing;
• It is possible to replace some of the batteries that have failed during operation (when using a collapsible box).

Disadvantages of homemade equipment:

• Electrical knowledge and skills in working with soldering equipment are required;
• requires the purchase or independent production of a charging unit (with an overdischarge protection circuit) and a booster module;
• difficulty in finding a box of a suitable configuration;
• rough appearance of the device (except when factory casings are used);
• shorter service life compared to factory products;
• lack of additional elements (power switch, control diodes or auxiliary connectors);
• risk of damage to external equipment when charging due to errors in the installation or assembly of the voltage regulator;
• When using high-quality components, the final cost of the charger is comparable to the price of factory devices.

Potato battery

If you have potatoes at home, then this is quite an energetic thing. True, one-time use. The potato battery can only be used once. For example, on a hike.

To obtain the battery, we will prepare the following elements:

• you will need large potatoes;
• copper wires in insulation;
• toothpaste;
• wood chips or toothpicks;
• table salt.

Cut the potatoes into two parts. It is advisable to do this lengthwise to get a larger cutting area. Cut out the core in one half to create a hole. Place a mixture of toothpaste and salt in this hole. The composition should fill the entire recess. This mixture will act as an electrolyte.

We make two holes in another piece of potato. The distance between the holes should be such that both are located above the electrolyte mixture when both halves are connected. These holes are needed for wires. The ends of the wires must be stripped of insulation to a length of two centimeters. Now we connect both parts of the potatoes and, so that they do not fall apart, we fix them with toothpicks.

We wait five minutes for the reaction to begin. Now we close the wires and see a spark at the end. This is how you can safely light a fire with a potato battery at a camping stop.

A battery made from coins, or a Voltaic pillar, is an interesting experience, although not very useful.

• 2 Pages
• 1
• 2
• →

• You cannot create a new topic
• You can't reply to the topic

#1 MityaKiller

• Inventor

• Group: Users
• Posts: 455
• Registration: 31 August 10

In general, we will need: 1) The actual coins, definitely copper (Russian 50 and 10 kopecks)! 2) Vinegar or highly salted water (electrolyte is shorter) 3) Aluminum foil 4) Paper (although this is not necessary)

Let's begin! First, make sure that the coins are not dirty, otherwise they will have to be washed. We take a piece of paper and cut it into squares so that they can cover the coin. Soak the resulting pieces of paper in electrolyte. Next, we begin to build the battery. We add the components according to the scheme: coin - piece of paper - piece of foil - coin - piece of paper - piece of foil - . etc. We do this until we run out of patience/foil/coins/electrolyte. When something runs out, take a multimeter and measure the voltage. I got a maximum of 18 volts (15 volts in the photo). That's all. I was not able to power the circuit with such a battery, apparently the charge is small. Well, here are the actual photos: