Cleaning the pennies
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date/Time: 2005:02:01 17:09:11
Cleaning the pennies in vinegar and baking soda before hand. This was mostly done for photogenic purposes. I suggest you leave the pennies tarnished by CuO for better results.
Drying the clean pennies
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date/Time: 2005:02:01 17:38:33
The pennies drying after I cleaned them. Remember this was merely for photogenic purposes. I [i]do not[i] reccomend cleaning the tarnish off beforehand.
A single 'battery' bank
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date: 02/07/2006
One bank of the ice cube tray is composed of a penny (negative terminal), a dime (positive terminal), and a bank full of salt water.
Eight bank in the completed tray
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date: 02/07/2006
The pennies and dimes are paper clipped in a series chain around the entire ice cube tray. This forms one large battery with positive (+) and negative (-) terminals.
A single bank's differential voltage
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date: 02/07/2006
As you can see on the multimeter, each bank produces a differential voltage of about 0.46 Volts. Some produce slightly more. Unfortunately, a couple produced little or no differential voltage.
The total voltage of all eight banks
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date: 02/07/2006
It is clear that the total voltage does not equal 8 times 0.4 volts. In fact, it is only two volts. As mentioned before, I could not get all the banks to produce a significant voltage. In fact, one bank was actually working against me.
Total current through the LED
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date/Time: 2006:02:03 23:10:48
At this point, the LED is connected to the positive and negative terminals with the multimeter in between. It is reading about 105 micro-amps of current. Lighting this particular LED at two volts required about 50 micro-amps of current.
It Works!
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date/Time: 2006:02:03 23:58:39
This is a clear shot of the LED illuminated. It actually has a respectable luminosity considering its power source.
The LED is bright in the dark
[url=http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/02/07/powering-leds-costs-mere-pennies]Powering LEDs costs mere pennies[/url]
Date/Time: 2006:02:03 23:59:38
Here is the LED with lights out. It is fairly bright looking straight on in the dark. There is no longer any question that it is illuminated and emitting photons.
