*The Capacitive Battery Charger* Real or a Load?

[EternityForest]

Capacitor electric Charger power from the air

They say there is current in the sky and stuff. any HAMs familiar with getting shocked off an antenna?

Also what do you think the effects in the environment would be?

Since they say you can use a zig zag of wire i might get a few thousand feet of magnet wire(at the high static voltage and low current thin is ok,plus its safer as its like a giant fuse) and put in on my roof in some kind of asinine tangle

Maybe i could make a voltage divider with one of those gigaohm resistors to measure voltage.

put all the electronics on the roof along with a small regulator and who knows what you could power.
even if its just sensors in a remote area it would still be cool.

EDIT:
this thread would seem to add credibility:
https://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=3447&page=2

seeing as how they claim it to be a problem(why lie that you have an extra problem)

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Looks like a complete load of rubbish - but feel free to try it and see.

You can generate sparks by walking across a nylon carpet, but you can't charge a battery with it.

 

[EternityForest]

Thanks Nigel!
It might be a load of utter rubbish but even if it produces a milliwatt there is still good use for it i think.

also air is at the top of the triboelectric series and many common wire insulators are nearer to the bottom.
so at the very least some van der graaf type effects might show up in windy conditions.

maybe you could make a wind powered whimshurst by attaching lots of nylon and polyureathane flaps to a string and connecting them up just right. art installation? idk.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

If you think a milliwatt is any use, then build one and see what you get.

 

[Sig239]

A few thousand feet of magnet wire sounds a bit expensive for "a few milliwatts" (if you even get that). Do you need to remove the insulation too?

I believe HAMs get shocked on antennas during transmit and perhaps lightning. Attract and harness lightning and you may be onto something.

 

[JimB]

Yes, static electricity can build up on an antenna, and it will give you a nasty nip if you touch it.
I have seen sparks 15mm long discharging from an antenna feeder.
This sort of thing does not happen all the time, I have only seen it during cold dry weather when it has been "snowing" little round balls of ice.
This was quite common in the Shetland Islands when I lived there several years ago, I have also seen it here but not for a long time.

As for getting any usefull power from it, not a practical proposition.

JimB

 

[EternityForest]

Actually 32 gauge magnetwire is 20 $ for 6000 feet or so in some cases.
but yeah.probably right. not practical for useful power. DIY wind is probably a much better option.

 

[mramos1]

This might be a project for MythBusters. I can not imagine it charged a deep cycle battery full in 2-3 days.

EternityForest: Did you build one?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

This might be a project for MythBusters. I can not imagine it charged a deep cycle battery full in 2-3 days.

Or two to three YEARS

 

[tcmtech]

I saw a schematic for a similar system that worked in sort of a similar way but ran the ignition coil the other way around.

If I am remembering it right they used the secondary coil with a capacitor in series with it and the spark plug for a spark gap. The primary was then ran through a set of rectifiers to get DC out of it. I don't know how well it worked, or if it actually did at all, but it was claimed to be able to charge smaller batteries if the weather conditions where good.

It seemed to make more sense to me to use the HV from the antennae wire to charge up the capacitor and use its charge drive the HV side of the coil instead of the low voltage side.

 

[EternityForest]

Mramos1: as of yet i have not build one.

 

[mramos1]

Mramos1: as of yet i have not build one.

The article looked a little fishy to me. I'd not bother if I were you. Maybe a wind or solar project to start with. Sure you will yield more power.