Thanks for your input Mike.
Your rusty iron inclusion was tried in the step by step building vid that I did. Am not sure there was much change but, then again, ratios are a developing area to explore and it did no harm either. All quite similar to the potato slice starch on the separator and oinized salt inclusion.
See, the weird situation exists now, where changes and alterations aren't changing much at all.
I see the point of a lot of them, particularly oils and evaporations etc, or gel making for the electrolyte....but...seems to me that the graphene arriving will make the bigger fundamental change as the next stage. A small quantity has been kindly sent by a poster on my vids channel, with 1/3rd of his container of it going to Lidmotor too.
Am very much looking forward to Lidmotor's own experiments...a fella of many ideas.
I wrote the next part out for an R/C buddy of mine, who is similarly interested in applications of this starter homemade process in flight. We can get cells at this point, for freeflight appraisals. While not at any power density to manage full 4 channel 3D flight and hanging upside down from the propeller, they are viable for a little farty backyard thing with a motor on it
Carbonacci Flight TrialsCarbonacci - carbon because of the wing structure and there being carbon in the flight cell, bonacci from Fibonacci because i'm hoping it will be the first of a series.
Yesterday evening saw the first ever flight trials of a personally homemade supercap.
But, let's not be grandiose here, the final result was borderline for the 5g build, or at least the aircraft itself was pitchy as hell and glides were hit and miss even when not powered.
I have to strengthen the wing somehow due to flexing, which, at only 5g for the whole thing is disturbingly rubbish.
The Carbonacci is a rebuild of the one I made a couple of weeks back. it just seemed to be the right platform, with its floaty nature and slow performance. But, by the end of those original flights, the wings had proven to be a bit too flexible and i'd shelved it.
The ITC gear came off and the 2x 4mm came off.
On went the 6mm test motor + ITC prop from the YouTube videos and the 1g supercap.
1 wire was directly soldered, the other had a single pin connector fitted.
And, she was ready for flight trials.
Something highly strange happened immediately, for mental consideration, quite exciting really.
Y'see, at the moment, these cells 'burn fuel'. They work best when fresh vinegar is applied. That can be actual 5% from a bottle or cranberry juice or pretty much anything acidic.
So I sat there dipping the end of a hobby knife in a cap full of vinegar and considered it like readying a gas airplane for flight...such folks would love that procedure ! Different mixes, different strengths.
1 application will last for many charges, so it's not a chore either.
Took it outside and charged up for the first time for 5 seconds, using the 12V li-ion pack.
Flights were frustrating. It would climb and then often turn back on itself..the CG was way too far back. But, because of the weight difference to the original, nothing could get moved further forward by the needed margin. Another odd experience, was deciding to bring her in for some repairs at one point and simply letting the prop carry on spinning. I was at the bench gluing by the time it ran out of power !
The final thoughts from last night are to rebuild, make it smaller, give the cell a chance on a decent airframe.
And, that we are actually here, where flight trials are possible. The graphene should arrive by Thursday and builds of cells that will output 4V are next in line.
Pics attached.