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Ambient Energy LED lighting contest!

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LAN_403

Thu Feb 22 2007, 06:35PM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

Although I don't believe that there is any such thing as 'waste energy' in the classical sense (see my previous post in this thread about emitters needing a compatible receiver in order for propagation to occur), I'll pretend for a moment that I do. If this contest's definition includes energy by-products that would have 'gone to waste' anyway, as it seems to, then I think an earth battery is a viable method of making use of waste metal. There are acres and acres of trashed cars in junk yards, tons of metal in many countries all around the world, scrap and waste metal. Simply bury some trashed cars of slightly dissimilar metals in the ground deep enough to reach the dew line of your geographic area, then run wires so that propagation can occur, and you can power your LED for months, if not years. Typically, each 'pairing of trashed cars' will produce roughly between .4 and 1 volt (+/-) and plenty of amperage, so bury multiple pairs of cars and connect properly and you can get the voltage necessary to operate an LED. Been there, done that (except using waste metal smaller in size than cars for ease of handling, also powered fuel cells using V/amp output from waste metal in home-made sea batteries). There is enough energy released in the reaction between the scrap metals, metals that would have gone to waste anyway, to power many LEDS, fuel cells and a host of other appliances from this wasted metal. My 2 cents. CM

Steve Conner

Thu Feb 22 2007, 09:57PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Sure CM, if you want to make an earth battery and enter the contest, you're welcome. Hey, you're even welcome to enter your ionic collector if you like.

Bjorn, lighting an LED off batteries is too easy! You need to show some more imagination, the hydro turbine was good.

It'll probably be time for you guys to start voting soon. Does anyone else have an entry they want to submit first?

ShawnLG

Fri Feb 23 2007, 04:38AM

Registered Member #286 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 04:52AM
Location:
Posts: 399

"Bjorn, lighting an LED off batteries is too easy! You need to show some more imagination"
Not much imagination buy when it comes to size, this joule theif is unlike any other. Threading fly hair thin wire through a needle size hole was not eazy.

Myke

Fri Feb 23 2007, 06:13AM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

WOW!

that's small. How did you solder it? What ferrite ring and AWG did you use?

Steve Conner

Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:15AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

ShawnLG, that is pretty elite!

ShawnLG

Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:33AM

Registered Member #286 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 04:52AM
Location:
Posts: 399

"What ferrite ring and AWG did you use?"
I do not know what size ring. It is the smallest one I have. I do not know the AWG ether. It must be in the 100s.

Fri Feb 23 2007, 02:55PM

Banned on April 7, 2007
Registered Member #277 Joined: Fri Mar 03 2006, 10:15AM
Location: Florida
Posts: 157

Steve:

I still have some old earth batteries buried in my back yard somewhere, if I can find them. By now the grass has grown over them, might be a job for a metal detector. The neat thing about earth batteries is that if no propogation of energy occurs, the metal corrodes much slower than when a load is connected, so maybe they will still functional after all these years.. if I can find them.

Concerning enterning my HV ion-collectors into the contest, in retrospect it was my mistake for mentioning a technology that I wasn't fully willing to disclose. I should have anticipated that technical people would want to know the details of how such a system works, which of course, I really shouldn't go into until after the patent issues. I let my excitment, and the fact I have no one else here locally to discuss it with, get the better of me. So for now, eventho I remain very excited about it, I am trying to refrain from discussing it or entering it in a contest, but thanks for mentioning it. CM

WaveRider

Fri Feb 23 2007, 09:17PM

Registered Member #29 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 09:00AM
Location: Hasselt, Belgium
Posts: 500

What in the blue blazes is an "earth battery" and why would any sane person bury cars to light an LED? Sounds like affiliati del Sistema around Naples disposing of toxic waste by burying it around the countryside and then pointing out all he benefits of having it around, like free power and fertiliser for the olive groves! Beh!

Marko

Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:56PM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

You need to show some more imagination"
Not much imagination buy when it comes to size, this joule theif is unlike any other. Threading fly hair thin wire through a needle size hole was not eazy.

Aww, it's pity germanium transistors are obsolete and they don't make any of them in such little SMD packages :(

I wanted something efficient, so I decided to use a germanium transistor for my joule theif of choice. (It's featured on those pics with peltier in my last post).
I had trouble to get it running; it needed much more feedback turns than silicons and a fully closed core, but it was worth. I may put it in some kind of small box

The converter is able to start with as little as 120 milivolts of input voltage (LED glows enough to be seen in dark).

At 150 milivolts it's already nicely lit... and more than statisfactionary at 250mV..

It's only link to this contest, although, is use with peltier element, so not to be too much of thread jack. I wonder if some of you can design a better one without use of obsolete components

What in the blue blazes is an "earth battery" and why would any sane person bury cars to light an LED?

Oh.. in the beggining, 'earth batteries' were simple chemical batteries made of plates of different metals, adn were used both ar ground and power source for telegraphs.

Over time, it was discovered that even plates of same material tend to produce usable currents if stations are far apart enough (tens of miles or so). Telluric currents in earth's crust were enough to power the telegraphs without a battery to run out.

They aren't a plentiful energy source, and huge distances are needed for little power.

Generally, an earth battery made of two buried metal plates might just be as easy as lemon or potato battery, nothing much special about it.

Myke

Sat Feb 24 2007, 12:00AM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

I should try that (use a germanium transistor in a Joule theif).

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