Author Topic: DIY rechargeable battery project  (Read 206 times)

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Offline CG

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DIY rechargeable battery project
« on: September 14, 2018, 09:11:33 am »
I am researching making a rechargeable battery for use in the emergency LED project. This is for Barbados. Hopefully the components in the Carib can be obtainable cheaply.
I'm thinking this:
A lead acid or other chemistry with led plates, maybe Potassium Alum or Magnesium Sulfate.
A non-spill or gel type electrolyte and maybe sealed against leaks.
This may be short time project due to difficulty and my getting discouraged.
I also may switch to carbon instead of lead. Whatever is best.

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guest4

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2018, 11:11:30 am »
Good morning CG,

Thanks very much for your kind efforts to create this battery.

I can confirm that these is  a substance sold here called Alum which I think is your Potassium Alum, also Magnesium Sulphate know as epson salts is easily available.

I fear this initiative may pose challenges to you in part because of the available materials in Caribbean countries, you can always check with me before testing/prototyping to confirm cost and availability of components before investing time and effort.

Best

AF


Offline CG

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2018, 06:27:17 pm »
Short project.
Most batteries you can MAKE are just toys and really don't come close to being usable.

guest31

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2019, 02:39:57 am »
Check out Robert Murray Smith  on YouTube he has some great videos on building active materials for batteries and supercapaitors as well as other things.
Here are a few videos to get you started toward learning how to make the materials or improve on an already existing lead acid battery but make it better so it becomes a cross between a capacitor and a battery, you are supposed to be able to repeatedly completely drain them to 0 without damaging them as well as charge them super fast and make them last longer/increase the number of charge/discharge cycles.

 How To Make An Ultrabattery
 ,

 How To Build A Better Battery
  ,

Making High Performance Supercapacitor Materials
 

Here is a video on how to easily make activated carbon, it does not use an autoclave and I don't know if carbonizing under pressure makes any difference  on the energy density of the finished carbon or not.

 Making Activated Carbon from Food Waste (The CCC Method)


 I'm just now getting started on trying to learn and experiment . According to Robert it is a lot better if you have some knowledge of chemistry which I don't have so for me it's just a matter of trial and error.   

Offline CG

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2019, 08:05:06 am »
@Shock Me.Thanks for the info. The lead acid improvement is interesting.
RMS keeps posting these videos but never can provide a spec sheet, so it's hard to gauge how useful his battery actually  is.
He has lots of competition from big companies that are designing batteries at the molecular level while he is still stuck at the chemistry set level.
I'm sceptical.
 Ive made a few batteries that I found diy videos on.
They just dont last or have any capacity to speak of. I gave up on the project.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2019, 07:42:54 am by CG »

Offline CG

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2019, 06:31:22 pm »
This looks easy.  Just need a non-sulphated battery.
I don't think it can be discharged to zero though.

guest31

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2019, 04:50:23 pm »
I managed to put a 1 cell battery together out of some carbonized comfrey that I carbonized and activated(I don't know for sure if it got activated or not). I used a solution of 25% Real Lemon  lemon juice and 75% water and left the carbon in the solution for 24 hours and then rinsed it and  baked it in the oven for 4 hours at about 275 degrees Fahrenheit. I made the current collector plates about the size of a credit/debit card from an aluminum soda can that I annealed on top of the cook stove and scrubbed the burned paint off with a Scotch-Brite. I wiped some sanding sealer on the current collectors then pressed the current collectors into the carbonized comfrey powder one at a time and let it dry for a short period of time, it might have been better if I had let them dry overnight. I used paper towel for a separator and comfrey tea for the electrolyte. It took quite a while to charge it the first time but I finally got 1.2 volts out of it. I kept trying to get more voltage but I was never able to and the carbon started flaking off the current collectors before I was able to see how much amperage it would hold/put out.  I will have to figure a better way to get the current collector and the carbon together so the carbon won't flake off, I was thinking maybe some aluminum screen, I don't know. I did attempt to carbonize some Cuban Oregano the other day but I don't know if it carbonzied properly or not yet.
I'll keep playing with this and see if I can come up with something worthwhile.
  The comfrey tea is made out of the Russian Bocking 14 comfrey leaves, I made it by cutting up the leaves until they filled a 5 gallon bucket and the filled the bucket up with water until it was just over the top of the comfrey, then I let it set and break down for 2 or 3 months. That variety of comfrey can only be grown from root or crown cutting, I got mine from a seller on ebay. I bought it because it is supposed to produce high levels of phosphorous that I was going to use to make my own fertilizer. Besides the phosphorous it is also supposed to pull up whatever minerals you have in your soil from as deep as  10 feet down so I have no Idea what is actually in it. You can get true comfrey seed a lot cheaper but I have heard that the germination rate is not very good.

Offline CG

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2019, 05:01:26 pm »
 make a horizontal cell. with the current collector on the bottom and the carbon on top of that , then another plate on top. like a stack of pancakes.? Clamp together with boards and nuts and bolts.
I still don't know anything about your electrolyte of 'comfrey tea'? Never heard of that one.
Robert m smith is using his battery to replace all lead acid batteries, which is a good application. I wonder if they will deep cycle?
click on image to zoom in.

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« Last Edit: November 27, 2019, 05:50:54 pm by CG »

guest31

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2019, 07:52:25 pm »
I don't really know what all is in the comfrey,  it is supposed to be high in phosphorous, but it is also supposed to pull up whatever minerals and nutrients are in the soil where it is grown as far as 10 feet down , it is probably not going to be the same for everyone. The tea is made by soaking/ breaking the leaves down in water over a month or two, there will still be some solids left that have not totally broken down after that length of time but  they can be strained and squeezed out . My thoughts were that a person could grow their own materials to make the active ingredients to build a battery and not have to buy much or anything.
 I don't know how that deal is going to work out for Robert, I assume that they can do deep cycle with what they have. I really thought he was able to produce something with a higher energy density than lead/acid, he may have just held that back for himself and not said anything to the people they sold out to and merged with.

Offline CG

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Re: DIY rechargeable battery project
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2019, 04:13:55 pm »
You could carbonize hemp like Smith does. Maybe from hemp rope.