Real Goods really offers real water-powered clock/calc--for real!

You know, just because you're selling something on Real Goods doesn't mean it isn't totally fake. Well, at least we think it's fake—the water-powered clock/calculator uses "a patented revolution in fuel cell technology that harnesses the energy of water molecules to provide a futuristic stream of pollution-free electrical current". So basically you can draw electricity from standing water. And why isn't anyone else doign this? Forgive us if we have to call some serious BS on this (but forgive us more if this is somehow really really real, which we have a bit of a feeling it isn't).

[Thanks, James]

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Ha, ha. Technology so revolutionary we had to incorporate it into a cheap digital clock.

[d @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

But the weight would be a problem, two big tanks of water whussing everywhere while driving along the M25 (Motorway round London). Clever idea though.

The engadget peeps should buy one and provide a video of this scientific breakthrough.

[endo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Remember the old potato clocks? You plugged them into a potato and it powered the clock for weeks. I had one as a kid, and I discovered that the clock ran just as well on salt water as on the potato - better, in fact, because the salt water didn't spoil. I'll bet this is exactly the same thing...

[clvrmnky @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Pretty common, and well-known gadget. You can buy them everywhere. There are entire desk sets that "run" on water.

Basically, the water just creates a wet-cell from a pair of contacts. It is _really_ running on zinc, I bet. Once the zinc corrodes away, the clock will no longer work.

http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/topic/t-57438_Electricity_from_water.html

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Here are two others:
http://attitudeweb.com/wapoclwial.html
http://www.starmagic.com/store.cgi?620976+3A3A003

[Ed @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

A friend of mine has had a "water powered" digital clock for a few years now. It does work, and all he has to do is feed it water once in a while. If it tips over, though, the thing can't keep time correctly. I read somewhere that these use the water to slowly dissolve a hunk of zinc. I'm also guessing that you can only create a very small amount of current, hence the digital clock/calculator

[Jesse @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I don't think I have seen anything like it since the early 19th century. Unfortunately they did not have small efficient computers that could run off the current.
Try suspending two different conducting metals in water. Zinc and Copper work extraordinarily well.

[nabohi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

It's real and it's old. I got a water-powered watch ten years ago from my father. He got it for joining the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, so a big logo was on the front of the watch. I think it works with the ions of minerals in the water, it does not work with distilled water.

[Larry @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

They're real. This sort of gadget has been around for many years. Of course it's not really powered by water; you pour a little water inside and it serves as the electrolyte in a primitive battery (well, techically just one single cell, not a battery, but that's a fine distinction). The real power source is the electrical potential between two dissimilar metals... probably copper and zinc in this gadget, or maybe copper and magnesium. It's not a "fuel cell", and there's nothing revolutionary about it... it's almost identical to the very first battery invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. "Patented"? I don't think so.

Almost any conductive liquid will work... slightly acid liquids, like orange juice or dilute vinegar, work best, but ordinary tap water is OK if it has enough dissolved minerals in it. Very pure water won't work at all.

The manufacturer is doing us a real disservice by making this look like some sort of super-scientific magic. It would be much more impressive if they explained what it was really doing and pointed out how amazingly simple battery technology really is.

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Fuel Cell Schmule Cell.

[010111 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

i had a couple 'water watches' when i was like 9. they were awesome. totally futuristic design (well... for 1986.) my favorite was the one that was clear plastic so you could see all the water-powered goodness located within. i would rock one soooo fast these days it isn't even funny. except i'd run it off something more amusing. like vodka. or urine.

[Kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I remember there was a "water powered" wristwatch in the back of some magazine I used to read. To charge it, you held it under running water. There was a small turbine inside.

[wing007 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Hi there,

does anyone know where I can buy a water powered wristwatch?

In the previous posts I saw people talking about it. I also saw it when I was little (if I only had allowence or some money back then...)

Please let me know.

Kind regads,
wing007

[ed @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Can anyone tell me why my potato clock wont work? I followed the instructions perfectly but not ticking??