SS projects, solar hot water design - Sunsaver's tech stuff

[sunsaver]

In the video i saw, he was using an ice tray to seperate the cells so the voltages can be added in series. He admits to adding lemon juice to the dirt in order to get enough amperage to light the LED.
I like to fully understand the physics behind something, before i invest the time and money to build a prototype. That's why im doing these experiments, and im posting the results here so that others can repeat them or help explain the results. If i could just power an LED to keep my bathroom lit up all night, that would be a practical application. Earth batteries are supposed to last for years with no maintenance, so that would be "free" electricity. The highest voltage i've been able to achieve is .9 volts with no measureable current, so the verdict is still out on earth batteries. I've read about induction coils being used, but no clear drawings or precise explaination of how they are generating high voltages from the earth. Mosty of them seem to be trying to sell "secret" Tesla plans than the gov has concealed. Yeah right! Then how did that dummy get his hands on it!
Yesterday i put four pairs of copper and steel bars in the ground in a row, alternating steel and copper bars, about one foot apart. I connected each "cell" in series with copper wire. The difference in potential between the left most steel bar and right most copper pipe was 710 millivolts. When i disconnected the copper wires, the reading jumped up to 740 millivolts. This is not what i expected. When i removed all of the steel bars, leaving just one steel bar to the left, and four copper pipes about every two feet to the right, the reading between the outer most copper pipe and the steel bar was still 740 millivolts. The reading between the steel bar and the first copper pipe was 710 millivolts. The reading between the steel bar and the next pipe at four feet away was 720 millivolts. The next was 730 millivolts, and again, the reading between the steel bar and furthest copper pipe was 740 mv. When i removed the three pipes in the middle, the reading dropped to 710 mv. I then moved the copper pipe out to 12 feet away. The reading was still 710 millivolts.
It appeared that simply putting more copper in the ground somehow increased the voltage. The distance between the two electrodes seemed to have little effect. If anything, the readings where higher, the further apart they where. I will do a controlled experiment later today to confirm or disprove this. If i can eliminate electrolysis as the voltage source, this would leave induction or the Hall effect as the only means by which the Earth battery does what it does, unless there is some electrical phenomenon that i don't know about

 

[Marianne]

I'm really interested in your results. Years ago I wanted to mess with this. All DH said was that I wouldn't get enough 'juice' to really do anything. But I think that was pre-LED...long time ago, anyway.

For your bathroom, what about one of those little solar outdoor lights? Just bring it inside after it's charged all day. Won't be much light, but it'd be something. I plan on using them at my place when the power is off.

 

[Farmfresh]

I am following these experiments with interest.

For a bathroom light my GEEK son fixed me up a 9 volt battery, a capacitor and an LED light rig to use when we were rewiring my bathroom. That darned little contraption lighted my bathroom at night perfectly well for a LONG LONG time. (I rewire slow sometimes. )

We just scootched the wire which was under some black tape to turn it off and on.

 

[sunsaver]

Yesterday i repeated the experiments of the day before, and i was not able to see the "additive" effect at all. Although i did get different reading at different distances, these differences appear to be caused by variations in soil consistency and moisture. In my neighbor's lawn, which is very uniform, the reading was consistently about 800 millivolts regardless of distance, configuration, number of pipes, hooked in series or parallel, etc.. I was not able to get a useful amount of electricity.
With all the rain that we had, i began to suspect that the ground was merely acting as an electrolyte. I decided to make a wet cell to test this idea. In the past ive made wet cells using acid or vinager. However, my soil is not acid. I dont know much about chemistry, but i do know that sulfer has a lot of free ions, and that it is often used as an electrolyte, such as sulfuric acid. So i figured i would try epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) to make my wet cell. I took a half pint jelly jar, and put the short piece of copper pipe and angle iron inside. I took a used plastic grocery bag, and wedged it in between the two electrodes to keep them from contacting each other. I then made a concentrated solution of epsom salt and tap water. I pour this into the little mason jar, and measured the voltage across the two electrodes (the copper is positive, the steel negative). The reading was 750 millivolts. This seems to indicate that the earth was acting like an electrolyte, and the voltage obtained is due to the electropotential difference of the two metals, and not some mysterious force in the ground.
I was disappointed that an earth battery would not be practical for me to use, but what about the wet cell? I decided to make 3 more of these little jelly jar cells, and hooked all four of them in series. The reading was 3 volts. I hooked up a superbright LED from a flashlight and it lit up! But not very bright. I decide to make 4 more cells, and i hooked those in series to make an 8 cell battery. The output is 5.3 volts, and the LED is shining bright enough to see around or read by, but still not to full intensity. This is because of the high internal resistance of the battery. The one good thing about this type of wet cell is that if it is kept full of water, it will run almost indefinately. It can be "refueled" with scrap metal and dirt cheap epsom salts. This type of wet cell battery is not rechargeable. It's like a disposable dry cell battery. It will last until the iron is all gone, or the electrolyte stops conducting electrons. With a drain of only .5 milliamps, i expect it will run for decades. A few more cells, and that LED should be nice and bright as a flashlight. This first prototype is going in my bathroom, so i can see the toilet when i get up in the middle of the night!
It may not be able to run any appliances or electronic toys, but permenant LED lighting sounds cool! Imagine walking into an abandend old house in the woods, thats been vacant for twenty years, and there's LED spot lights turned on, all over the house! Spooky!
Well im going test some other electrolytes, proximity of the electrodes, surface area effects, etc. Im willing to have a shorter battery life if i can get more current. One idea is to make a hundred or more cells to get up around 100 volts, then convert it to vac, then step down the voltage in order to boost the current.

 

[sunsaver]

Just read your comment, FF. Great minds think alike. The bathroom gets the forever light first!

 

[sunsaver]

Well, i seem to be hitting up against a diminshed return. Above 9 volts or so, adding more voltage (more cells in series) does not seem to be making the LED light get any brighter. I think this is due to the internal resistance of the battery. Currently i have about 12 volts. The LED is bright enough to read by or see the toilet, so im satisfied that it is a practical means of emergency, back-up lighting for my solar power system. One strange phenomenon is, when the LED is disconnected and the voltmeter connected, the reading will often be about 3.5 volts. Over a period of about 3-5 minutes, the voltage will gradually climb back up to 12 volts. What is that all about? Weird self recharging?
Today i will try to make several batteries at about 6 volts each, and hook them in parallel to try and increase the current. I would like to get flashlight type of brilliance from the LED, but this might require a massive battery, or a more reactive electrolyte that will shorten the lifespan of the battery. Because im such a dummy about chemistry, i have to do trial and error type experiments. "If at first, you dont succeed..."
The LED has been on for almost 72 hours now, and the only indication that the battery is undergoing electrolysis is that the copper pipes appear slightly more clean and shiny where they are under the epsom salt electrolyte. I expect this is iron, tin, or zinc plating, as i am now using galvanized tin and copper flashing strips as my electrodes, to increase voltage and make it easy to build many cells. Today im going to ripoff the utube guy, and use ice trays for the cells. Im running out of mason jars!

 

[sunsaver]

Hooking groups of cells in parallel does increase the current. I haven't really done any more tests. Im still wondering about the mysterious self recharging that these batteries seem to do. I have no clue what would make the voltage slowly creep back up when the LED is disconnected.

 

[sunsaver]

Recently, ive been thinking about Nicola Tesla, Tesla coils, and other weird science. I remember as a kid, reading about crystal radios that were used for emergencies and power outages because they don't need any batteries. They are powered directly by the induction from radio waves, using a coil, tuning capacitor, and a diode (which they called a crystal detector, or "cat's whisker") I remember wondering how a cat's whisker could conduct electricity, until i learned that it's just a tiny wire.
So i was thinking that if radio waves can be be turned into audio signals, those tiny currents could be put into a Tesla coil to get huge voltages. Could i light a neon tube? Charge some small batteries? I'm going to go to Radio Shack and get some wire and parts to test this idea out. Free electricity from the air would be really cool. If nothing else, i'll have free radio!

 

[Icu4dzs]

SS et. al.
Greetings,
I've read over this entire string for the last few minutes and am not only intrigued but excited about your results. Science is so wonderful. You are definitely going to find the answer here and we all will benefit. You are using copper pipe. My question is, how easy is it to get into the ground? Have you tried differing diameters of copper pipe? What would happen if you filled the copper pipe with an electrolyte solution (even water)? I'm full of questions.

By the way SS, if you really want a light in the BR during those late night trips, my suggestion is a red LED rather than white because it won't wash out your night vision. I keep red lights all over the house as night lights so I can see but manage to keep my night vision. (learned this on the ship)

Now that you have told me this, I am going to mention the Tesla antenna. I read about it some time ago and thought maybe I should try it since I have about 100' of coaxial cable with which I am doing nothing at the moment.

I will find the description of it and post it unless you already have it.

My soil is very alkaline so I am going to make a few test batteries and get you some data.
by the way, I am a HAM but I got my license with just enough study to pass the test. On the other hand, K0xxx is a prior nuclear engineering tech withthe Navy and is a HAM. We need his input here.

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Trim sends

 

[GOOGLE NIKOLA TESLA]

telluric currents(earth currents) also transverse the earth from lighning strikes to cosmic events. it was so powerful that it burned out nongrounded telegraph wires and created very high voltage back in the 1850s to 1900s, this can also be partly to do with cosmic rays as well(free energy)
long nongrounded cattle fences have thrown people off them because of the stored charge, its interesting to think about the energy level in these examples.

if u guys want to check out some of my research you can go here, its the best i can do at the moment because of all the work and busy stuff going on.
www.youtube.com/boxa888
i love tesla as i have said, and i try really hard to prove his work
i show the tesla radiant energy patent remade with aluminum panels of sufficient area and grounded through a basic capacitor discharge circuit. (if you guys perform this always watch out for lightning strikes)
you can get radiant energy which is now called cosmic rays to run lights and motors, i show a basic charging of a capacitor, tesla was getting strong sparks from a similar device at colorado springs.i show how to build this for free, i dont want money for this, this is free energy technology, and all humans should improve it and share to make a perfect model for all. my device is weak but proves the radiant energy model. the videos i showed inspired alot of research and many people build this world wide,and have tested it to show its not just local radio, its a pretty cool effect.

heres the results video for tesla radiant energy another type of free energy device,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfN0HcKMNPc&feature=channel_video_title

i also show a wireless transmission of power from 2 modified tesla coils(the real wardenclyffe tower designs with no sparks) this demonstrates a distance of about twenty feet lighting up a florescent light. to me its the best ive seen on the net, and i dont have the money tesla had to fully develop the device.i feel it can go out into the 100s of feet but it costs some money to get there lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_L77-ZWqo&feature=channel_video_title

INTERESTING WAS THAT JUST THE LARGE COILS ALONE THAT I MADE FOR WIRELESS POWER,WERE PICKING UP A LOW FREQUECNY ENERGY FROM THE SURROUNDINGS, IT WAS ABLE TO MAKE A SPEAKER BUZZ, u cant hear it in the video but it was there, talk about free energy, it could be that simple lol. THANKS NIKOLA TESLA!

he was also a major reason america was so strong for 100 yrs!tesla implemented the first ac power grid that expanded across the country powering all forms of business, residential, and manufacturing. his ac motor technology reduced the power expenditure and his ac motors would last forever, this gave us the backbone in mass production and technology revolution, but we dont learn that in school which is very sad!