Sometimes, I click those link, and it shows 1 or 2 lines with a pic and lots of ads. I click Next, and then the process continues for another 10 page and I never found out what the simple trick is and I close the page.
But how would you procure potassium hydroxide? I'm certainly not a chemist, or as well versed in it as he is, but I get the feeling that it is not a chemical that can be readily synthesised on the go.
+Ring0Resident It used to be done in the medieval times. Burn trees or plants, probably bananas, get potassium carbonate from the ashes and then add calcium oxide (also know as quicklime), boil in water and there you go potassium hydroxide.
In the future, for cool stuff like this, please don't skip parts! Removing all of the used innards of the battery is just as cool and instructive as putting it all together again. For example, why didn't you have to do anything to the manganese?
+SparksThePhysicist however the batteries he ended up with were not really the same batteries as he begun with, they just used the same casings. (It's sort of that "if you replace every plank in a ship is it still the same ship?" dilemma)
+CoolAsFinnBro technically the only part of the ship which is unable to be replaced is the keel (repairing a damaged keel is possible, but it weakens the strength of the hull). so replacing every plank, still makes it the same ship as long as the keel is intact. this is true for most ships. maybe untrue for fibreglass hull ones but those mostly yatch and smaller sailboat and boats.
Heh, you're not wrong, but I think you might be missing the point of the question, I think the spirit of it is that you assume that even the keel can be replaced.
lol and will have 1000x the experience when he gets into his field. the more diverse knowledge base you have, the easier leaps in logic become to new designs and ideas. you can sit in class and study theory all you want, but practical application is where the real learning and understanding comes from. Cody is the kind of person who will come up with some idea that will turn into a multi million dollar product that probably does the world quite a bit of good.
Keep in mind, there could be additives and the formula is secret so who knows what is actually in it other than zinc oxide! It is easy to take some chemistry classes and get a confused idea of what chemicals you're actually working with in various real life scenarios. If it isn't even a food, don't just assume it is pure-whatever!
Brilliant video Cody, I will not be re filling my batteries, but I still appreciate your technique, and showing us how its done. I can vision you as an excellent high school science teacher. Thanks for an interesting, and creative video production.
You didn't chage the manganese oxide that why you got lower voltage, you have mostly Mn2O3 in the dead battery and the Mn(III)/Mn(II) redox pair should increase the voltage to 2.78V but this is not happening so what you have there is the leftover MnO2 reacting with the Zn.
But then I'm wondering why they put more manganese oxide than zinc. I mean if zinc was finished and still some Mn oxide was available... It seems strange and a waste of manganese
@@Bert0ld0 The manganese miners union put that in their contract.....makes about as much sense as ethanol in our gasoline....people who fail science and math become politicians and legislate nonsense....
@@Bert0ld0 I think it has something to do with preventing case corrosion and leakage - that way the zinc and potassium hydroxide is used first and the cell is not as corrosive. Plus the manganese dioxide also acts (if I remember correctly) as a depolarizer, preventing the formation of hydrogen bubbles which would reduce the surface area and thus the current generation capability.
I have a weird fascination with batteries, I'm always measuring them and trying to get the most out of them even though I have 30 new ones sitting in a drawer as well as rechargeables. Right now I'm trying to stop myself ordering a set of Kentli AA's that I don't need just because I think they're a really neat design. I definitely spend way too much time on this pointless habit - but even I don't have the time or inclination to rebuild my own primary alkaline cells hahah. You're amazing Cody, I couldn't stop laughing at how both cool & ridiculous this is at the same time lol :-)
Wow..! I just learned something i will never forget..... Has any one made a lantern that you just add powder too.... Like a lantern that has two bins ... one with zinc powder and one with mangenese dioxide.... A powder fueled electrical lantern...?
There is one that's water powered, it's basically this, but powdered electrolyte so that when you add the water it completes the battery and powers it up, same idea basically. Called hydrotorch, or something to that effect.
They're not 1.5V because the large majority of the MnO2 was reduced to MnOOH during the initial discharge of the battery. Adding fresh Zinc will give you a tiny bit of extra capacity but not much to a 0.8V endpoint. Cool experiment nonetheless.
Voltage is current multiplied with the resistance. If you're using a perfect voltmeter, with an inner resistance of infinite ohms, there's no current, though you detect a voltage. Without a closed circut, you don't have a current.
+lil Chiller There recently was a problem with bulb in a car not lighting up. Voltmeter showed 12v, but bulb would not work :D Contacts in other place further were oxided, it stopped current from flowing :)
Probably you had not only to replace the zinc dust, but also recharge the battery before you seal it hermetically, because not only zinc is consumed during discharge process, but also manganese dioxide is reduced to lower oxidation states (+2 and +3 from + 4 and that will explain why you have lower voltage.
***** it should, but not very quickly. according to a 1968 patent i dug up on ore refining... heating it will speed it up, but going over 1400F will start to favor MnO h2o2 should oxidize it quickly but then must be removed
***** Actually you don't need to refill MnO2 into battery. What is left in battery when MnO2 is partially consumed is a solid state solution of MnOOH (Mn+3) in the MnO2 lattice (Mn+4). More importantly these ions are quite mobile in lattice and you can replace/oxidize easily Mn+3 to Mn+4 (unless most of +4 is already lost) just applying external voltage to battery - just charge battery! I'll suggest to use a current source with few mA of current in the course of many days, the slower the better.
That's nominal load, no load should be 1.45, same with 18650s which state 3.7 but a fully charged cell no load will be 4.2. Car batteries are 12v right? Nope most are over 14v.
20 years ago I purchased a Buddy L charger, it charges both NiCad and Alkaline batteries. It was touted to charge lesser branded cylindrical batteries 2-3 times, and better branded batteries 10-12 times. It has revived old batteries numerous times and still works to this day albeit one of the spring mechanism hold downs broke. In conjunction to your method shown here I would think you could get years of battery power with minimal cash outlay.
Make a battery of an oil drum like this :D Jokes aside, this is great, if only the ingredients for making this were more accessible - where I am it's like looking for bird milk and fish hair.
@@diosilva16 Exactly, I agree and I see. I mean, it's not impossible to do a larger scale battery, just a matter of preparation, which would be complex. Either way, it would be fun.
You keep saying “current” in place of voltage. Checking voltage doesn’t tell you the current, current is a measure of the flow, I know you know this, but it might be confusing to others.
I agree by the definition of the word he is recharging it but normally recharging a battery means running backwards voltage into it, not replacing the contents of the battery
+CoolAsFinnBro I guess the title could be considered a little misleading, but if recharging was as easy as that it wouldn't make a very interesting video, and I think interesting is the goal here
Alkaline cells CAN be recharged by applying voltage to them. Just as long as you do it slowly and watch the temperature. But not when the cells are this far gone
_LED bulbs will burn bright on almost dead batteries._ - by using a Joule Thief to _milk_ the last remnants of juice out of them. It's a obvious that Cody has a type of incandescent bulb (halogen, xenon, simple vacuum etc) in his flashlight with to the visible 'ramp-up' and down of the filament when he switches on and off, whereas LED would be hard on and off. I agree it looks very bright for 2.5v into a 3v rated bulb
@Jeff Caligari Sorry, but no. I successfully recharged a 1.5v button cell at 5v with no problem, although it was only able to run the watch for a week. You just have to monitor the cell's temperature, in this case it stayed cold to the touch, but if it had warmed up I would have definitely backed away.
The oxidation of zinc is exactly why alkaline batteries may NOT be recharged. You did a nice job showing the innards of a dead dry cell with the spent zinc.
I think he said "hell" and didn't mean to, and tried to play it off by adding "ck" to say heck. Didn't really work though. :P (the -ava is run together, of a, "hell/heck of a")
At first I was planning my comment bashing you for recharging a chemical battery, but you tricked me by doing something cool and "recharging" them correctly. Kudos! Now excuse me while I disable my ad-blocker and reload your video...
+Michael Mast (TurboAAA) I read that you can actually recharge regular alkaline batteries somewhat if you just do it slowly enough. Haven't tried it myself though.
h3rteby Though they do have a limited ability to hold a charge if you run them through a charger, its not recomeneded (and not just by the manufacturer). So you could charge them but in the long run it will be more trouble than its worth.
Michael Mast Yeah, what I saw was an electronics guy who modified a charger with a resistor I think, so that it would charge much slower, and that way he could charge alkaline batteries without overheating them.
good idea. pencil "lead" has a lot of clay and other softeners in it, but should work. it is quite brittle as a result. i remember reading somewhere that tin/SnO2 electrodes is a popular choice instead of carbon for this reason. "tin" is harder to come by now days
vevenaneathna not really, pure tin solder isnt too hard to come by. get some industrial tin solder like this www.ebay.com/itm/Lenox-WS10297-50-50-1-4-Tin-Lead-11-1-4-Tri-Bar-Solder-10bar-bundle-30oz-/281727698805 and use that. it's not super cheap, but not out of this world expensive either. you might get away with regular electrical solder which is for the most part around 60-70% tin other than that you have pewter, which, like electrical solder is around 70% tin. this might be easier to find if you rely on scavenging scrap. getting tin in any large quantities however is harder.
I don't think this counts as recharging...you've re-manufactured or refurbished them...and did a great job. Your videos are always fun to watch...maybe you can get a head-mounted camera so both of your hands are free?
Charging literally in the dictionary includes filling something. Charge a musket, charge a goblet, charge a battery. Always remember to check the dictionary before attempting to correct vocabulary. ;)
the thing with dictionaries is that they give many examples ... but not all definitions are applicable. Yes, "charge" can mean to fill something that is empty...but in this case, the battery was full of the material, but it had lost its ability to produce electricity, so the actual contents had to be removed before he could add the new material. To DIScharge a battery is to use it as a power source until it is "dead"...but the contents are still inside it, just not chemically reacting to produce electricity. If you were to recharge the battery you would either connect the battery to a current to replenish its electrical reserves, or you would disassemble the battery, remove the contents and replace the material altogether, which is a rebuild or re-manufacture...or perhaps reload.
Recharge, I would define as adding energy back into a battery. Your the first to make this reference comparing a rebuilding of a battery. You might be using the word "Recharge" incorrectly.
You didn't recharge the cells, You REBUILT them! Good job. The reason you fell short on voltage, is because of oxidation of the zinc paste. There could have been some oxidation of the cathode (outer cylinder) as well. That just happens after decades of sitting on a shelf.
Silly rabbit, lithium type batteries you take for special disposal. That's the coin and button cells, mostly. Alkaline batteries, yes, you just throw them away unless they were made before about 1988.
IKEA stores collecting all the old batteries, they clearly stating this on their Eco-recycling campaign, they collecting old batteries for the minerals inside which can be reused esp. if battery died fresh, of course the recycling made by separate contractors for IKEA
I just want to say, although they say do not charge, I've used regular AA/AAA battery chargers and although it doesn't work perfectly, it does work. And I've never had a battery explode or leak or anything like that. There are even battery chargers designed to recharge alkaline batteries.
The [simplified] reason putting them on a stove works is because the batteries form bubbles over the plates when in use. Heating causes the bubbles to move away from the plates which increases their surface-area and makes them work for a bit longer. When I was a kid, Dad would put batteries on a radiator to make them work a bit longer
I honestly love your videos I'm sixteen and I find this stuff fascinating keep the videos coming I've been watching for about a year now and just revising some videos.
Interesting video, not what I expected. You can actually charge alkaline batteries with electricity just like other rechargeables. I used to do this about 20 years ago before lithium ion was so cheap. They have to be charged at a very low current - like 25ma or so. You can get them to near new performance for a handful of cycles. The biggest problem is it tends to make them much, much more likely to leak inside your device.
5 лет назад
When you went to measure the initial dead voltage I saw the negative symbol pop up. It would not surprise me to find that one (or both?) of the old corroded batteries had gone into voltage reversal. 1.273V is not too bad for a DIY alkaline battery!
You are measuring the potential difference between zinc atoms and manganese atoms arranged in parallel. You possibly diluted the voltage somewhat by adding the electrolyte, which lowered the resistance. Or it could just be that is the potential difference. You will only ever get 1.2 to 1.5v between two metals because the molecules are arranged randomly ie in parallel. In order to increase the voltage you would need to align the molecules in series, in a similar way that permanent magnets are made. You could also experiment with the strength of the electrolyte solution and see how how/if it affects the potential difference. Cheers, Matt. :-)
You can use pretty much any two metals with dissimilar sized atoms by the way, Zinc/manganese, Silver/iron, Zinc/copper, lead/coppper and you will always get a similar result. To have a battery that is continuosly charged by the universe (and never needs charging) you need bonded pairs of dissimilar sized atoms aligned in series... all the little 1.2v soon add up and then you will have lightning (aligned H2O molecules). That is also how lighting clouds (aligned H2O particles) continuously recharge after each bolt of lightning. Nature aligns the H2O molecules as a phenomenon and when the particles are no longer in alignment the storm dissipates. You can find bonded pairs of atoms which is the sludge at the bottom of used lead/acid car batteries. The atoms leave the battery elements and form bonded pairs during the eletrolysis process. When all the atoms that can leave the surface of the elements, have left the surface, the battery is considered spent. But they can be recycled by cleaning out the sludge and re-etching the surface of the elements. Cheers x2.
I worked at Rayovac for 27 years, I may have had a part of making those batterys. The zink we used was a coarse ground zink. There is only one Rayovac plant in the US.
Your video here reminds me of when I was cutting open old big batteries like this and harvesting the Manganese oxides and used them in thermite instead of iron oxide. Lots of fun except when one of the batteries cut my thumb. It would be cool if you did a video series for harvesting chemical supplies from everyday items.
This is actually a great way to have accessible energy on hand with no expiration date. In 50 years the only thing you would need would be water, all the other materials would never go bad. You could probably use saltwater if you had to. Not sure soluble KOH is in saltwater, though.
Really useful information and wonderful message you have shared. You have made the lesson easy by practical demo. Thanks from Jawaharlal Bharat INDIA 🙏. I have a doubt w.r.t the Zinc Powder. Whether they are conductive grade?. Here I have zinc dust. It doesn't show any conductance. If possible you can share more details, thank you 🙏
I read part of a book from the '90s -- a Sarajevo survival guide from back during the Balkan War. Batteries were in short supply so it advised wrapping them up watertight and boiling them in water to bring back the charge. Potentially dangerous of course, but so was walking around town as a target for snipers.
Lots of manufacturers put a charge on dry cells before they ship. Sometimes a fresh cell will test at 1.7 v. which, as we know, is impossible in a purely chemical reaction.
Holy crap that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen I fucking love this channel so much I've been binge watching your videos keep up the amazing work Cody
I think they use ammonium chloride electrolyte in most batteries. it's probably easier to work with. I also wonder if maybe the MgO needed a refresh for optimal power. great video!
Maybe the reason why you didn't get the 1.5 volts was because you didn't replace the manganese dioxide too? the MnO2 does consume producing a more reduced state of manganese which might still be able to act as oxidation agent, but would provide less electric potential to the cell than its precursor.
In a hypothetical emergency (zombeh acropolis), what would be a ready source of zinc? Perhaps something plated that's relatively easy to find? I see that zinc plating is a "sacrificial" plating, so its surface would be oxidised, but could unoxidised zinc be salvaged from underneath? Useful trick in a pinch!
Fred Gandt zinc is the common component in what people call "pot metal", which is usually just hardened zinc. all of the copper can be dissolved off of pennies prior to processing by a solution of vinegar, tablesalt, and hydrogen peroxide. actually, the concentration of h2o2 will control the oxidation state of the solution turning it from green to blue. a fun home experiment. this solution probably also dissolves zinc so the pennies should be removed once all their copper has been lost. heat should speed this process up but increase the amount of expensive h2o2 needed crashing zinc out of a solution would also make a fine powder
Fred Gandt All those useless pennies would be a good source. Peal off the copper foil and youll have zinc left. Edit: Nevermind, i guess you don't have zinc pennies in your country D: AFAIK, the US does not use steel in coinage due to rusting.
This was on my watch later for a while. Finally got around to watching it. Funny enough after i finished it i got an advertisement for battery safety from lg.
