This type of battery seems quite easy to DIY. Cheap materials, relatively safe, not flammable.
You can either maken individual cells or make a flow battery which is theoretically infinitely scalable. You’d be limited by the size of the electrode in how much power this battery can deliver.
Has anyone here tried to make a flow battery? And did you have any success with powering something large and energy consuming?
I guess it would also be possible to make a battery out of old buckets, carbon fiber mesh and separator material such as glass fiber.
While relatively easy to build, they seem quite complex to manage and have a risk of explosive hydrogen gas production and even toxic bromide gas in rare cases.
Probably not a DIY project that is easy over all.
No experience on that front, sadly.
Compared to iron redox flow batteries, it has about 5 percentage points of more efficiency (75 vs. 70%), slightly better cell voltage (1.8 vs 1.2 V) and better energy density per electrode surface (0.2 W vs 0.05 W / cm2).
The “resetting” of cells seems like a nuisance however. Quoting Wikipedia:
Every 1–4 cycles the terminals must be shorted across a low-impedance shunt while running the electrolyte pump, to fully remove zinc from battery plates.[3]
It’s probably doable, but not a particularly attractive technology when compared to alternatives.
It’s probably doable, but not a particularly attractive technology when compared to alternatives.
Wondering why you feel that way? It would be easy to design packs of 4 that would have rotations where one cell does the resetting cycle while the others do the regular one? Is the reset cycle as long as the recharge one btw?
Hmm I didn’t notice the resetting part yet. That is indeed very inconvenient and not something I’m willing to build a system for.
Perhaps just individual cells is better in that sense. My goal is a set and forget style battery that only needs maintenance in a few months.
Yeah great idea, let’s bring back bromism
Lmao, do you drink your Li-po batteries as well?
The typical dose needed to reach bromism (when talking about old bromide sedatives) is 0.5g-1.0g a day, the lethal dose of zinc bromide is 3-5g, those levels are not passive exposure levels, they’re intentional or very unlucky accidental ingestion levels
Lmao, do you manufacture your li-po batteries as well?
Haha, I take your point!
The bromine stays in the cell/tank. It’s not meant for human consumption.
Instructions unclear, dock got stuck in acid.
Jokes aside, my point is the “ermahgerd let’s build some batteries with buckets and wire”