From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 1/14/24 15:20, jim whitby wrote:

From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

Beta batteries are nothing new, but they find only few applications.
If you have a device that needs very little power but needs to run
for many years untended, it may be a good option.

The Ni63 that powers it probably doesn't come cheap, so you need a
really good reason to use one.

Jeroen Belleman

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 14/01/2024 14:20, jim whitby wrote:

From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

It is largely clueless marketing hype. Whilst the thing can generate a miniscule current for an incredibly long time it is a toy - and nothing
more. Zamboni piles do much the same thing without any radioactivity.

There has been one ringing a bell in Oxford for nearly 200 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamboni_pile


--
Martin Brown

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 1/14/24 11:02, Martin Brown wrote:

On 14/01/2024 14:20, jim whitby wrote:

 From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

It is largely clueless marketing hype. Whilst the thing can generate a miniscule current for an incredibly long time it is a toy - and nothing
more. Zamboni piles do much the same thing without any radioactivity.

There has been one ringing a bell in Oxford for nearly 200 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamboni_pile

Thank both of you. I suspected it was bs, but coming from Tomshardware,
I wasn't sure.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 14/01/2024 16:32, jim whitby wrote:

On 1/14/24 11:02, Martin Brown wrote:

On 14/01/2024 14:20, jim whitby wrote:

 From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

It is largely clueless marketing hype. Whilst the thing can generate a
miniscule current for an incredibly long time it is a toy - and
nothing more. Zamboni piles do much the same thing without any
radioactivity.

There has been one ringing a bell in Oxford for nearly 200 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamboni_pile

Thank both of you. I suspected it was bs, but coming from Tomshardware,
I wasn't sure.

The diamond nuclear battery has been popping up a lot recently, maybe
it's like solar roadways where companies take an old idea, spin it so it
sounds amazing, and use this to get huge amounts of funding for research
while, one presumes, knowing full well that they will fail to develop
anything useful.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sun, 14 Jan 2024 16:48:54 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
<jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:

On 1/14/24 15:20, jim whitby wrote:

From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

Beta batteries are nothing new, but they find only few applications.
If you have a device that needs very little power but needs to run
for many years untended, it may be a good option.

The Ni63 that powers it probably doesn't come cheap, so you need a
really good reason to use one.

Jeroen Belleman

One problem with beta batteries is that they make a small current at
hundreds of kilovolts. There have been various exotic dc/dc converters
for them, but none have been practical so far.

A lithium primary cell is usually a better deal. The Tadiran parts
claim over 35 year lifetime.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 1/15/24 16:42, John Larkin wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jan 2024 16:48:54 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
<jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:

On 1/14/24 15:20, jim whitby wrote:

From Tomshardware site

<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan>

IF this isn't BS...

Somebody in the free world needs to get off their asses!

Beta batteries are nothing new, but they find only few applications.
If you have a device that needs very little power but needs to run
for many years untended, it may be a good option.

The Ni63 that powers it probably doesn't come cheap, so you need a
really good reason to use one.

Jeroen Belleman

One problem with beta batteries is that they make a small current at
hundreds of kilovolts. There have been various exotic dc/dc converters
for them, but none have been practical so far.

A lithium primary cell is usually a better deal. The Tadiran parts
claim over 35 year lifetime.

I gather the usual way to convert betas into usable voltage and
current is to let them pass through a stack of large bandgap
photo diodes. Still, you are correct that a lithium primary cell
is easier.

Jeroen Belleman

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