this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2026
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me_irl
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You also need chargeable batteries, so you need
The Anode - Lead Dioxide, a mineral called Plattnerite yields it, or it can be obtained by heating lead metal in open air at 600 Celsius and then turning the resulting Lead Monoxide powder into Red Lead via calcination which is just heating it again. Do your best to turn it into a plate form, perhaps by smelting some conductive material like copper onto it, idk.
The Cathode - Pure Lead plate
Sulfuric Acid - You can find Sulfur as a mineral, then mix with saltpeter, and then burn it to create sulfur oxide which if piped into water will produce the acid.
Glass fiber plates to place between the Anodes and cathodes so that they do not touch
A container, likely a ceramic.
Notes: Saltpeter can either be mined or obtained by soaking bat guano until small crystals form and then filtered out. Since this is a liquid batter it has to always be kept upright.
Batteries are not needed to generate electricity. But also: I present: The Baghdad Battery.
It's gonna be a hard sell to make anything that only operates while you're cranking it. Romans with aquaducts and water wheels could make it somewhat widespread, but other than that...
The electric light didn't seem to have any issues.
How am I getting glass fibre in the ancient world??!? Isn't there anything simpler that will work?
It's literally just a bunch of small fibers of glass. You can slowly shave it off of glass then lightly reheat it and pack it into a plate. It's not fun or rewarding work, but it's something a caveman can do. Do you need glass recipes?