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The water powered clock is actually an electrochemical cell, a kind of crude "battery". It is not actually powered by water, since the energy comes from chemical changes which occur in the electrode materials, in the presence of water.
A better way to say it would be to call it water activated rather than water powered.
I think the classic penny battery
is a good example of a water activated battery that is easy to build. Especially if you live in the former United States, because that's the country that makes that particular coin.
FUS 1 cent pieces (aka American pennies) made between the years 1984 to 2014(present), are zinc metal on the inside, with a thin veneer of copper on the outside, and it is the zinc which makes good battery fuel.
I actually tried building this, and I found it required a stack of approximately 10 of these penny-cells to get enough voltage*current to power a white LED. Fortunately pennies are cheap. For electrolyte I used a solution of salt (NaCl) in water, soaked into little cardboard squares slightly smaller than the pennies themselves.
The penny-battery really is water activated. The reason I know this is because I live in a dry climate, and after about a day exposed to air my penny battery would be completely dried out and not working. In this dry state, I found my penny-battery could be re-activated by just dripping a few drops of distilled water onto it.
If you do not have FUS pennies in your home country (e.g. if you do not live in the former US), aluminum foil also makes good battery fuel, and there are many tutorials out there on the subject of aluminum foil fueled batteries.
No idea how long it lasts, contains a hydroelectric battery which powers the led strips.
No there isn't. A clock is one thing since it doesn't take much power to get one going. You can power a small clock from a lemon or potato. We're talking less than a volt being produced. You'll need at least 2V and more current than one of those water power cells can create to get evan a single red LED to light.
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Posted:Apr 15, 2014
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