I was out inspecting my orange tree, to see what kind of crop to expect this year (a little pitiful), and got kind of a strange idea. I was thinking of a class demonstration from grade from grade school (35 years or so ago...), about using a lemon for battery power. I don't remember the details, but figure many of you have seen the same demo, and might know.
I realize the voltage/current isn't great, and the electrodes must be dissimilar metals. Greater the surface area, greater the output.
My idea is to build something that I can shove into the oranges as they develop on the tree, and produce enough power to light an LED, or maybe even run a low voltage microcontroller (flashy LEDs). Maybe a joule thief would work.
A few details I need to work out, are the plate/electrodes. Need some common metals, not too corrosive as this is intended to last a year. Need a surface area, but must keep damage to the fruit minimal. Thinking pins or nails, thin rods. Need to know how much power a single fruit can produce, so I can decide how many to wire series/parallel to obtain a useful power level.
It'll be several months before the fruit will be large enough to mess with, but it's a good time to get ready.
I realize the voltage/current isn't great, and the electrodes must be dissimilar metals. Greater the surface area, greater the output.
My idea is to build something that I can shove into the oranges as they develop on the tree, and produce enough power to light an LED, or maybe even run a low voltage microcontroller (flashy LEDs). Maybe a joule thief would work.
A few details I need to work out, are the plate/electrodes. Need some common metals, not too corrosive as this is intended to last a year. Need a surface area, but must keep damage to the fruit minimal. Thinking pins or nails, thin rods. Need to know how much power a single fruit can produce, so I can decide how many to wire series/parallel to obtain a useful power level.
It'll be several months before the fruit will be large enough to mess with, but it's a good time to get ready.