Homemade battery from improvised means. How are car batteries made? The simplest do-it-yourself batteries

Recently, a friend came to visit from the village. He complained about everything - power, food prices, fuel prices, and did not forget about his car battery. But he was right, motorists who live in rural areas (and urban ones too) often face this kind of problem.

Not everyone can replace a car battery on time, and the service life of modern car batteries is only 2-3 years, and at best, of course, we are talking about budget batteries with a price of 70-100 - remember this amount.
We have long been accustomed to the fact that a car battery is lead-acid, which means that it is heavy, caustic and bulky.

Has mankind really come up with nothing better than this in 100 years of the automotive industry? Actually it is not. LITHIUM-ION or LITHIUM-POLYMER batteries are revolutionary types of batteries with a fairly long service life and high energy intensity.

The average weight of a car battery with electrolyte (acid) is around 30 kg, quite a lot, many motorists hardly lift such a weight when there is a need to charge the battery from a charger.

Let's get back to lithium batteries. Scientists came up with a good standard 18650 - a compact sleeve, with a voltage of 3.7 Volts and with a capacity of 1800 up to 5000 mAh, in other words, up to 5 amperes at a voltage of 3.7 Volts. Of course, you can’t start a car with such a battery, but what if there are a lot of such batteries?

Let's do a calculation. the average car battery is 50 amp hours, mostly used at 60 amps at a voltage of 12 volts. How many lithium batteries do you need to get a complete analogue of a car battery?

We will use a series connection of the batteries to increase the voltage, and a parallel connection to increase the capacity.

In order to get a voltage of 12 Volts, we need 4x3.7 Volts - 14.8 Volts, but it’s almost impossible to get such a voltage, since there are more than 3.7 Volts on lithium banks, therefore the total voltage of 4 cans will be 15-15 .2 Volt, a lot ... 3x3.7 Volt - 11.1 Volt ideally and in the region of 11.6-12 volts in practice - what you need! We will use 5000 mAh batteries as a reference in our calculations.

As a result, with 3 batteries connected in series, we got a solid 12 Volt 5 Amp battery, but it is far from 60 Amp, so we will assemble several (even a couple of dozen) of such assemblies and connect them in parallel.

6 Batteries (3 in series, and both finished units in parallel) - 12 Volt 10 Amp
12 Batteries (4 blocks in parallel) - 12 Volts 20 Amps.
24 Batteries (8 blocks in parallel) 40 amps - this is enough to start the car.
36 batteries - 60 amps at 12 volts. In other words, we get a complete analog of a car battery with 36 li-ion batteries.

As a result, the question arises - what will come out cheaper, more reliable, more compact?

The answer is hidden in the bowels of China, more precisely in the bowels of AliExpress, a piece of such a battery costs from 60 to 70 rubles, I think they will give you 60 if you take a lot.

As a result, we multiply 60 rubles by 36 (39-40, let it be with a margin ...) - 2400 rubles, rounded up again to 2500 rubles, we get .... two times cheaper than a battery that can replace a car. Moreover, lithium-ion batteries have a much longer service life (up to 5 years, if properly charged), and the dimensions and weight ... at the expense of weight - 36x100 grams (the weight of a single battery) 3600 grams or 3.6 kilograms - this is ten times less than the weight car battery, plus our battery is completely sealed and acid-free. Dimensions ... the dimensions will also be 8-10 times smaller.

After this article was written, I decided to climb and find some archives, do people still not use them. It turned out that they are used to assemble electric cars, pushing 70,000-100,000 watts of power into a wheelbarrow, and this is very, very, and again - very serious power (just think - 100 kilowatts on lithium batteries of this standard)

After digging a little more, it became clear that there are already such batteries for sale, but they are very expensive, it makes no sense to buy, doing it yourself comes out much cheaper.

In this article, the master DIYer will guide us through all the steps of battery assembly, from material selection to final assembly. RC toys, laptop batteries, medical devices, electric bikes and even electric cars use batteries based on the 18650 cell.

18650 battery (18*65mm) is the size of Li-ion battery. For comparison, conventional AA batteries have a size of 14 * 50 mm. Specifically, the author did this assembly to replace the lead-acid battery in a homemade product he had made earlier.

Video:

Tools and materials:
- ;
- ;
- ;
- ;
-Switch;
-Connector;
- ;
- 3M x 10mm screws;
- Apparatus for spot contact welding;
-3D printer;
- Stripper (tool for removing insulation);
- hair dryer;
-Multimeter;
-Charger for lithium-ion batteries;
-Protective glasses;
- Dielectric gloves;

Some tools can be replaced with more affordable ones.

Step One: Choosing Batteries
The first step is to choose the right batteries. There are different batteries on the market from $ 1 to $ 10. According to the author, the best batteries are from Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo and LG. At a price they are more expensive than others, but have proven themselves to be of good quality and performance.
The author does not advise buying batteries with the names Ultrafire, Surefire and Trustfire. These are batteries that did not pass the quality control at the factory and were bought at a bargain price and repackaged under a new name. As a rule, such batteries do not have the declared capacity and there is a risk of fire during charge-discharge.
For his homemade craftsman used Panasonic batteries with a capacity of 3400 mAh.

Step Two: Choosing a Nickel Strip
Nickel strips are needed to connect the battery. There are two products on the market: nickel-plated metal and nickel strips. The author advises using nickel strips. They are more expensive, but have low resistance and therefore heat up less, which affects battery life.

Step Three: Spot Welding or Soldering
There are two ways to connect batteries: soldering and spot welding. The best choice is spot welding. When spot welding, the battery does not overheat. But the welding machine (such as the author's) costs approx. 12 tr. in a foreign online store and approx. 20 tr. in the Russian online store. The author himself uses welding, but has prepared several recommendations for soldering.
When soldering, minimize the contact of the soldering iron with the battery. It is better to use a powerful soldering iron (from 80 W) and quickly solder than to heat up the place of the solder.

Step Four: Checking the Batteries
Before connecting the batteries, you need to check each of them separately. The battery voltage should be about the same. New high-quality batteries have a voltage of 3.5 V - 3.7 V. These batteries can be connected, but it is better to equalize the voltage using a charger. For used batteries, the voltage difference will be even greater.

Step Five: Battery Calculation
For the project, the craftsman needs a battery with a voltage of 11.1 V and a capacity of 17000 mAh.
The capacity of the 18650 battery is 3400mAh. With a parallel connection of five batteries, we get a capacity equal to 17000 mAh. Such a compound is designated P, in this case 5P

One battery has a voltage of 3.7 V. To get 11.1 V, you need to connect three batteries in series. Designation S, in this case 3S.

So, to obtain the desired parameters, you need to connect three sections, each consisting of five batteries connected in parallel, in series. 3S5P package.

Step Six: Battery Assembly
To assemble the battery, the master uses special plastic cells. Plastic cells have a number of advantages over connecting them, for example, with a glue gun.
1.Easy assembly of any quantity.
2. There is space between the batteries for ventilation.
3. Vibration and shock resistance.

Collects two cells 3*5. Installs, in a cell, the first pack of 5S batteries with plus up, the next five minus up and the last five batteries again with plus up (see photo).

Sets the second cell on top.

Step Seven: Welding
Cuts four nickel strips, for parallel connection, with a margin of 10 mm. Cuts ten strips for serial connection.

Lays a long strip on the + contacts of the first (it will remain the first when turned over) parallel 5P cell. Welds the strip. Welds the strips with one end to the + third of the cell and the other to - the second. Welds a long strip to the + third of the cell (over the plates). Flips the block. It welds the plates from the reverse side, given that now we connect the third in parallel, and the first and second sections in parallel-series (given that it was turned over).

Step Eight: BMS (Battery Management System)
First, let's understand a little what BMS is.
BMS (Battery Management System) is an electronic board that is placed on the battery in order to control the process of charging / discharging it, monitoring the condition of the battery and its elements, controlling temperature, the number of charge / discharge cycles, and protecting the battery components. The control and balancing system provides individual control of the voltage and resistance of each battery element, distributes currents between the battery components during the charging process, controls the discharge current, determines the loss of capacity due to imbalance, and ensures safe connection / disconnection of the load.

Based on the received data, the BMS performs cell charge balancing, protects the battery from short circuit, overcurrent, overcharge, overdischarge (high and excessively low voltage of each cell), overheating and hypothermia. The functionality of BMS allows not only to improve the operating mode of batteries, but also to maximize their service life.

The important parameters of the board are the number of cells in a row, in this case 3S, and the maximum discharge current, in this case 25 A. For this project, the master used board with the following parameters:
Model : HX-3S-FL25A-A
Overvoltage range: 4.25~4.35V±0.05V
Discharge voltage range: 2.3~3.0V±0.05V
Maximum working current: 0~25A
Operating Temperature: -40℃~+50℃
Solder the board to the ends of the battery according to the diagram.

Initially, lithium-ion batteries were intended for mobile devices, whether it be phones, cameras, camcorders, laptops, but in the last decade, the production of lithium batteries has also been established by most automakers.

Then why assemble it yourself if you can buy a ready-made battery? There are enough reasons:

factory-assembled lithium batteries are prohibitively expensive;
it is very difficult to find a suitable battery for a motorcycle, car;
if the assembled battery fits into the installation place with a margin, then it will have a lower capacity.

With your own hands, you can assemble a battery from individual elements, which will be limited only by energy density and price per watt-hour, depending on the type of elements selected:

NiMH- nickel metal hydride;
Li-ion- lithium ion;
Lipol- lithium polymer;
LiFePO4- lithium iron phosphate;
Lead Acid- lead acid.

Danger of overcharging lithium cells

Lithium cells must be handled with care as they pack a lot of energy into a small area when fully charged. Therefore, protected Li-ion and Li-pol batteries have been on sale for a long time.

Back in 1991, Sony drew attention to the explosiveness of Li-ion cells. Currently, all batteries without exception are wound with a two-layer separator between the plates to eliminate the risk of internal short circuits. All branded batteries are equipped with a field-effect transistor protection board that turns them off in the following cases:

The battery is over-discharged - below 2.5 V.
Overcharged - over 4.2 V.
The charging current is too high - more than 1C (C is the battery capacity in Ah).
Short circuit.
The load current is exceeded - more than 5C.
Wrong polarity when charging.

For additional security, there is a thermal fuse that opens the circuit when the lithium cell overheats above 90 ° C.

How to find a battery with protection?

Lithium batteries are produced in household and technological versions. Batteries for household use have a durable plastic case and built-in electronic protection. Technological elements intended for industrial use are most often produced in unpackaged form and do not have built-in protection.

Protected batteries have the word " protected" in the title, unprotected - " unprotected».
Batteries with protection are 2–3 mm longer than usual ones due to the board, which is installed on the end near the negative pole.
The price of batteries with protection with the same capacity is always higher, because the board with electronic components also costs money.

The positive pole of the battery must be connected to the protective board with a thin plate, otherwise the protection will not work.

When individual elements are connected in series, their voltages are summed up, and the capacitance remains the same. Even from the same series, batteries have different characteristics, so they charge at different rates. For example, when charging to a total voltage of 12.6 V, the element in the middle can be recharged to 4.4 V, which is dangerous by overheating it.

In order not to overcharge unprotected elements, balancing cables are used that are connected to special chargers, for example: iMAX B6 and Turnigy Accucel-6.

Each Li-ion and Li-pol rechargeable battery for domestic use has the most advanced surge protection, in the form of a voltage control circuit, a FET switch and a thermal fuse.

Balancing of protected elements is not required, since when the voltage on one of them rises to 4.2 V, charging is guaranteed to be interrupted.

When assembling a battery from elements without protection, there is a way out - put one voltage control board on all batteries, for example, by connecting them according to the 4S2P scheme - 4 in series, 2 in parallel.

Also, balancing of parallel connected elements is not necessary.

When the batteries are connected in parallel, their voltage remains the same, and the capacities are summed up.

About the capacity of lithium batteries

Capacity - The ability of a battery to deliver current, measured in milliamp hours (mAh) or ampere hours (Ah). For example, a battery with a capacity of 2 Ah can deliver a current of 2 A for one hour, or 1 A for two hours. But this dependence of current on the load connection time is not linear - at a certain point on the graph, if the current is doubled, the battery life is reduced by a factor of four. Therefore, manufacturers always indicate the capacity calculated when the battery is discharged with an excessively low current of 100 mA.

The amount of energy depends on the voltage of the battery, so nickel metal hydride cells with the same capacity have 3 times less energy than lithium ion cells:

NiMH- 1.2 V * 2.2 Ah = 2.64 watt-hours;
Li-ion- 3.7 V * 2.2 Ah = 8.14 watt-hours.

When looking for and buying rechargeable batteries, give preference to well-known companies such as Samsung, Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic. Batteries from these manufacturers have a capacity that most closely matches the one indicated on their case. The 2600 mA label on Sanyo cells is not much different from their actual 2500-2550 mA capacity. Fakes from Chinese manufacturers with a vaunted capacity of 4200 mA do not even reach 1000 mA, but their price is two times lower than Japanese originals.

To assemble a battery from lithium batteries, you can use:

soldering;
junction boxes;
Neodymium magnets;

Soldering during factory assembly is used extremely rarely, since the lithium element is destroyed by heat, while losing part of its capacity. On the other hand, at home, soldering will be the best way to connect batteries, since even a meager resistance on the contacts will significantly reduce the total voltage at the common terminals. You need to use a powerful 100 W soldering iron, and touch it to lithium batteries for no more than two seconds.

Powerful rare earth magnets are coated with nickel or zinc, so their surface does not oxidize. These magnets provide excellent contact between batteries. If you want to solder wires to a magnet, don't forget about the Curie temperature, above which any magnet becomes a pebble. Approximately allowable temperature for magnets is 300°C.

If you use a box for connecting batteries, then a big plus becomes obvious, since it will be easier to pick up batteries by voltage or change a damaged element.

Spot welding is the best way to connect lithium cells when assembling laptop batteries.

Buying a ready-made lithium battery for a car or motorcycle is not profitable when you can assemble it yourself at a lower price. You can save up to $ 70 if you do not buy a new laptop battery, but replace the elements in it yourself.

Savings when assembling high-capacity lithium batteries to power electric cars or autonomous power supply systems at home are difficult to judge, since in these cases there are additional costs for control and monitoring equipment.

You may also be interested

1. 1. 1. 1. And now to the point:
        Regarding the capacity. I understand that if the motor does not pull, for example, up a hill, then it produces a short circuit current. The motor will not burn out because thick wires are wound in it.
        But how to find out what it produces the maximum current? And how long will its winding inside withstand this current?
        Judging by your letter, you are a highly educated person, at least in the physical sciences, but I'm an excellent student at school and institute, now I don't remember the basics. Treat this fact with understanding - senile sclerosis. Although I consider myself smart!
        The above questions are aimed at answering the main question - how will it be correct (without the risk of burning the AK) to operate the motor and battery when driving on any terrain (I mean big and small climbs)
        I understand this: if I turn off the AK with a toggle switch in a timely manner, and manually drive up the hill. then nothing will happen. How to recognize this moment?
        Perhaps there is a special device that signals a high current, or a thermal relay clearly, I emphasize clearly, turning off the AK?

The first lead-acid battery was invented and tested by French physicist Gaston Plante. He twisted two lead plates into a roll, after laying a separating cloth between them. The roll was placed in a vessel and filled with salt water. As a result, if you apply voltage to the plates, then it is charged. And then, if you connect a light bulb to it, or something else, then for some time it could give the stored energy to the burning of this light bulb. Also, after charging, the energy in such a battery could be stored without loss for a long time. This marked the beginning of an era lead acid batteries.

But the main disadvantage of such a roll battery is its small capacity. Later it was found that if such a battery is charged and discharged several times changing the polarity (+ -), then the capacity increases. This is due to the fact that a layer of lead oxide formed on the plates, and the plates softened, becoming like a sponge. The acid could now penetrate deeper into the plates, allowing more lead to enter the chemical process.

These charge-discharge cycles, changing plus to minus and back, were called plate forming. To build up a thick layer of lead oxide, a lot of energy and time had to be expended. But later, one young man who worked as an assistant to Plante decided to do things differently. He decided to immediately apply lead oxide to the plates, thus he immediately got a more capacious battery. Subsequently, this technology has been slightly improved. They began to make lead gratings, which were smeared with lead oxide in the form of a paste. A paste was prepared from lead oxide, to which a little water or electrolyte was added and stirred until a thick consistency.

After more than 100 years, the technology for manufacturing batteries has not changed in principle. In production, lead gratings are also made by casting or stamping, and smeared with a paste consisting of lead oxide, plus additional additives that prevent the paste from disintegrating and give other desired properties. Separating spacers between the plates are also made of modern materials, which prevents the spread from falling out of the grates and prevents the plates from closing to each other. Each plant, and for different types of batteries (traction, starter, etc.) has its own subtleties, but in general the technology is the same.

Now you can think about whether you can do lead acid battery at home, so that it is profitable and effective. First of all, it's about lead, where can I get it? In unusable batteries, but if one car battery is melted down, then the output will be only about 1.5 kg of lead, and it will become clear that it is not profitable to extract lead in this way. In order to melt all the lead contained in the battery, part of which is in the form of oxide, sulfate and other elements that are contained in the grating, then a melting furnace and additional chemistry and conditions are needed, so at home on a fire you get a tin can of lead and a whole bunch of slag .

Then you can buy lead, there is sheet lead, and in ingots, it is not expensive. If you make it from sheet lead, then you can roughly estimate the cost of one battery. If you delve into the literature, you can find out that from one square meter of plate area you can get a capacity of about 5-10Ah. Then for one bank with a capacity of 50-100Ah, 10 sq.m of lead is needed. Since 6 cans are needed for 12 volts, about 60 square meters of lead are needed, respectively. The thinnest sheets on sale are 0.5 mm, the weight of one square meter of such a lead sheet is 5.7 kg. Since the sheet area works on both sides, it means that we need not 60 sq.m, but 30 sq.m for the battery. Then it turns out that a battery with a capacity of 50-100Ah needs 30 * 5.7 = 171kg of lead, the cost for 1kg is about 150 rubles, and the price for lead alone will be about 25,000 rubles, which is 5-6 times more expensive than a factory battery with a capacity of 100Ah.

It is possible to increase the capacity of the plates by molding, by means of charging and discharging by swapping plus and minus, but it is not known how many cycles need to be done to significantly increase the capacity. Plante molded the plates with electricity for three months. During this time, a lot of energy will be spent on molding, and as a result, the battery will only rise in price. From all this it is clear that it is not economically profitable to make a battery from sheet lead.

Yes, by the way, at the expense of the durability of the battery with sheet lead plates. Such a battery will last much longer, since the plates are solid and from deep discharges, high discharge currents, the spread will not leave, which simply does not exist, but the sulfation of the plates will be exactly the same as that of a conventional battery, therefore, in fact, this one is longer than usual. the battery will not last. True, it can be disassembled and cleaned of white plaque (sulfate) and it can continue to work.

The problem is that sheet lead does not have an oxide layer, or rather it does, because of it the lead becomes dark gray, but this layer is too thin. Oxide is lead oxidized by oxygen, it is obtained in different ways in production. But at home, this dust is difficult to obtain. Of course, you can try to moisten the plates with water so that they oxidize in the fresh air, but what oxide layer can be built up in this way and how long it will take is not known, so you can forget about a rolled sheet lead battery.

A good battery will turn out if you use lead foil instead of plates. So you can increase the area several times with the same weight, but you can’t make foil at home, and there is no pure lead foil for sale, and it would cost several times more than sheet lead of the same weight. Therefore, a good option with foil disappears. Or set up a rolling machine at home and make foil yourself.

You can try to make plates as they do at the factory, it is not difficult to cast gratings. They are thick and the casting mold is easy to make. But the problem is in the spread, because it consists of lead oxide, but how to make it at home. For example, something to erase lead into dust, or small chips, then pour it with water or electrolyte and constantly mix it in some kind of container so that it oxidizes on oxygen, but this is difficult and pointless to do at home, since the finished battery will come out much cheaper.

That's probably all I wanted to say in a nutshell. For myself, I concluded that DIY lead battery possible, but time-consuming and not profitable, so in this case, you can safely put a big and bold point. Also, reading a lot of information about other types of batteries, I came to the conclusion that nothing normal at home and using available and cheap materials will not work. If you have questions or any conclusions, please leave comments.

Of course, now there are no problems with buying batteries and accumulators, but, apparently, it will be interesting for you to get acquainted

with gas accumulator design. Consider the design of the simplest battery. Design

the battery is so simple that anyone can repeat it. (which is not unimportant, and has already been discussed in the comments ..)

1. container 5.15% saline solution

2.lid 6.activated carbon bag

3. carbon rod 7. clamp (clamp)

4.activated carbon 8.plug

The design of the battery is clear from the figure. Opaque container 1 with lid 2 is filled with electrolyte - 15%

saline solution. Two identical electrodes are lowered into the container. The electrode consists of a carbon rod,

around which there is a bag 6 with activated carbon 4. The bags must be wrapped tightly

threads to ensure good contact of the electrode with activated carbon. Activated carbon layer thickness

should not exceed 15mm.

Battery. A simple homemade battery.

If you add 1g of boric acid and 2g of sugar to the solution for every liter, then battery performance will improve.

Sugar is added during long discharge cycles. Charge the battery with direct current at the rate of 4.5 volts

for each element (jar). Charging time up to 12 hours. Full charge signal - copious gas emission. For

so that the gases do not “squeeze out” the electrolyte from the container, a plug is provided, which is necessary when charging

open. To get a capacity of 1a * h, you need to use 65g of activated carbon. Electrolyte change once per

1. If the walls of the vessel transmit light, the battery will quickly discharge. The container outside can

2. It is better to use distilled water or melt snow, as tap water is highly mineralized, and

3. 15% common salt solution is obtained by diluting 5 tablespoons of salt in one liter of water.

well, here's more:
Homemade battery
If you don’t have a set of fresh batteries on hand, you can make a homemade power supply. To do this, you will need two carbon rods from an old battery, two woven bags with a diameter of 20.25 mm and a height of 60 mm. Rods are installed in them and filled with activated carbon (crushed medical tablets).

The following solution is used as an electrolyte: dissolve 5 tablespoons of table salt, 2 g of boric acid and 3 g of sugar in 1 liter of water.

The walls of the glass jar need to be painted with black paint.
The power supply will output 1.5V.

How to make a battery with your own hands
Of course, now there are no problems with buying batteries and accumulators, but, apparently, it will be interesting for you to get acquainted with the design of a gas accumulator. Consider

battery blocks of 200A

Next, we solder in each block 80 pieces in parallel, 4 cans each, we use cassettes for a set of battery cans, you can buy on aliexpress. We also need a copper bus with a thickness of 1-2mm. thin copper wire. Next, solder the findings from every 4 pcs. 18650 for the controller that will monitor the charge of the cans.

We connect 3 such assemblies in series and get a powerful battery.

Quality Li-ion 18650 charging systems

IMAX B6 MINI PROFESSIONAL BALANCE CHARGER/DISCHARGER

Opus BT-C3100 (version 2.2) Intelligent Li-ion/NiCd/NiMH battery charger

How does the BMS board work?

– increase in service life,

– keeping the battery in working condition.

Functions BMS (Battery Management System)

Monitoring the condition of the battery cells in terms of:

– voltage: total voltage, individual cell voltage, minimum and maximum cell voltage,

- charge and depth of discharge,

– charge/discharge currents,

Incorrect charging is one of the most common causes of li-ion battery failure, so charge control is one of the main functions of the BMS microcontroller.

Based on the above points, BMS evaluates:

– maximum allowable charge current,

– maximum allowable discharge current,

- the amount of current during discharge,

is the internal resistance of the cell,

- the total operating time of the battery during operation.

The BMS protects the battery by preventing it from exceeding safe operating limits. BMS guarantees the safety of connecting / disconnecting the load, flexible load management, protects the battery from:

– overcurrent,

– overvoltage (during charging),

- voltage drops below the permissible level (during discharge),

Balancing. Balancing is a method of evenly distributing charge among all cells in a battery, thereby maximizing battery life.

– providing a modular charging process,

- by adjusting the output currents of the battery cells connected to the consumer.

How to make a powerful battery with your own hands
We make a powerful power bank for 12 volt 200A / h We need 240 pieces of 18650 A lot of tin and a lot of patience

A battery or galvanic cell is a chemical source of electric current. All batteries sold in stores, in fact, have the same design. They use two electrodes of different composition. The main element for the negative terminal (anode) of saline and alkaline batteries is zinc, and for their positive (cathode) manganese. The cathode of lithium batteries is made of lithium, and a wide variety of materials are used for the anode.

An electrolyte is located between the electrodes of the batteries. Its composition is different: for salt batteries with the lowest resource, ammonium chloride is used. Alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide, while lithium batteries use an organic electrolyte.

When the electrolyte interacts with the anode, an excess of electrons is formed near it, which creates a potential difference between the electrodes. When the electrical circuit is closed, the number of electrons is constantly replenished due to a chemical reaction, and the battery maintains the flow of current through the load. In this case, the anode material gradually corrodes and collapses. With its full development, the battery life is exhausted.

Despite the fact that the composition of the batteries is balanced by manufacturers to ensure their long and stable operation, you can make the battery yourself. Consider several ways how you can make a battery with your own hands.

Method one: a lemon battery

This homemade battery will use the citric acid electrolyte found in the pulp of a lemon. For electrodes, take copper and iron wires, nails or pins. The copper electrode will be positive, and the iron electrode will be negative.

The lemon needs to be cut across into two parts. For greater stability, the halves are placed in small containers (glasses or glasses). It is necessary to connect the wires to the electrodes and immerse them in a lemon at a distance of 0.5 - 1 cm.

Now you need to take a multimeter and measure the voltage on the resulting galvanic cell. If it is not enough, then you will also need to make several identical lemon batteries with your own hands and connect them in series using the same wires.

Method two: a jar of electrolyte

To assemble a device with your own hands, similar in design to the first battery in the world, you will need a glass jar or a glass. We use zinc or aluminum (anode) and copper (cathode) for the electrode material. To increase the efficiency of the element, their area should be as large as possible. It would be better to solder the wires, but the wire will have to be attached to the aluminum electrode with a rivet or bolted connection, since it is difficult to solder it.

The electrodes are immersed inside the jar so that they do not touch each other, and their ends are above the level of the jar. It is better to fix them by installing a spacer or slotted cover.
For the electrolyte, we use an aqueous solution of ammonia (50 g per 100 ml of water). An aqueous solution of ammonia (ammonia) is not the ammonia used for our experiment. Ammonium chloride (ammonium chloride) is an odorless white powder used in soldering as a flux or as a fertilizer.

The second option for preparing the electrolyte is to make a 20% solution of sulfuric acid. In this case, you need to pour acid into water, and in no case vice versa. Otherwise, the water will instantly boil and its splashes, along with acid, will fall on clothes, face and eyes.

Protective goggles and chemical resistant gloves are recommended when working with concentrated acids. Before you make a battery using sulfuric acid, you should study the safety rules when working with aggressive substances in more detail.

It remains to pour the resulting solution into a jar so that at least 2 mm of free space remains to the edges of the vessel. Then, using a tester, select the required number of cans.

A self-assembled battery is similar in composition to a salt battery, as it contains ammonium chloride and zinc.

Method three: copper coins

The ingredients for making such a battery with your own hands are:

copper coins,
aluminium foil,
thick cardboard,
table vinegar,
wires.

It is easy to guess that the electrodes will be copper and aluminum, and an aqueous solution of acetic acid is used as an electrolyte.

Coins first need to be cleaned of oxides. To do this, they will need to be briefly dipped in vinegar. Then we make circles of cardboard and foil according to the size of the coins, using one of them as a template. We cut out the mugs with scissors, put the cardboard ones in vinegar for a while: they should be saturated with electrolyte.

During the operation of this self-assembled battery, the coins will become completely unusable, so do not use numismatic material that is of cultural and material value.

Method four: a battery in a beer can

The anode of the battery is the aluminum body of the beer can. The cathode is a graphite rod.

a piece of foam with a thickness of more than 1 cm,
coal chips or dust (you can use what is left of the fire),
water and common table salt
wax or paraffin (candles can be used).

From the jar you need to cut off the top. Then make a circle of foam plastic according to the size of the bottom of the can and insert it inside, having previously made a hole in the middle for the graphite rod. The rod itself is inserted into the jar strictly in the center, the cavity between it and the walls is filled with coal chips. Then an aqueous solution of salt is prepared (3 tablespoons per 500 ml of water) and poured into a jar. To prevent the solution from spilling out, the edges of the jar are filled with wax or paraffin.

Clothespins can be used to connect wires to graphite rods.

Method five: potatoes, salt and toothpaste

This battery is disposable. It is suitable for starting a fire by shorting the wires to produce a spark.

To create a potato lighter you will need:

big potato,
two copper wires insulated,
toothpicks or

Homemade battery from improvised means
How to make a homemade battery from available materials. A brief description of how a battery works. How to make a battery from a lemon, copper coins, potatoes, aluminum cans.

How easy it is to make a battery

Hello everyone again thinkers! Today I will tell you how to make a battery yourself and from improvised materials!

AA batteries are widely used cylindrical batteries with a nominal value of about 1.5V, about 49-50mm in length and 13.5-14.5mm in diameter. They are easy to make yourself, and the very manufacture of this brain homemade can serve as an excellent visual aid for explaining physical and chemical processes to children.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

corrugated cardboard
copper flat washers with a diameter of 10 mm - 12 pcs.
zinc flat washers with a diameter of 10mm - 14-16pcs.
heat-shrink tubing
distilled water - 120ml
vinegar - 30 ml
table salt - 4 tablespoons.
soldering iron and solder
solution mixing cup
digital multimeter
scissors
sandpaper
needle nose pliers
lighter or hot air gun
old AA battery for verification

Step 2: Cleaning Washers

The basis of this homemade 11 copper-zinc elements that "give out" 1.5V. Copper and zinc washers must enter into chemical reactions, so we clean them from oxides, dirt, etc. Using brainskin with 100 grains, we do not just clean the washers, but polish them to a shine.

Step 3: Electrolyte preparation

Copper and zinc create a potential difference, but you also need a medium through which charges will pass between these potentials. For the electrolyte, dissolve 4 tablespoons of salt in 120 ml of distilled water, mix everything thoroughly until completely dissolved, then add 30 ml of vinegar and let it brew.

Step 4: Cardboard

To keep the washers at a distance from each other, you need to lay them brainboard, namely corrugated cardboard impregnated with electrolyte. We cut the corrugated cardboard into squares with a side of 1 cm and soak them in electrolyte, which was infused for at least 5 minutes after adding vinegar.

Step 5: Stretching the Tube

Now you need to slightly modify the heat shrink tube. To make it easier to install copper-zinc battery cells into the tube, we stretch the tube itself with needle nose pliers by about 10% of the initial diameter.

Step 6: Testing

It's time to test our elements. Put on a copper washer braincardboard, impregnated with electrolyte, and a zinc washer on it. Use gloves! Next, turn on the multimeter in the “constant 20V” mode, touch the copper washer with the black wire, and the zinc washer with the red one. The multimeter should show about 0.05-0.15V, this is enough to create a battery of 11 copper-zinc cells.

Step 7: Battery Assembly

We collect the battery from the prepared elements: copper - zinc - cardboard. It is in this sequence. See photo.

First, we insert a copper washer into the tube, align it perpendicular to the length of the tube, put a zinc washer on it, then cardboard, and so on, all 11 elements. For convenience, lightly tamp the elements with a plastic rod.

After installing the last zinc washer, we verify the resulting workpiece homemade with an old standard AA battery, if necessary, add another zinc washer. After adjusting the length, we heat the tube, thereby forming a battery, cut off the excess ends.

Step 8: Mounting the contacts

It remains to add contacts. We heat up soldering iron and solder balls of solder to the ends of the battery. That is, we solder a ball of solder onto the copper end, so that when installed in the battery holder, our homemade product touches the contact of the battery holder. Then we turn the battery over and do the same with the zinc end.

Step 9: Everything is ready, apply!

A homemade battery is ready, let's try it in action. We connect the multimeter in the "constant 20V" mode and measure the voltage, it should be about 1.5V

If the voltage is below 1.5 V, then try stretching the battery a little, if this does not help, then you may have made a mistake in the order in which the washers were installed.

If everything is in order, then install the battery in your favorite braingadgets and enjoy their work!

How easy it is to make a battery
How easy it is to make a battery Greetings to all brainers again! Today I will tell you how to make a battery yourself and from improvised materials! AA batteries are widely

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