While I wait for all my electrode materials to arrive, I began my testing of the salt water battery system with what I have available.
My first test uses a carbon rod and a zinc plate. The result was a very small voltage; even after putting two cells in series this was only enough to light a single red LED:
I then tried to increase the voltage by dividing my system into eight cells in series:
This still only provided a few milliamps at 5.3volts
Back to the drawing board