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1. 

   Mike R., 16 Sep 2005 @ 6:08pm

   
   

   No Subject Given

   There's no need for them to really be throw-away; if they had hydrogen in them, the resulting water could be stored. Hook it up to AC power, and let a reversible fuel cell split the water back in to oxygen and hydrogen. Maybe every once in a while, top it off with water.
   
   Throw-away fuel cells is just a capitalist load of crap.

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2. 

   Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2005 @ 8:01pm

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   1) Fuel cell 'batteries' may be designed to be completely self-contained, if so then there's no need to add or remove any material. The major issue will be the hydrogen leaking out prior to use.
   2) AC wont split molecules.
   3) See #1, topping it off with water is redundant.

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

3. 

   Rickler, 16 Sep 2005 @ 8:12pm

   
   

   Just looking at the pic :rolleyes:

   If you look at the picture the person is refueling the "battery" with methanol. That means... "battery" doesn't get thrown away.
   
   The only downfall to this is it's explosive... but so are lithium batteries.

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

4. 

   Mike R., 16 Sep 2005 @ 9:22pm

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   Electrical current through water will split water.. last time I checked, AC is that ;)

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

5. 

   Mike (profile), 16 Sep 2005 @ 10:10pm

   
   

   Re: Just looking at the pic :rolleyes:

   If you look at the picture the person is refueling the "battery" with methanol. That means... "battery" doesn't get thrown away.
   
   That's unlikely to be the way the final product is "refueled" as the article suggests. It's a bit too dangerous for the average user.
   
   At the same time, that could be even worse, because you'd always have to carry around bottles of methanol...

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

6. 

   bekeep, 17 Sep 2005 @ 1:05am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   sounds right...

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

7. 

   KR, 17 Sep 2005 @ 8:14am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   DC works better. AC jsut makes a big explosive mess. Also, it can't be plain water because pure water does not conduct electricity; there must be a conductor such as salt or bleach present.

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

8. 

   Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2005 @ 4:06pm

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   well i doubt people would have distilled water laying around that they would use... so i doubt the non conductive water would be an issue... but thats a good point... anyways what do they add to water to make it conductive for fuel cell purposes?

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

9. 

   David, 17 Sep 2005 @ 4:54pm

   
   

   AC

   All cell phone batteries are charged with DC too. You must use a rectifier/power supply to charge any battery from the wall. Thus a similar charger would be used for the fuel cells if that were how they were intended to be used. The conversion of methanol to hydrogen for fuel cell use can (for now anyway) can be simplified into a much smaller cartridge than a two-way fuel-cell/electrolyzer system. As for refilling, they could operate much like butane cans are used to refill butane lighters, but under much higher pressure (safety would be a concern, and a good mechanism would need to be devised). Remember though that a single cartridge would run your phone for a month, so on trips you wouldn’t need to haul your can around, maybe just another spare cartridge for a very long trip.

   [ link to this | view in thread ]

10. 

    Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2005 @ 1:33am

    
    

    Re: No Subject Given

    "AC wont split molecules."
    
    Maybe you haven't heard of a transformer/rectifier.. AKA a power adapter. They are those niftly little devices (the thing you always lose in the bottom of your box of wires and cables) that pretty much every peice of electronics uses to convert AC into DC.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

11. 

    Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2005 @ 1:35am

    
    

    Re: No Subject Given

    Uhh... you got it backwards, water is ther by product of fuel cells.
    
    To make water conductive, get it out of your faucet, its conductive, trust me.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

12. 

    Jimbo, 18 Sep 2005 @ 1:52am

    
    

    For once I disagree with TechDirt's excellent arti

    Having followed the link in the above, I find the fuel cells to be amazing - 35 hours from 3.5ml of fuel? AND I would prefer to just fill 'er up rather than plug in and leave for 6 hours to charge...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

13. 

    Joseph Crawford, 18 Sep 2005 @ 10:35am

    
    

    No Subject Given

    Sounds like if this goes through we can forget about taking our cell phones on a plane anywhere. Regardless of how stable the fuel cells are, if they are using methanol in them you can count on airports not allowing them through security.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

14. 

    Phaux, 18 Sep 2005 @ 6:28pm

    
    

    Airports

    I agree. If its an explosive chemical, the airports won't allow it becuase they think your going to try and take down the plane, which I highly doubt you can do with an amount like 3.5ml.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

15. 

    Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2005 @ 7:04pm

    
    

    Re: Airports

    Yup. http://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/Hazard%20materials.html
    
    Airplanes don't allow pocket cigarette lighters, so it's unlikely that they'll allow methanol refills. 3.5mL of methanol might not sound like much, but that small amount could be used to catch other materials on fire more easily -- which isn't good on aircraft.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

16. 

    Andrew Strasser, 18 Sep 2005 @ 9:53pm

    
    

    Re: Airports

    Any battery could in theory be used as an explosive device as there is power generated on planes. Thus it is possible to explode any type of battery.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

17. 

    malhombre, 19 Sep 2005 @ 1:29am

    
    

    fuel cells? I'm still waiting for

    Mr. Fusion, or at least a good used flux capacitor with a couple of jigawatts left in it.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

18. 

    Niu, 31 Jul 2007 @ 7:53pm

    
    

    eng lish

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