Rewiring Series Motor to Compound Wound Generator

[distatica]

Let me first start by saying I am new to electronics and my
understanding of the principles discussed might be off a little.
I will attempt to phrase my question properly, and rest assured I have
been looking into this matter on my own for quite a bit before posting
here.

I have very little financial resources, and am saving every penny I get
so I need to keep my budget low... anyways; I am attempting to turn an
old rotary tool I have lying around into a basic water powered generator.

The motor inside of the rotary tool is a series wound motor (I believe
this is correct, but I could always be wrong). I am attempting to change
the wiring around to turn this into a compound wound generator, but I am
not sure if this will work, here's why:

1) I am not sure if a compound wound generator needs to have 4 coils
representing the two fields, or if it can be made with 2 coils, such as
those in the rotary tool.

2) I am not sure if "proportioning" of the fields requires modifying how
many loops of wire are contained in the coils, or if resistors could be
used for proportioning.

I have chosen to use a rotary tool motor because I had one on hand and
it has a nice shaft for me to mount a rotor blade. It is also small and
light weight enough to send via mail. The project goal is to present to
my parents (who live in the bush with no electricity) a proof of concept
design so they can learn the basics and apply it with materials found at
the local landfill. I am *quite* aware that this is not an efficient
design.

If this is not possible with only two coils, would an approach with
series or shunt wound be recommended? If so, which would be better and why?

I would appreciate very much any information given, and thank you in
advance for your time.

sincerely, distatica.

References:

Series Wound Motor http://tpub.com/content/neets/14177/css/14177_51.htm
Compound Wound Gen. http://tpub.com/content/neets/14177/css/14177_30.htm

P.S. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know if I've done something wrong
with my post, flaming me is not going to teach me a thing. I have taken
great care to ensure I've included the information I believe is needed
to solve the problem, with my understanding of the problem, don't
hesitate to ask for more information I will get it asap.

 

[PeterD]

Let me first start by saying I am new to electronics and my
understanding of the principles discussed might be off a little.
I will attempt to phrase my question properly, and rest assured I have
been looking into this matter on my own for quite a bit before posting
here.

I have very little financial resources, and am saving every penny I get
so I need to keep my budget low... anyways; I am attempting to turn an
old rotary tool I have lying around into a basic water powered generator.

The motor inside of the rotary tool is a series wound motor (I believe
this is correct, but I could always be wrong). I am attempting to change
the wiring around to turn this into a compound wound generator, but I am
not sure if this will work, here's why:

1) I am not sure if a compound wound generator needs to have 4 coils
representing the two fields, or if it can be made with 2 coils, such as
those in the rotary tool.

2) I am not sure if "proportioning" of the fields requires modifying how
many loops of wire are contained in the coils, or if resistors could be
used for proportioning.

I have chosen to use a rotary tool motor because I had one on hand and
it has a nice shaft for me to mount a rotor blade. It is also small and
light weight enough to send via mail. The project goal is to present to
my parents (who live in the bush with no electricity) a proof of concept
design so they can learn the basics and apply it with materials found at
the local landfill. I am *quite* aware that this is not an efficient
design.

If this is not possible with only two coils, would an approach with
series or shunt wound be recommended? If so, which would be better and why?

I would appreciate very much any information given, and thank you in
advance for your time.

sincerely, distatica.

References:

Series Wound Motor http://tpub.com/content/neets/14177/css/14177_51.htm
Compound Wound Gen. http://tpub.com/content/neets/14177/css/14177_30.htm

P.S. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know if I've done something wrong
with my post, flaming me is not going to teach me a thing. I have taken
great care to ensure I've included the information I believe is needed
to solve the problem, with my understanding of the problem, don't
hesitate to ask for more information I will get it asap.

While you certainly could convert a series wound motor into a
generator (with DC output) the voltage outputted from this generator
would not be what the original motor was designed to work with. In
short you'd end up with a generator putting out a strange voltage that
won't be useful powering much of anything really.

A *much* better way woudl be to get an alternator off an automobile at
a junk yard. Then you can get AC (which with a transformer can be
converted to 120 or 240 volts depending out your county's standard)
with a few simple modifications. Use one with a built in regulator.

To get AC out of the alternator, simply wire into the stator windings
where they connect to the diodes. Leave everything else alone, and use
a small lead cell battery (old car, tractor, or motorcycle battery
will work). The frequency output will not be 50 or 60 Hz (unless you
find a way to regulate the alternator's speed, not easy to do.) but
for standard incandesent lights and many other items this won't cause
any serious problems.

And, even better it is practical and useful where your idea is simply
an interesting experiment.

 

[default]

Let me first start by saying I am new to electronics and my
understanding of the principles discussed might be off a little.
I will attempt to phrase my question properly, and rest assured I have
been looking into this matter on my own for quite a bit before posting
here.

I have very little financial resources, and am saving every penny I get
so I need to keep my budget low... anyways; I am attempting to turn an
old rotary tool I have lying around into a basic water powered generator.

The motor inside of the rotary tool is a series wound motor (I believe
this is correct, but I could always be wrong). I am attempting to change
the wiring around to turn this into a compound wound generator, but I am
not sure if this will work, here's why:

1) I am not sure if a compound wound generator needs to have 4 coils
representing the two fields, or if it can be made with 2 coils, such as
those in the rotary tool.

Need two fields that means four coils around the 2 pole pieces you
have.

2) I am not sure if "proportioning" of the fields requires modifying how
many loops of wire are contained in the coils, or if resistors could be
used for proportioning.

A resistor would only waste power. They depend on having the fields
balanced.

I have chosen to use a rotary tool motor because I had one on hand and
it has a nice shaft for me to mount a rotor blade. It is also small and
light weight enough to send via mail. The project goal is to present to
my parents (who live in the bush with no electricity) a proof of concept
design so they can learn the basics and apply it with materials found at
the local landfill. I am *quite* aware that this is not an efficient
design.

If this is not possible with only two coils, would an approach with
series or shunt wound be recommended? If so, which would be better and why?

I would appreciate very much any information given, and thank you in
advance for your time.

sincerely, distatica.

Like another responder already said an alternator is a better bet if
they can be found in land fills.

What you could do with your motor is vary the one field you do have
with a regulator to maintain the output voltage constant with motor
speed and loading. But then you probably won't find the parts for a
solid state regulator in the land fill (?).

So that calls for something more clever (or ancient) like a coil that
senses voltage and lowers the field strength by opening contacts when
the output exceeds a predetermined level.

What do you hope to achieve - charge batteries or provide DC power for
lighting? Is regulation necessary and why?

 

[distatica]

default wrote:

Like another responder already said an alternator is a better bet if
they can be found in land fills.

What you could do with your motor is vary the one field you do have
with a regulator to maintain the output voltage constant with motor
speed and loading. But then you probably won't find the parts for a
solid state regulator in the land fill (?).

So that calls for something more clever (or ancient) like a coil that
senses voltage and lowers the field strength by opening contacts when
the output exceeds a predetermined level.

What do you hope to achieve - charge batteries or provide DC power for
lighting? Is regulation necessary and why?

Thank you both very much for your responses. I was worried that I would
be needing the 4 coils but no one would answer me on that issue, so
thank you for clearing that up. And a resistor does seem like a dumb
idea in hindsight.

I was trying to avoid the use of an alternator (although I can clearly
see this is a much better idea, especially a GM alternator with a built
in regulator). The problem is my access in the city to one, and my
budget. While I may be able to scrape enough money together to purchase
a used alternator from a scrap yard, I doubt I would have the necessary
cash left over to send it in the mail. However if this is going to
output a useless voltage there's not much sense in doing it either. My
parents (and myself to a lesser extent) are afraid of taking power and
putting that into a device without knowing what will happen, which is
smart.

What do you hope to achieve - charge batteries or provide DC power for
lighting? Is regulation necessary and why?

I believe I have come to the conclusion I need to purchase an alternator
and send that, although I'm worried it's going to be one big box in the
end. I would like the system to charge a small lead acid battery and use
the battery as a regulator of sorts. Of course the alternator I pick up
will include a built in regulator. I would like if in the end they were
capable of using the creek to power/recharge their cell phone.

My biggest confusion at this point comes from dynamo flashlights, the
one's you never use batteries in. I have taken these apart and they look
like a very simple DC motor with some gears for higher RPM. If this is
the case how do they get all that power out of them to power a radio or
3 high intensity LED's? Is it a transformer of some sort? I'm not sure
what is going on there. I looked at another flashlight that had a magnet
moving through the center of a coil when you shook it, it claimed to
have a capacitor that could be charged thousands of times, but when I
applied a voltage to the largest capacitors I had around (from
microwaves) I was only able to light an LED for a couple seconds.

Exactly how much usable power can you get from a small DC motor like
that? This would be a great alternative to my design... And since I have
seen hand-spun Motorola battery chargers I assume it's enough to power a
cellphone.

I will however be using a creek and/or wind to spin the DC motor, not by
hand.

Once again, any information is very greatly appreciated.

 

[Don Kelly]

default wrote:



Thank you both very much for your responses. I was worried that I would be
needing the 4 coils but no one would answer me on that issue, so thank you
for clearing that up. And a resistor does seem like a dumb idea in
hindsight.

I was trying to avoid the use of an alternator (although I can clearly see
this is a much better idea, especially a GM alternator with a built in
regulator). The problem is my access in the city to one, and my budget.
While I may be able to scrape enough money together to purchase a used
alternator from a scrap yard, I doubt I would have the necessary cash left
over to send it in the mail. However if this is going to output a useless
voltage there's not much sense in doing it either. My parents (and myself
to a lesser extent) are afraid of taking power and putting that into a
device without knowing what will happen, which is smart.


I believe I have come to the conclusion I need to purchase an alternator
and send that, although I'm worried it's going to be one big box in the
end. I would like the system to charge a small lead acid battery and use
the battery as a regulator of sorts. Of course the alternator I pick up
will include a built in regulator. I would like if in the end they were
capable of using the creek to power/recharge their cell phone.

My biggest confusion at this point comes from dynamo flashlights, the
one's you never use batteries in. I have taken these apart and they look
like a very simple DC motor with some gears for higher RPM. If this is the
case how do they get all that power out of them to power a radio or 3 high
intensity LED's? Is it a transformer of some sort? I'm not sure what is
going on there. I looked at another flashlight that had a magnet moving
through the center of a coil when you shook it, it claimed to have a
capacitor that could be charged thousands of times, but when I applied a
voltage to the largest capacitors I had around (from microwaves) I was
only able to light an LED for a couple seconds.

Exactly how much usable power can you get from a small DC motor like that?
This would be a great alternative to my design... And since I have seen
hand-spun Motorola battery chargers I assume it's enough to power a
cellphone.

I will however be using a creek and/or wind to spin the DC motor, not by
hand.

Once again, any information is very greatly appreciated.

It's hard to say how much you can gain but trying to convert a series motor
to a compound generator would require adding a shunt winding (likely not
enough space for it) and also reducing the series field considerably (either
by removing turns or by using a low resistance shunt across the field
windings. Tain't worth the effort. As for the hand crank generators- they
are really low power devices- a LED doesn't take much.

 

[distatica]

It's hard to say how much you can gain but trying to convert a series motor
to a compound generator would require adding a shunt winding (likely not
enough space for it) and also reducing the series field considerably (either
by removing turns or by using a low resistance shunt across the field
windings. Tain't worth the effort. As for the hand crank generators- they
are really low power devices- a LED doesn't take much.

My understanding is that the hand crank generator is the same as a DC
motor, and that is what is used for the generator. If I am incorrect
please respond, if not don't bother responding I'll take no news as good
news and we'll let this thread die. Thank you very much to those that
responded, you've been very helpful.

 

[PeterD]

Thank you both very much for your responses. I was worried that I would
be needing the 4 coils but no one would answer me on that issue,

No, two coils would work.

so
thank you for clearing that up. And a resistor does seem like a dumb
idea in hindsight.

I was trying to avoid the use of an alternator (although I can clearly
see this is a much better idea, especially a GM alternator with a built
in regulator). The problem is my access in the city to one, and my
budget. While I may be able to scrape enough money together to purchase
a used alternator from a scrap yard, I doubt I would have the necessary
cash left over to send it in the mail. However if this is going to
output a useless voltage there's not much sense in doing it either. My
parents (and myself to a lesser extent) are afraid of taking power and
putting that into a device without knowing what will happen, which is
smart.

For a practical device, an alternator charging a battery is the *only*
way to go. I'm not sure where you are (Canada?) but at least here a
used alternator could be gotten for almost nothing if you know anyone
with a junk yard. Do make sure you get one that has a built in
regulator (some do not!) so research your device *before* investing
any money. A Google will help greatly in this respect. A 'one wire'
alternator would be an idea but they do have minimum RPM requirements
which may exceed your drive (water wheel?) capabilities when water
levels are low.

I believe I have come to the conclusion I need to purchase an alternator
and send that, although I'm worried it's going to be one big box in the
end. I would like the system to charge a small lead acid battery and use
the battery as a regulator of sorts. Of course the alternator I pick up
will include a built in regulator. I would like if in the end they were
capable of using the creek to power/recharge their cell phone.

Alternator charging batteries. Batteries feeding an inverter. Power...
Stable, clean and given enough water: significant amounts! Cost? Well,
not free, but small 150 watt inverters are not that expensive.

My biggest confusion at this point comes from dynamo flashlights, the
one's you never use batteries in. I have taken these apart and they look
like a very simple DC motor with some gears for higher RPM. If this is
the case how do they get all that power out of them to power a radio or
3 high intensity LED's?

Good assumption, yes they are simply small pernament magent stator DC
motors, geared up to provide the necessary voltages. They then charge
a NI-CAD or other battery so the power is available after crainking.

Is it a transformer of some sort?
No.

I'm not sure
what is going on there. I looked at another flashlight that had a magnet
moving through the center of a coil when you shook it, it claimed to
have a capacitor that could be charged thousands of times, but when I
applied a voltage to the largest capacitors I had around (from
microwaves) I was only able to light an LED for a couple seconds.

<g> Those moving magnet flashlights are funny! The amount of power
generated by that technique is nominal, at best. The tube the magent
slides in increases the gap in the magnetic field to coil and that
also reduces the power available.

As to a capacitor, you need a high value, low voltage capacitor. The
capacitor in a microwave is high voltage low value, just the opposite
of what you really need.

Exactly how much usable power can you get from a small DC motor like
that? This would be a great alternative to my design... And since I have
seen hand-spun Motorola battery chargers I assume it's enough to power a
cellphone.

Any, repeat, any small pernament magent DC motor will work as a
generator. The bigger the motor, the more power. I use 90 volt DC
motors in equipment frequently, they are half to one HP and capable of
interesting feats of power. Why am I mentioning this? Easy: most
electric treadmills (exercise machines) have a 90 volt DC motor in
them--finding one of these in a dump or recycling center would give
you a reasonable (higher voltage, however) generator. Any pernament
magnet generator is going to be unregulated! That means you will need
a regulator (even a simple series pass regulator would work) to safely
use them to charge a battery or batteries. But it can be done.

I will however be using a creek and/or wind to spin the DC motor, not by
hand.

The human body can put out through the arms maybe a hundred watts of
power. Legs you can count on about 500 watts (much bigger muscles!)
but not for sustained periods of time (unless you are Lance Armstrong,
or Floyd... <g>)

Creeks dry up, so always be sure you'll have water there when you need
it. They also freeze (Canada? If so how far north? <bg>) The wind
stops blowing, often just when you need electricity. But wind
shortages are often short term so storage batteries can sometimes
cover them, creeks drying up can be dry for months!

Once again, any information is very greatly appreciated.

There have got to be hundreds of similar projects documented on the
web... Google is your friend, but it may take some digging to get to a
practical example.

FWIW, I have a huge alternator sitting here that I had planned to use
in just such a project. It's rated at hundreds of amps (at low RPMs,
too.) but it still is a great project. Some day I may build it. Who
knows?

 

[default]

My understanding is that the hand crank generator is the same as a DC
motor, and that is what is used for the generator. If I am incorrect
please respond, if not don't bother responding I'll take no news as good
news and we'll let this thread die. Thank you very much to those that
responded, you've been very helpful.

Hand crank generators are good enough for cell phone charging -
although it will take more effort cranking to charge a battery as
opposed to lighting an LED.

Someone just gave me one of those LED crank type lights and I promptly
took it apart. Inside was a large gear turning a small one - that
spun a "motor" like device with a set of rectifier diodes on the
output - so I assume they are spinning a few rare earth magnets past
coils for power. An alternator. There were also 4 rechargeable cells
in it and a switch. It says it will light for an hour with one minute
of charging - it probably does - stays on for hours at a time. So,
this one I have isn't DC it is an alternator.

When I was a kid - long ago there were these flashlights that you
squeezed and they produced light for a few seconds. You pushed on a
sector gear with a spring return (the teeth of the gear were visible)
that, in turn, spun some gears to increase the speed of rotation and
spun a little DC motor. The gear mechanism had a device that would
disengage the gears on the return stroke so inertia would keep the
motor turning while you got ready to squeeze again - no storage
battery lots of exercise. Small incandescent lamp. Well made and
inexpensive, but not too practical. They had DC toy motors in them
and produced DC to light the light.

If you are interested in charging lead acid batteries - you won't need
a regulator unless you tap into some significant power source with a
real generator or alternator. You would still need a diode or relay
to prevent the generator from discharging the battery when it isn't
turning.

Streams have to have some fast flowing water to be good candidates for
power generation. Fast flow means large change in height over the
course of the stream.

I've been tinkering with this impulse motor that would probably charge
a battery for lighting. The idea is to mount a magnet or two or more
on a wheel and spin them by a coil. The magnets induce a voltage in
the coil which turns on a transistor and another magnet which, in
turn, kicks away the magnet that induced the voltage and once rotating
it continues to rotate.

It would be a practical generator for something like charging a
battery for LED lights and cell phones. The wheel my magnets are
mounted to is 20 centimeters in diameter and weighs several pounds -
two ball bearings on a 13 mm shaft. As a motor it spins at a mere 120
- 200 RPM. The two magnets are 25 mm X 6 mm disks and very strong
(rare earth). As the magnets pass the coil they light an LED as well
as turn the transistor on - the voltage has to be greater than 4 volts
to do that.

My sense coil (the one turning on the transistor) has ~2,500 turns of
32 AWG magnet wire on it - very little copper - but very fine wire.
The core is a bundle of steel wires 12 mm in diameter and 75 mm long.
The DC resistance of the coil is about 230 ohms. There's a 6 mm gap
between the magnets and the core of the coil as they pass it. More
turns of wire or higher speed and it would generate more voltage. But
most of the cell phones I see here require about 5 volts to charge so
it is pretty close as-is.


A stream moving at 41 meters a minute spinning paddle wheels with no
gearing would be enough to provide useable energy to charge a cell
phone.

If you can get some rare earth magnets for a reasonable cost they
could be incorporated in motors to provide a rotating field and you be
making alternators from motors. I paid $20 for ten of the magnets I
use. Probably be easier to just chuck out the motor armature or save
just the shaft and turn a wooden cylinder to hold the magnets. A wood
turning lathe is easy to make from scrap and can be muscle powered.

My motor uses only two magnets (now) but I could just as easily mount
all ten to the wheel and have it spin much faster (or generate more
power). That's my next experiment . . . then I think I'll get a
smaller lighter wheel and see how little current I can get the motor
to run at. (right now it takes a pulse of 5 amps at 20 volts to turn
200 RPM). The drive coil (around the same core as the sense coil) is
about 500 turns of 22 gauge wire - and only 4 ohms of resistance)

Some guy is selling a bicycle tail light that uses a coil mounted to
the bicycle frame and magnets mounted to the spokes - it lights red
LEDs - more magnets, coils, and LEDs and it would be a practical
headlight - and more expensive.

White LEDs can be bought from Hong Kong for $12/100 post paid. A
pretty good deal compared to local shops here.

Search for "home power" the phrase - lot of good information on small
scale power generation.

 

[Don Kelly]

My understanding is that the hand crank generator is the same as a DC
motor, and that is what is used for the generator. If I am incorrect
please respond, if not don't bother responding I'll take no news as good
news and we'll let this thread die. Thank you very much to those that
responded, you've been very helpful.

------------------
The hand crank machine is likely AC as that is simpler than a DC machine -
no commutator. With permanent magnets -rotate the magnets so there is no
need for a moving electrical contact.
However a DC machine would work but there is no need for the added
complication and diodes are cheap. Note I said machine rather than motor or
generator as the basic difference between the two is the direction of power
"flow".

 

[distatica]

No, two coils would work.

I have not been able to find out how, but that is OK, I've pretty much
dropped the idea of converting my rotary tool motor to a generator for
all practical uses.

For a practical device, an alternator charging a battery is the *only*
way to go. I'm not sure where you are (Canada?) but at least here a
used alternator could be gotten for almost nothing if you know anyone
with a junk yard. Do make sure you get one that has a built in
regulator (some do not!) so research your device *before* investing
any money. A Google will help greatly in this respect. A 'one wire'
alternator would be an idea but they do have minimum RPM requirements
which may exceed your drive (water wheel?) capabilities when water
levels are low.

Yeah, I am in Canada, and it can get mighty cold enough to freeze the
creek, my idea to solve this problem was attempting to make a hybrid
water/wind turbine but after further researching I believe the designs
are just too different to compensate this.

It will probably be a small scale, wind turbine, utilizing a DC motor.
The smaller the better, however they have a good field with lot's of
wind that would be perfectly suited to that purpose so functionality can
win out.

I have not dropped the water power generator, and may build a small DC
motor based experiment, as my girlfriend seems really attached to this
idea.

This is my attempt to show via ascii what I wanted to do:


+- <- Output Wire
__||__ \/
|| || \/ <- water flow
|| M1 || \/
\`````/ | | \`````/ <- Water catchers
\ / | | \ /
\ / \ |____| / \</----- Water Entrance
| \__||__/<--|------ Splash Protector
| || |
| || |
| \\\\|==|//// | <- Rotor Blade
|______________|
\/
\/
\/


This entire thing is made with 2 plastic bottles
(1x1L OR 600mL and 1x2L ).

The output wire would actually go back like an anchor to the shore of a
creek. M1 is the DC motor, and the Rotor Blade is anything that spins
fast when hit with enough force. The output wire is sealed in a hole
drilled in the bottle cap using silicone. Water moves along the outside
and into the water catchers, which are just a 2l bottle neck cut off and
flipped upside down. Inside there is the splash protector, which is the
bottom of the bottle that has been cut off, hole drilled in it for the
shaft to come out, and grease put in the hole to help further shield
water. Then the piece is put up inside the bottle, with it's edges
further up than the water entrance holes. The water moves down towards
the bottom of the bottle and pushes it's way out through the rotor
blade, which in turn turns the shaft. I can see a couple potential
problems with this design however, one is the constant pull on the rotor
blade, and how securely it is attached to the shaft will determine
whether it disappears downstream or not. Another is that the force on
the wire might be too great. And yet another is it will have a natural
tendency to spin with the moving rotor, I *think* I might be able to
overcome that with a pouch filled with rocks to anchor to the bottom of
the stream.

Alternator charging batteries. Batteries feeding an inverter. Power...
Stable, clean and given enough water: significant amounts! Cost? Well,
not free, but small 150 watt inverters are not that expensive.


Good assumption, yes they are simply small pernament magent stator DC
motors, geared up to provide the necessary voltages. They then charge
a NI-CAD or other battery so the power is available after crainking.


No.

That's good to know the voltages are achieved using only gearing, good
news for me.

<g> Those moving magnet flashlights are funny! The amount of power
generated by that technique is nominal, at best. The tube the magent
slides in increases the gap in the magnetic field to coil and that
also reduces the power available.

As to a capacitor, you need a high value, low voltage capacitor. The
capacitor in a microwave is high voltage low value, just the opposite
of what you really need.

Ahhh.. that makes sense now.

Any, repeat, any small pernament magent DC motor will work as a
generator. The bigger the motor, the more power. I use 90 volt DC
motors in equipment frequently, they are half to one HP and capable of
interesting feats of power. Why am I mentioning this? Easy: most
electric treadmills (exercise machines) have a 90 volt DC motor in
them--finding one of these in a dump or recycling center would give
you a reasonable (higher voltage, however) generator. Any pernament
magnet generator is going to be unregulated! That means you will need
a regulator (even a simple series pass regulator would work) to safely
use them to charge a battery or batteries. But it can be done.

Wow! I really appreciate that hint, I'm sure there are treadmills around
there, and that's good news for me, in the city a lot of people throw
them out (granted some probably due to a dead motor). I just informed my
parents and they are going to keep an eye out for treadmills.

I will also ensure I use a regulator, thank you.

The human body can put out through the arms maybe a hundred watts of
power. Legs you can count on about 500 watts (much bigger muscles!)
but not for sustained periods of time (unless you are Lance Armstrong,
or Floyd... <g>)

Creeks dry up, so always be sure you'll have water there when you need
it. They also freeze (Canada? If so how far north? <bg>) The wind
stops blowing, often just when you need electricity. But wind
shortages are often short term so storage batteries can sometimes
cover them, creeks drying up can be dry for months!

Wind won't be a problem unless it's of extreme importance for the
battery charging to be uninterrupted. My parents right now use the
alternator in their car to charge batteries while going to town, which
is rare, and never really have enough battery power to do anything but
make sure they can start their truck again. So anything will be a treat.

There have got to be hundreds of similar projects documented on the
web... Google is your friend, but it may take some digging to get to a
practical example.

FWIW, I have a huge alternator sitting here that I had planned to use
in just such a project. It's rated at hundreds of amps (at low RPMs,
too.) but it still is a great project. Some day I may build it. Who
knows?

I have been spending a great deal of time looking at google, wikipedia,
and many other sites, trying to piece everything together. I have
usually researched every one of my questions, but am unclear on what I
have read, and need to make sure that I have the principles correct.

As always, I do greatly appreciate the help you folks have given me.

While looking up information on a regulator circuit that would fit my
needs, I had the idea of powering something off the wood stove they
have, that they keep fired year round. Currently they have a self
powered fan that runs off the heat from the stove (which I understand
runs off a difference of
temperature,http://www.caframo.com/ecofantech.htm ) I figured if that
fan could run off of that heat, surely I could run something else like
one or more high intensity white LED's (?),

I looked into a wood stove powered generator and found this site:
http://www.hi-z.com/websit10.htm which boasts in their project a pretty
impressive power output. I unfortunately don't have access to these
HZ-20 modules, but if all they are is essentially thermocouples I'm
going to try to build a couple and see what I can get from it. Granted I
most likely won't be able to obtain the power they did from my
materials, but a couple LED's *should* feasible... If anyone disagrees
or has some other ideas, let me know.

sincerely, distatica.

 

[Coyoteboy]

Alternator charging batteries. Batteries feeding an inverter. Power...
Stable, clean and given enough water: significant amounts! Cost? Well,
not free, but small 150 watt inverters are not that expensive.

Also not likely to put out 150W -I have a 150/300 peak and it cant cope with
70W constant draw.

J

 

[PeterD]

Also not likely to put out 150W -I have a 150/300 peak and it cant cope with
70W constant draw.

I'd suspect that inverter. My 150 watt unit will do 150 watts all day.
Gets *warm* doing it (has a built in fan) so it is possible yours is
either not well designed (overrated!) or maybe not working correctly?

 

[Coyoteboy]

I'd suspect that inverter. My 150 watt unit will do 150 watts all day.
Gets *warm* doing it (has a built in fan) so it is possible yours is
either not well designed (overrated!) or maybe not working correctly?

I think its over-rated - it runs flourescent lamps and soldering irons ok
but a 70W pair of hair straighteners (dont ask, camping with the
girlfriend) and it crapped out and blew a fuse in the car too! Worked fine
on everything before and since too, and straighteners check out ok.

 

[PeterD]

I think its over-rated - it runs flourescent lamps and soldering irons ok
but a 70W pair of hair straighteners (dont ask, camping with the
girlfriend) and it crapped out and blew a fuse in the car too! Worked fine
on everything before and since too, and straighteners check out ok.

Humm, I'd tend to want to check the current draw on the straighteners
too. Bet they draw more than 70 watts (especially when first turned
on). It is possible the *average* draw is 70 watts, but that there are
peak draws many times that. Easy to check if you wanted... <g>

 

[Coyoteboy]

Humm, I'd tend to want to check the current draw on the straighteners
too. Bet they draw more than 70 watts (especially when first turned
on). It is possible the *average* draw is 70 watts, but that there are
peak draws many times that. Easy to check if you wanted... <g>

Well she does look pretty with straight hair- i might spare a few moments
to test it in the future