500lb potato battery

east2west · Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:36 pm Post subject: 500lb potato battery

"I built a potato battery out of 500 pounds of potatoes. It powered a small sound system. I installed the battery and sound system in the back of a U-Haul truck and drove it around town inviting people to enter the truck and take a listen....Each potato generates about 0.5 volts and 0.2 milliamperes. I connected groups of potatoes together in series to increase voltage and then connected these groups together in parallel to increase amperage. The entire 500 lb battery generated around 5 volts and 4 milliamperes'"

Taking the 5th grade science project to a whole new level.
_________________
Have an e-business or storefront? Buy factory direct
www.east2westconnections.biz
Dont want to get the shaft on your insurance claim? www.lightningadjusters.com

BorneoRagnarok · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:36 am Post subject: Re: 500lb potato battery

Congratulation, you just discover what I am doing for the last 2 months. I notice that linking those wires to living plants can generate more electricity.

One of my friend claimed he can generate enough electricity to run a television. The best way is to link those those wires to living plants. Find 2 healthy trees and try your experiments again.

Of course peak oil still come but at least you have enough light to prepare your stone age tool.
_________________
When all the rivers run dry, all the forests have been cleared, all the food has been eaten, tell me the value of your money

The_Toecutter · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 1727

A potato typically weighs about 1/5 of a pound. So that's about 2,500 potatoes. At .5V each and 5V generated, this means he has about 250 series strings of 10 potatoes, these strings connected in parallel.

He can basically get about .5A from my estimation, assuming .002A per potato. Multiply by 5V and he's got about 2.5W...

Not a very big sound system.
_________________
The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the old growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder. ~Thomas Jefferson

HorneyGeekBoi · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Posts: 30

Interesting, but I think in the post-peak era people will more likely want to eat their potatoes than generate a couple amps of 5volt electricity. Especailly given that the amount of potatoes needed, is well, ALOT.

BlisteredWhippet · Intermediate Crude Joined: Feb 08, 2005 Posts: 839

Good point. Eat the potato and then hop on an exercise bike generator and you'll be able to power a much louder sound system.

eric_b · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject: Re: 500lb potato battery

Good grief. <slaps forehead>

That there's a waste of good spuds. Prolly several orders of magnitude more energy there if you were to eat them or burn them. Still it's kinda cute.

The_Toecutter · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 1727

SolarDave · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2005 Posts: 377

The_Toecutter · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 1727

Wouldn't it be more satisfying to spend that valuable garden space on other types of more entertaining plants? Very Happy

***edit

I also just realized I made an error in my first post of this topic. The article said .2 mA, not 2 mA. Adjust it, and my calculation gets .25W. However, this guy got .2W, which if I had read the artuicle, I'd have seen that. It sounds pretty credible to me.
_________________
The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the old growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder. ~Thomas Jefferson

lys3rg0 · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: Re: 500lb potato battery