Do rechargeable batteries recharge themselves?
1,154 views · Published 18 June 2014 · 5:19 · Indexed 6 November 2026
Channel: GrandadIsAnOldMan · 2014 · Science & Technology
I am trying to make sense of why my Lemon Battery Car worked fine the first time, then not quite so well the second time and then slowly worse every time then on. I strongly suspect the first time the charging was partly down to the lemon battery but assisted by the rechargeable batteries own self charge. From then on the battery was less able to restore even with the lemon power helping to the point where the car only moves about 12 inches instead of the original 3.5 metres. In this video I am measuring the amount a similar rechargeable battery restores over time without any other charging source. The lemon powered car project has really frustrated me. What I am trying to explain here is that I need to understand why it worked the first time because I really didn't expect it to and I cannot replicate it, so clearly it was not doing what I thought it was doing. A clear case of me misinterpreting the results. The battery on the car does not have any visible information on it, but all the others I have from these types of solar lights are Ni-Mh. It charges to about 1.2v and drops to about 1.03 then restores to about 1.08 on it's own. The lemon gives about 0.86 volts when fresh and the zinc and copper rods are clean. I am not confident with my current measurements so I will not show them. So on the face of it the figures cannot add up but I was hoping the little bit of circuitry on the solar charger was going to do some magic and provide a low charge to make it work. That is why I have been leaving it for 8 hours between each test and why the project is taking so long to prove. Here is a selection of related playlists Lemon, Potato, Vinegar, Salt etc Power https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB24tJDQHdmjgpFGwfvwvnnn Power Sources https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB35LIuF4GnN3Bxtd0Gd-mf_ Potato Power revisited https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0obLfnK22P9pTmLKXvQxsm Solar Projects playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB1SVLRn_D16dRvTrocMhFPq Solar Movers Rockers Wobblers https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB1L61NAVuE5I9FbPgq3sSG1 Solar Powered Aircraft https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0lB7E7nXcCd5FPIdYk9vk0 Solar Powered Boats https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB2cuyCDt7Ig20u0pzPWtVo3 Solar Powered Cars https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0fR-1ICd0dtNaxxbtS06G9 Solar Powered RC Boat https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0CbqRkzsGRzhfMqrEydOPg Solar Snowman Magnet Motor https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB1Kpa5_w3B-K5UmV0edD_Wb Solar Transformer Robot Kit playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0GU0nYXQhRYKBNYXNEEvGK Bargain Store Solar Boat https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0yTO2CAT-egZzvEs500p11 Solar Snowman https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB2IsZs-7feda7BZFdPpxHdN Solar powered mobile phone charger - FAIL https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB3fP_vVXEz2y88dkDR2_gPl Solar Powered Aircraft https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0lB7E7nXcCd5FPIdYk9vk0 Smart Science 6 in 1 Solar Robot kit https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB0nHCTZzIbtOdqUSsEEJ1Nr Electric Experiments Roobert33 https://youtu.be/Ko_R3PeadG4?list=PLA5a2xPRSrB24tJDQHdmjgpFGwfvwvnnn Merchandise RedBubble https://rdbl.co/2yJv56H Direct http://grandadisanoldman.cottoncart.com/ Teespring https://grandadisanoldman.creator-spring.com/ My Channels GrandadIsAnOldMan https://youtube.com/@GrandadIsAnOldMan GrandadsOtherChannel https://youtube.com/@GrandadsOtherChannel Put a rubber band on it https://youtube.com/@Putarubberbandonit Number4 https://youtube.com/@Number4GIAOM You can help keep my channel running with coffee and cakes at Kofi https://ko-fi.com/grandadisanoldman Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/grandadisanoldman Tinkercad https://www.tinkercad.com/users/fqjxiYyhfjE Cults https://cults3d.com/en/users/GrandadIsAnOldMan Playlists GrandadIsAnOldMan https://youtube.com/@GrandadIsAnOldMan/playlists GrandadsOtherChannel https://youtube.com/@GrandadsOtherChannel/playlists Putarubberbandonit https://youtube.com/@Putarubberbandonit/playlists Number4 https://youtube.com/@Number4GIAOM/playlists I have thousands of videos on YouTube, to find one try my search guides https://youtu.be/ceBSOoOHcgw or https://youtu.be/Zj4UgwkwYRk I am happy for you to show my content as part of your projects or in public settings, as long as you clearly credit GrandadIsAnOldMan. Please do not copy my video content and pass it off as your own. #grandadisanoldman #lemon #power #car #rechargeable #batteries #nimh
