So for a school project where we have to make a lesson plan for kids to learn stuff out of "lame" experiments, I was assigned potato clock. I could not for the life of me find a simple 1.5 volt led clock, and I was not allowed to purchase something that is a kit or part of a kit. I ended up purchasing a simple rotary clock, instead.
The potato battery I rigged up puts out 1.60-1.80 volts so says my multimeter, but when I alligator clip it to the clock, nothing. I pulled a double a battery from a controller, and it works, but not the potato batterie (also tested the battery with the multimeter to see if the multimeter is broken, it came up right around 1.5 as well). Why will my potato battery not power the clock?
Best Answer
Well, there's your problem. You don't want an LED clock. You want an LCD clock. LEDs take (relatively speaking) a lot of current, and a potato battery simply won't supply it. As a check on this, go back to your potato/clock combo, and measure the voltage with the clock connected. Notice something? Your voltage is almost zero with a load on the potato.
I suggest you go on Youtube and search for potato clock. This will give you videos which provide a source for an appropriate clock.
If, as you say, you cannot buy such a clock, you are probably out of luck. About the only alternative is to find a clock, or perhaps a watch, which runs on a single alkaline battery. You can figure out which battery connections to connect to which electrodes you have and go from there.
But LED and mechanical clocks simply will not work with a single potato.