Reactivating an 1800's Victorian Leclanché cell
bigclivedotcom 10:20
30,497 views · 3,359 likes Watch on YouTube ↗
It's a strange feeling when you reactivate a Victorian electrical Leclanché cell that is literally from the 1800's. The history of these very early zinc carbon cells is fascinating, and these liquid filled glass units were often found linked together as a battery in Victorian dwellings as part of the maid-call system.
The chemistry of the cell means that they are only suited to brief bursts of power, before they need time to recover, but that was fine for the applications they were used in.
It's also the reason the first tungsten torches earned the name flashlights, as they could only be used as a series of brief flashes of light to guide your way at night.
Sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) is used with water as the electrolyte in these cells. It's actually the same chemical that used to be used as haze powder for lighting enhancement in some entertainment venues. (When heated it gives off a vapour that then recombines in the air as a haze of microscopic crystals).
These cells did require periodic maintenance, where the water level would be topped up and the zinc rods replaced if needed.
The construction is a porous ceramic tub into which a carbon rod is placed and packed with manganese dioxide. The top is sealed with pitch (a tar-like substance) with small vent tubes.
The ceramic tub and a zinc rod are submerged in a glass jar filled with water and sal ammoniac in roughly 4 parts water to 1 part sal ammoniac by weight.
The top of the jar is painted with pitch or a wax/grease layer to discourage the sal ammoniac crystals from growing up the glass as the water evaporates.
The zinc rod is a consumable and replacements are still widely sold for electroplating and sacrificial electrode use.
I used small boost circuits to power the LEDs from the low voltage the cell was supplying under load.
No affiliate link for these. You'd need a time machine.
If you enjoy my videos, supporting the channel on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
Alternatively, for a single coffee contribution you can use PayPal:-
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
The chemistry of the cell means that they are only suited to brief bursts of power, before they need time to recover, but that was fine for the applications they were used in.
It's also the reason the first tungsten torches earned the name flashlights, as they could only be used as a series of brief flashes of light to guide your way at night.
Sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) is used with water as the electrolyte in these cells. It's actually the same chemical that used to be used as haze powder for lighting enhancement in some entertainment venues. (When heated it gives off a vapour that then recombines in the air as a haze of microscopic crystals).
These cells did require periodic maintenance, where the water level would be topped up and the zinc rods replaced if needed.
The construction is a porous ceramic tub into which a carbon rod is placed and packed with manganese dioxide. The top is sealed with pitch (a tar-like substance) with small vent tubes.
The ceramic tub and a zinc rod are submerged in a glass jar filled with water and sal ammoniac in roughly 4 parts water to 1 part sal ammoniac by weight.
The top of the jar is painted with pitch or a wax/grease layer to discourage the sal ammoniac crystals from growing up the glass as the water evaporates.
The zinc rod is a consumable and replacements are still widely sold for electroplating and sacrificial electrode use.
I used small boost circuits to power the LEDs from the low voltage the cell was supplying under load.
No affiliate link for these. You'd need a time machine.
If you enjoy my videos, supporting the channel on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
Alternatively, for a single coffee contribution you can use PayPal:-
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
Category (YouTube): Science & Technology
Playback is via YouTube's official embedded player. Data from YouTube; Exumo is not affiliated with YouTube.