Imhotep's Lab Interactive FAQ

I'm seeing 0.6 to 0.9 volts from a copper coated penny,
toilet paper, aluminum foil and one drop of hydrogen peroxide.

I cheated and used hydrogen peroxide.

Question is how to construct easy to make cells?
Next question is how to easily connect the cells?

I have an easy to make cell, it just doesn't connect together well.

Maybe you can build it like Bob Boyce HHO cell.

John Hutchison, made battery out of rock, worth trying.

energy is good but oxidation is very high with hydrogen peroxide.
If you are in a pinch and need something to work hydrogen peroxide is the ticket for a short go of it.

John isn't talking, he tell ya to go figure it out for yourself
and tells you to read this and read that.

Can expect 1.3 volts to 2.1 volts

3 cells were sitting at 1.3 volts and I didn't touch nothing and
it bounces around and now it's at 1.94 volts solid.

If I blow on them the voltage changes .. Hold your breath when metering these

Follow up, I purchased a new meter because I blewout the amps on the old one. The above little cells do about 15 mAmps.

Zinc screws or tin sheeting both are only zinc coated and probably
would not last as long as Aluminum Can.
Zinc puts out more voltage than an Aluminum.

You must mess up the coating on the inside of the Aluminum Can before you will see anything worth working with. Don't bother trying otherwise. Heating the can until the paint blackens and starts to smoke or even longer until the blackening starts to fade away will bust up the coating inside the Aluminum Can for cell use.

Using WATER only as the solution:
1/4" copper tubing will get you 0.7-0.9 volt at 100 mA in a 12 oz can.
Spiraled, 12 awg non-solid, wire will get same volts and 150 mA in a 12 oz can.

I'm trying to think up a smaller cell size than using the entire Aluminum Can. It is said the closer the materials used are to each the better they perform. A custom cell would allow for closer fit of the materials used.

Seems like you are on the right track V!
Good work, I will watch this topic... Making batteries from waste materials is truly FREE ENERGY, IMO!

NOPE, I was not reading my new analog meter correctly. 1st one I've ever used.
I was using the wrong scale.
That's 0.3 mA not 150 mA .. ah , can you say Holy CRAP.

Hey I was reading the volts correctly.

haha, try a Simpson meter... it has about 10 scales on the face and you have to
pick and interpret the proper one, based on your scale selected.
Seems like some readings are way too high, and can scare you!

I had a secret at the time I figured out I misread the amps.

The reason I was building these small cells is because the size didn't much matter for the voltage.. they all put out around the same voltage. It's STRANGE.

So I had already started building 5 larger cells because I figured those would put out more amps. Then the misreading the amps got me down some.

Well, tried Epsom Salts, a little hydrogen peroxide and it wasn't looking good.
I was getting over 2 volts from the 5 cells but when I metered the amps the voltage dropped to 0.2 volts. So I walked away from it.

Then I got to thinking. Ah, that works.

I was getting over 10 mA at 2+ volts, that's a Joule Thief running a SG right? If it is pulsed it might not take much out of the cells ..as metering them does.
So I'm trying bleach now. 1 tsp divided up between the 5 cells.
Then I thought, hey .. I'll charge them.
They do seem to be taking a charge, cool beans.
Still don't know how long the cells will last, the copper will last
like forever and the Alum is cheap and easy to replace.

The 5 - 1.5" x .75" cells were up to 5.5 volts and 30 mA (yes, I'm reading it correctly now). On two cells the soldering came loose. I figured that was going to happen and yep it did, bad design from the get go.

I broke-down all 5 cells and rebuilt each container (a couple were leaking water), created new Soda-Can shells, created custom connectors between cells. The coil, meaning just the shape of the copper wiring placed inside the shell, remained the same.
Before I broke them down I was using distilled water only.
Now I'm using tap water.
I'm IRO changing them and the cells bubble ...
The rebuilt cells are showing promise, volts come first easily but building the amps up takes longer.
My analog meter has a gap in reading between 0.5 mA and 1 mA where I can't get a reading. It pegs out on the 0.5 mA scale.
I hope this time I'll have something I can run the joule thief with and do a load test on.

Strange to note: I stopped the charging. Metered each cell and two cells were NEGATIVE voltage. I thought, hey that isn't good. I disconnect the end cell showing negative which happen to be the negative end of the battery for charging.
Metered it again.. Positive. Hey come-on now. What twilight zone am I in? Metered the other one that was negative, positive.. Ok, whatever. the total voltage of the battery started rising after reconnection of all cells together. Well,dah.
So, check your cells often .. kinda hard to charge them if some are negative and some are positive.