"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

That was not what I was suggesting. See below (use a fixed
pitch font to avoid distortion of my ASCII drawing.)

(-) (+)
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+
| |
+-:|-:|-:|-:|-||-+

Here I use the more compact notation -:|- in place of the more normal
symbol for a cell of:

|
--| |--
|

and -||- as the closest that I can come to a single diode.

A "(-)" or "(+)" is a polarity sign for a terminal, while a '+'
without parens around it is a junction of two wires at right angles, or
a 90 degree bend in the wire.

So -- there would be only a single diode drop in series with
each series group of four cells -- 0.6 to 0.7 Volts for a silicon diode,
or about 0.15 Volts for a germanium diode (if you can still find those. :-)

Hmm ... what is the forward drop for a copper-oxide rectifier?
It has been ages since I have last seen them used anywhere except in the
rectifier in a multimeter or a panel-mount AC voltmeter -- which may
suggest that it is a pretty low drop. And it might be pretty easy to
make them as part of the strips bussing the cell groupings together.


How about Schottky diodes?



--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida