Mixed Drink Battery?

@makersmarquee I know that a lemon with zinc and copper strip in it makes a weak battery as well as other various acidic fruits. Some drinks might make a battery, but I doubt they would be powerful enough to drive a LED. But there might be a way. If the right components can be used, the LED could be switched on with a transistor and the transistor is triggered by the drink. Start by finding out what voltage is produced by the drink then find a transistor that will react to that voltage.

EDIT: The lemon produces 0.7V, but a potato produces 1V.

Mix up a margarita and give it a go.

Good luck.

Posted by: @makersmarquee

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Ok, this is a weird off-the-wall idea and tell me your thoughts on if this is just impossible or stupid (or just plain embarrassing and I should delete this). Was thinking about creating a circuit that took advantage of natural chemicals we see in everyday life as batteries, for fun. Does anyone have any idea if an alcoholic drink (maybe one with citrus mix) could be possible to be an acid solution strong enough to power a single low voltage LED? If so, in theory, could a PCB be developed with 2 electrode prongs (somehow one zinc) that it could just be placed in said drink and the LED lights up? Perhaps a blinking LED to give the circuit time to charge from the low voltage?

Hi @makersmarquee, As @zander has said, the fruits & vegetables that can produce electric current ( ionic free electrons) are very low voltage, in the range of .45 to 1.2 volts, and this is not enough to power an LED as the forward voltage (Vf) needs to be over come to get the LED to conduct..see typical chart for various colors of LEDs...forward voltage.

 By placing several fruits in series , you can probably power an LED. but I think it's highly unlikely that a Margarita will produce anything...lol , But you should take @zander (Ron's)  advice and try it!.. Who knows, It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong, so go for it!   Good luck and let us know how it turn out.

regards,

LouisR

Posted by: @zander

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EDIT: The lemon produces 0.7V, but a potato produces 1V.

Mix up a margarita and give it a go.

Potato => Vodka (not Tequila).  😆 

@makersmarquee,

On a more serious note... and depending on how much trouble you are willing to go to...

A long time ago, I was wanting to hike the A/T and wanted to do a non-stop time lapse video.  The only technical issue was how to power the device.  I looked into energy scavenging circuits.  Unfortunately, hardware is not my forte.  You might do a search on that or piezoelectric circuits.  The emit high voltage, but only for pico-seconds.  The circuitry "accumulates" the power and finally powers things.  As you alluded to... it might be as simple store energy for 1 second, pulse the LED for 20 milliseconds.

https://www.instructables.com/Piezoelectric-Shoes-Charge-Your-Mobile-Device-by-W/

@inq My mention of Margarita was because of its high citrus content, not connected to the Potato at all.

Your idea of storing small amounts of energy perhaps in a big capacitor is worth investigating.

@makersmarquee @zander @inst-tech @inq

Perhaps the Joule Thief will get you started ...

Posted by: @will

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@makersmarquee @zander @inst-tech @inq

Perhaps the Joule Thief will get you started ...

ABSOUTELY LOVE IT!

4:18 Parma Violets, Diet Pepsi and Vodka (PVDPV)!  🤣 😆 

Shear hardware black-magic!  Got to add this to my bookmarks.  

Thanks @will.

VBR,

Inq

Edit:  PS:  Kept hoping, he was going to power it with the PVDPV.

@will Thanks, Will. I knew I had seen a circuit that used a transistor, I just couldn't remember the name. Absolute wizardry.

Interesting ideas folks! Let the drinking experiments begin! I have a good feeling.

Ideally, if the prototype can provide enough voltage to drive an LED in some manner, I'd want the circuit to be on a PCB. The form factor is important to me. I know this is very cart-before-the-horse, but I'm hoping for some ideas on possible PCB design elements as I prototype to make sure the end result is at least theoretically feasible. I've never designed a PCB before, so not sure what's possible.

I imagine the probing end to be something akin to a soil moisture sensor but I would need to figure out how to attach a zinc anode, I highly doubt that any fab houses have zinc trace options. Any ideas?

Let's say this joule thief circuit makes it possible, are there any possible pick and place components that could act as this transformer Clive builds in the video?

Cheers!

@makersmarquee 

I should think just about any centre-tapped transformer should do. Julian Ilett did some experiments that took it down to only 4 turns (with suitable adjustments to the circuit).