Inspiration and morale needs a boost

[Norm]

to turn a 30 volt Ametek fast enough in a 10 mph

wind to charge a 12 volt battery.

  A couple of friends tried making some small

prototypes and got poor results....me too.

  I suspect that it has to have that 9 degree

angle....exactly ??

  Winter has pretty well set in so need some

positive and inspirational thoughts ! LOL !

[ghurd]

It can't snow forever!

Monday will get almost up to freezing!

The 17th will only be "Mostly Cloudy",

no snow, but only 20F,

so a good day for VW panels in the window!

Smile!

It is worse in Calgary!  And neither of us are there!

G-

[SparWeb]

It is worse in Calgary!  And neither of us are there!

But I am!  I have to tell myself that it's worse in Yellowknife!

;-)

[Norm]

Now to make matters worse ....went just over town

ONE back wheel is locking up....can't get to it

till Tuesday .... will have to use daughter's car

to pick up her kids from school.

  I remember back in uh...mmm...well anyway...

back in the late '50's it snowed about like this

in the last days of April.

  Sun is shining right now...yeah for a little

while...off to the VW panels in window !

  Thanks Ghurd

[ghurd]

Steven,

I gave another guy in Calgary this same solar advice,

Mount the PVs 1,000 miles South.

Then put your house under them.

Brrr.  Makes me cold just typing "Calgary".

G-

[Basil]

You can get a little out of them. I am useing air master fan blades. Most I have seen lately is 2 amps. It runs at 1/2 amp +/ - a lot. The air master blades are only 36 in. I know it can do better if it had the right blades. For a toy it's fun. Good for learing about blades matching to output and so on. Read this It's about my 38 volt mill.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/3/30/01725/2541

[FishbonzWV]

Norm,

Here's an idea I've thought about for a couple of years but never got around to trying.

Use a couple of bicycle wheels for the top and bottom wing mounts, drive the motor off of the bottom rubber tire. Depending on the diameter of the tire you will get 2X:1 gear ratio.

P.S. Just got back from two weeks in St. Pete, Fla. 70's almost every day.

Now I wake up to two inches of snow on frozen roadways. Blah!

Fishbonz

[TomW]

bonz;

Gotta love that DanCad, very useful tool.

Tom

[FishbonzWV]

Yes George, :-)

I hope I didn't infringe on his patent rights!

Bonz

[electrondady1]

norm,

 what sort of rpm and torque do you need

 to get that motor to put out ?

(my little bucket mill is a spinning blur)

[vawtman]

 Hi Steve

 Funny you mention Yellowknife.I have that city saved on my msn weather.http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:CAXX0557&q=Yellowknife%2c+CAN

 Everytime i get depressed about the cold i link to it.It seems we have a major blast commin from you guys.

 What's your forcast early next week?

 Norm uphere in Wi. we already matched our yearly snowfall.

 Don't feel bad Norm it could be worse if not for global warming:)

[tecker]

Norm charge a 6 volt to get some Idea of what current is possible with the mill then series the six volt through the mill and some times the mill will take off and charge both with a gust and slow the discharge from the 6 volt .You can set up a transfer when the six volt is up to 7.5 and switch out when down to 6 .A new 6  200Ah battery is a good investment anyhow .

[tecker]

The one strong point of the dc motors is thier ability to make good current throughout thier rpm range .

[SparWeb]

Calgary gets "chinook winds" every so often.  In winter, warm winds blow off the mountain slopes and raise the temps by 10-20 C.  One is forecase for this weekend, so we finally get a break!

Don't laugh too hard at Yellowknife or Whitehorse.  Word is that they had a cold summer, so wildlife and livestock didn't have enough opportunities to fatten up.  Now the extra-cold winter is making it tougher.

[Norm]

My son took a look at the brakes on the Venture

last night, had a pretty good area cleared around

the shed for him, that was about 10PM.

  Couple of hrs. later it had snowed 2 inches...

swept the back steps off...this morning there is

about 4 or 5 inches to clear off...as Ghurd's

words it can't ....can't snow snow snow forever

forever forever echo in my mind.

  I guess my next step is to find how much torque

is required to spin a 30volt Ametek up to 12volt

cut in....the old rope around a drum with weight

thing.

   I guess I'll spend most of today just tinkering

around at the kitchen table....snowing and

blowing about 15 mph. today....a Lenz turbine

big enough to put out 100 watts at this windspeed

is what I want to build.

  In the meantime restarting an exercise regeime

..like a few minutes at a time for the legs...

then a few minutes with the arms on the pedgenerator

brought a 12v 5amp/hr up from 12 to 13v altho'

I suspect this one has lost some capacity and

maybe checking and cycling thru a few times will

probably improve it's performance luckily this is

the worst of the 8 that I have....interesting

exercise for me ....so while it improves my

health it further helps my hobby.

[Norm]

Fishbonz,

  Yes, I've thought of that also...In fact, I've

done the bottom half.,  but friction drive sucks !

here's a better idea...kinda like gear drive...

wrap a bicycle chain around the tire...just a

little smaller in diameter than the tire when it's

inflated...position it...then inflate the tire.

....make sure the tire will stay inflated for a

long time....maybe put some 'slime' in it.

 20 or 16 inch tires ought to work okay...the

large rear sprocket or the small chainwheel of a

10 speed ought to work about right on the generator

.....(FritzCad is an older inferior version of DanCad)

Sounds like another project to start this summer

that will work in the winter...which is what I

should have done......

[frackers]

Mount the PVs a few thousand miles further south - we hit an 'official' 36C on Thursday, the highest recorded figure for CHristchurch NZ since records began over 100 years ago. Expected high today (Saturday) is 14 as a cold front moves through. What a relief!!

Unofficial temperatures were quoted as well over 40C in some suburbs (out of town here we saw 36.3C).

The UV index which goes from 1-10 is now at 11 (burn time 5-6 minutes without protection!!).

Happy summer holidays :-)

[ghurd]

Vacation Up Over, in north-east Ohio for your summer!

About now, Solar insolation is <0.5H/day.  

A 12V 100W PV makes under 3AH/D, average.

We get Blue.

You get Red.

Got 1/2" of white stuff in the last 30 minutes.

"It can't snow forever!"

G-

[Norm]

In other words...I'm farther ahead charging

batteries with my 500Ma.pedgenerator.

1 charged up, 7 more to go (NiCad 12v 5amp/hr each)

Was enough sun today to melt thin layer of ice

from the back steps....wonder how many KW that

would take with an electric heater  ....I could

paint the steps flat black ??

[ghurd]

I want to take my own advice.

Maybe you do too?

I figure 1,000 miles south of Calgary is

near Salt Lake City.

Gotta be better than the Snow Belt!

This will cheer you up.

I got IRS audited for 6 Years in one shot!

And they owe me money!!!

Nice afternoon at my house.

G-

[pepa]

ghurd, come on down to my place, 65 and short sleves in the all day sun.  

i think norn worked on hilton head s.c. at one time, or some one that looked just like his picture. pepa

[hiker]

whats even easyer--bolt gen down to a piece of plywood[toss a couple of 2by4s underneath to make it more stable -set exersize bike on that-

toss a flat belt on the exersize bike down to the gen -slide the bike back to tighten

belt--hook gen up to a load[dont forget to rectife]-----mount bike and crank away ....

lot easyer and more effinent than messin with a 10speed bike....just my opinon

but then again--my local thrift shop throw those exersize bikes out the back door ..

so if you cant get one on the cheap --i guess a bike would have to do............

[Norm]

Thanks Hiker...I like the way you think, I may do

that way this summer....my biggest problem with

the exercise bike that I already have, is that

the generator isn't big enough ...at 60 rpm crank

speed I generate about 800 Ma. into a 12v.,5amp/hr

battery, the ratio is about 1:40 (2400 on the

little brush type motor. not bad in the

hand crank mode, but with an Amtek in the right

ratio, it would be about 30 watt.

  Do you do any regular exercise and charge batteries

with one of your pedgenerators?

 

[zap]

Go out to the garage and take the motor out of the electric mower.  If you don't have one, sneak out and get one from the neighbors. (wait until just before it snows again so you tracks will be covered up!!!)((They won't miss the mower for another 5 or 6 months))

While at the neighbors, dig around in the snow till you find their kid's roller blades and grab one of those... oh... and grab one of the kids cheap bikes.(The kids won't miss the roller blades or bike for a year and a half since they got a wii for Christmas)

If you spot a metal tube chair, grab it also.  Also... a treadmill's 'running board' or nice piece of mdf board... grab that too.

Cut the tube from the chair and bolt/weld it up to make a little stand for the bike's crank set.  Bolt/weld the crank set to the stand.

Cut about a 2 foot circle from the treadmill's running board or the piece of mdf.  Attach this to the bike crank.   Mill a groove on the outside of the mdf by pedaling while lathing the circle.

While you're at it, lathe a groove in one of the roller blade wheels.

Mount the lathed roller blade wheel to the motor.

Mount the motor to the stand.

I forgot, while out "borrowing" all this stuff, find a suitable drive belt.  Maybe a rototiller?  Something what won't be missed till summer.

Connect this belt around the grove in the roller blade wheel and the mdf circle.

Now pedal away the winter with 4 to 5 amps of pure 12 volt DC.

[sk windpirate]

Cheer up Guys!!!

"Things are never so bad they can't be worse" I think

Saskatoon Saskatchewan, For last 3 weeks I has been -30C "35 below 0"  (Wind chill)

It is now "51 below 0" BUT It will warn up in three months. And things will get better.

I think.

If it wasn't for the wind the smoke would just freeze in the chimney.

buRRRR

The pirate

[CmeBREW]

I agree with Hiker-- the Excersise bike is better than the 10-speed bicycle for a Ped-gen, since it is more comfortable, safer, and you don't have to throw one's leg over the high bar every time you get on and off the 10-speed.  My dad almost destroyed my whole set-up and could have broke his arm/leg falling when his foot slipped off the pedal while pedaling the 10-speed bicycle set-up.

You can also find those nice Excercise bikes at garage sales for a song. Just call the Garage sale phone numbers in the newspaper and ask if they have one. My brother couldn't even sell this one for $5 for years at his wife's garage sale.  He gave it to me.

I love the low friction 1/8" thick flat belt I got at the car parts store! Just stay away from all "V" belts--they suck. I used particle board for the big pulley.

I use mine everyday with 3-different ways to excercise: The lazy chair method (seen), sitting upright on the excercise seat, or as a 'Stair climber' method. (that one is very good for my ankles,knees, and back.

I plan on making a ARM excerciser hook-up on each side of the excercise bike linked to the same flywheel with another flat belt.  It is very good therapy and a fairly easy 20-40 Watthours. And Yes, my legs were very sore for the first month!

[farmerfrank]

Location doesn't come up all that often. Glad to see some fellow Canucks on here.

Ontario aint much warmer

[Norm]

Zap, Except for the electric mower motor I don't

have to 'borrow ' any of the above mentioned stuff ....I got all that stuff already...

Uh....you don't live near me do you?  LOL !

[CmeBREW]

Nice set-up Norm!  Hope your improvements go well.

I use a giant 90 LB. AC SERVOMOTOR as generator. Had to help the UPS man unload it from his truck. It is about 130 lbs with the big flywheel on it.  At 10' long my set-up takes up some room though but I like it much.

The Arm(s) workout mechanism will be similar to what you show but a little more complex and Large. I hope to make each arm crank (one on each side) adjustable to workout different muscles, shoulders, latts, pecks, back, etc, while making 30-50watts extra while pedaling at the SAME time.

 -Glad you're keeping in shape Norm!!

 

[Norm]

Yes...with arm and legs both going at the same

time....easy 60-80 watts....need to keep my

sugar level down (diabetic) and have thin shin

skin syndrome...hoping more leg exercise will

improve circulation and improve that area. and

need to lose about 30lbs yet  I try for about

1 lb. a week.

[hiker]

i toss a pedgen[treadmill motor] in the back of my motorhome-for backup--used it a few times when

my battery ran low-and no wind..takes about 5minutes of pedaling to start engine.

  and i use my 110 to 300v ac alt to watch tv or listen to the radio or record player.

[SparWeb]

We tend not to bring it up, but there are many that use this site who live north of the 49th.

Keep it quiet though.  Or the americans might begin to suspect that we're strategically locating the majority of our population within 500 km of their border.

Norm,

Another fact to help cheer you up about the cold:  I've been reading battery user's manuals, and some say that lower temperatures actually prolong their life.  Here's to old bat's that keep the juices flowing!

[hiker]

cold here also--broke the old record of being under 0 for the longest period..

gets down to -20 to -35 in parts of town...old geo metro cranks right up in

the morning-no headbolt heater--tranny oil is like stp in the morning-

takes longer to warm up the tranny then motor--time to try some of that

snythatic lube..........