cully's dry cell

[cully]

i couldn't let you all build dry cells with out having a go myself

i finally got it all assembled today and ran it for the first time

it set up -nnnn+nnnn-nnnn+
130mm X 130mm surface area per plate
+ - plates are 1mm
n plates are .5mm
gaskets are full face rubber
2 outside gaskets are 5mm then the plate spacing is set by 1.5mm rubber compressed

[BoyntonStu]

Nice job and video, Cully.

One note: Do not use 12 Volts, use 14.5 Volts or whatever you measure in your vehicle.



Also and especially:

[cully]

the transformer is wound to give me 14v with a good current as my car produces 14 volts when running with a cell load of 20amps i have already checked this
the voltage is lower in this setup cause ive inserted a piece of smaller gauge wire in the feed line to the cell

[hydrotinkerer]

That is a really nice looking generator. How thick are your end plates?

[Painless]

Really nice for a first dry cell!!

What kind of stainless did you use for your plates?

Looking forward to some figures!

[cully]

by size of end plates if you mean the case it is made from 12mm Perspex Acrylic sheet held together with 6mm st/steal stud bar

the type of plates are kind of a mystery
the neutral plates are 304ss
but the +- plates were a lot harder to cut so i expect them to be a higher grade st/steal this was salvaged from a ex hospital theatre trolly

to cut the 304 i used a Guillotine, but the thicker +- plates i used a jigsaw cutting speed very slow

to cut the gaskets i made a metal gasket then cut around it using a craft knife then punched the holes with a gasket hole punch and hammer

[cully]

drycell update
ive added balance pipes to both sides of the cell
see video for details why !!

will brass fittings degrade in the KOH solution ?

[ridelong]

cully,
Brass will degrade in KOH. I used brass wool in a flame supressor, and my gen let some electrolyte into the output tube to the flame supressor. The brass turned black wherever the electrolyte got on the wool.