Branch's Crystal Battery

[Branch Gordon]

Ok I built the forced oscillator circuit John B. describes in DVD 29. Used 45ft of 40AWG copper wire to make my coil. You can see in the vid it's lighting up 4 LED's...but not bright enough to be useful.

In the DVD, John hooks up a single bowl to an array of 5 LED's, and they are VERY bright. How in the hell did he do that haha? I shot some video:

Only thing I can think of is that maybe these cells put out more power when they are first created, and then once they form and dry out a bit it settles down to around 30mA.

[Tom C]

Branch,

I watched the spot on the DVD that you mentioned, and it was right after he made them, I dont think he expected them to stay at that current. wind that wire on a smaller bobbin like one used for a sewing machine for the bottom thread, more turns, bigger field. start with one led, and put a potentiometer in there and tune for brightest point. ... I used to use a pair of those presonus mic pres.... 8 channels they were a good value at the time.

Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

Hi Tom-

Are these what you are referring to: http://www.ebay.com/itm/50pcs-of-Sty...item1c3fe479c6

I don't understand what you mean by you used a pair of presonus mic pres? I have the presonus eureka...are you saying you used some of the components inside one?

Also, would you recommend sticking with the 40AWG wire?

Branch,

I watched the spot on the DVD that you mentioned, and it was right after he made them, I dont think he expected them to stay at that current. wind that wire on a smaller bobbin like one used for a sewing machine for the bottom thread, more turns, bigger field. start with one led, and put a potentiometer in there and tune for brightest point. ... I used to use a pair of those presonus mic pres.... 8 channels they were a good value at the time.

Tom C

[Tom C]

sorry to confuse you branch on the vid you can see a presonus rack unit below your circuit, on the shelf. I had 2 of them in my rack in the studio at church. I liked how they sounded as a converter. yes those bobbins are what I am talking about.

go to this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xSqL-gc07o at 4:33 you can see the bobbins on the big oscillators on the big crystal lamp

Tom

[Branch Gordon]

Oh haha, yeah they have a great tone for their price. I got mine I think for $75 on ebay a couple years ago.

I'm going to order some bobbins, and wind up a new coil... Thank you for the tips!

sorry to confuse you branch on the vid you can see a presonus rack unit below your circuit, on the shelf. I had 2 of them in my rack in the studio at church. I liked how they sounded as a converter. yes those bobbins are what I am talking about.

go to this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xSqL-gc07o at 4:33 you can see the bobbins on the big oscillators on the big crystal lamp

Tom

[Branch Gordon]

Shot a video of how I make my crystal cells. I try to follow closely what John B. does.

Where I buy my bowls: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LARGE-TRADIT...item461e958a9d
Where I buy my alum: http://www.myspicesage.com/alum-powder-p-531.html
Where I bought my hotplate: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aroma-AHP-30...item5404989d2d
Magnesium rod used: http://www.amazon.com/Magnesium-Extr.../dp/B001QUXDNY
Borax: http://www.amazon.com/Borax-Laundry-...ule+team+borax

I had Teslagenx cut my magnesium for me as I didn't feel like messing with it. They did a great job with the drilling and the cut.

Video here:

[Branch Gordon]

And here is another video comparing my cell with holes to my cell without holes. With holes does about 12mA better currently (increased surface area).

[Branch Gordon]

Update on my new cell with the holes drilled in. I just put about 7ml of water into it, and let it sit for about 30 min short circuited on the multimeter.

Pretty decent improvement in performance from the cells without holes. Since I've been typing it's risen to 89.3mA. Again this is after about 30 minutes.

[Billy]

Wow I can't believe no one has pointed this out to you. But you whole issue with your lack of current. Ok your copper bowl is very deep and your magnesium seems to be around2 inches above the bottom of the bowl. Johns magnesium is rounded off on the edges so it can be as close to the sides and bottom of the bowl. A few posts back you mentioned the John says the thinner the crystal layer the better. I think your mags diameter is to large for your bowls. Also your alum seemed to be real chunky try and grinding the crystal into a fine powder.

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks for the tips Billy! I stepped away from this project for a bit, but hopefully will circle back around to it before the end of the year...

Wow I can't believe no one has pointed this out to you. But you whole issue with your lack of current. Ok your copper bowl is very deep and your magnesium seems to be around2 inches above the bottom of the bowl. Johns magnesium is rounded off on the edges so it can be as close to the sides and bottom of the bowl. A few posts back you mentioned the John says the thinner the crystal layer the better. I think your mags diameter is to large for your bowls. Also your alum seemed to be real chunky try and grinding the crystal into a fine powder.

[metallman]

Really nice! I will give it a try.
Cheers!

[Branch Gordon]

Sharing a new project I've started. Trying to convert a solar LED table lamp I purchased on Ebay to run off of some small crystal cells.

Here is a link to the lamp: Solar LED Table Lamp

It run off of a AAA battery by default, and has a small solar panel on top to charge that. It senses when it gets dark and will turn on at dusk.

I can fit three of the little cells I made inside of the base, out of sight. I can run wires up through the middle to the circuit at the top.

I used 3/4" copper caps. Magnesium rods from HERE. Alum from HERE.

You can see from the photos below that it will run off of two of these small cells in series, however it's not as bright as when it's running off of the included AAA battery.





I'm trying to determine the best way to go about maximizing the potential of this lamp. I could take out the exising circuit and run each of the 3 crystal cells to their own LED on a Bedini Earth Light Circuit. Or I could hook them all in series (or parallel) and run them into an oscillator circuit and tune it (although I'm not too sure on the specs with that).

Really want to nail down a solid way to make this look nice while maintaining solid functionality. It's great that it's already a lamp type design, which means the wife doesn't have to look at a random copper bowl sitting out with wiring and an LED sticking out of it somewhere haha.

Was also thinking I can mount a POT right on the base of the lamp for tuning, and drill holes in the sides for venting and easy access to add water to the cells.

Any suggestions on circuitry or wiring ideas? Thanks for reading.

[Bluebatch]

There are a lot of new low power applications in today's devices that would be perfect for a nearly permanent battery. Smoke alarms and such have 10 year batteries now, and a lot of remotes, like for tv, car locks, and now commercial lighting would be a perfect application. Clocks too.