Each month this year, we’re exploring a different electronic component, delving into what it is, how it works, and how you use it in projects. Last month we looked at batteries. This month, we’ll tackle the resistor, the job of which is to limit the flow of electricity and thereby control it, guiding it toward […]
The technology behind lead-acid batteries has been largely unchanged for the last hundred years, and the batteries themselves are so pervasive because they’re easy and inexpensive to manufacture. Author T.J. Lindsay sifted through reams of ancient publications and distilled them into a practical 48 page manual for folks looking to use these batteries as an alternative energy source.
DIY expert Mikey Sklar uses his Da Pimp battery desolator and charger to recover a totally dead and dry SLA battery. You know you’ve seen these big lugs floating around — next time, you’ll know how to recover it.
While not terribly practical for outputting large amounts of electricity, this “gravity battery” demonstrated by YouTube guru MrTeslonian shows a fun way of generating electricity. In his video he mentions a 25′ version with a pair of water-filled jugs, and when one jug hits the bottom, a pump is triggered that refills the empty jig […]
This fun instructable by egbertfitzwilly shows how to make a microbial fuel cell out of jello, yeast, and carbon paper. Here’s how it works, we’re going to mix a little Jello brand Instant Gelatin with some Fleischmann’s Active Yeast and a few drops of plant food. Once that solidifies we’re going to cut out some […]
Uber-maker Mikey Sklar demonstrates how to charge, test, and recover a sealed 12V lead-acid battery from the dumpster, using his Power In My Pocket open source kit.
What goes on, exactly, inside those AAA batteries powering your LED flashlight? The short answer is: Chemistry. Chemical reactions can encourage electrons to flow out from one terminal and back to the other, doing some useful work along the way. Meanwhile, inside the battery, positive ions, also known as electron-holes, are changing places. Eventually the chemical reactions run down, and the battery stops delivering power. If it is a rechargeable type, you can force the electrons and the positive ions to go back where they started, ready to run again.
