magnet power

[komatsu200]

I know that the amount of power the magnets have effect the amount of electricity the coil produces. But how much? I ask this because I have been playing around with some ceramic magnets i have and I can hardly get anything out of them.They are 1 inch in diameter and 1 inch long.If I had some high Quality neo magnets The same size what difference would it make?

[willib]

describe what you've done , and we'll try to help.

Coil shape , ie size , dia , size of hole , and thickness .. has much to do with the output as anything else.

are your coils round?

hole size?

dia?

where did you get 1" dia by 1" ceramic mags?

[Miztiki]

I just came across this and thought of your question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium_magnet

Exerpt: "By volume one requires about 18 times as much ceramic magnet material for the equivalent [neodymium] magnet strength.

[Flux]

If you are getting next to nothing with ceramic you could expect about 3 times that, voltage wise if you change to neo. You most likely have other things wrong as well.

The gap density can easily be three times as high with neo, so you will need about 1/3 of the number of turns for the same voltage.

The effect on power is much more dramatic as you would end up with about 1/9 of the resistance for a similar sized coil.

You need a very large amount of ceramic to equal neo and you will end up with a higher copper cost that will in most cases come to greater than the saving in magnet cost.

When you add in weight and the lower alternator efficiency there are only exceptional cases where ceramic is viable, but it can be made to work satisfactorily and some commercial machines still use it.

Flux

[komatsu200]

I am not trying to build an alternator out of these. I was just experimenting with them to get some understanding of coil size,wire gauge and coil arrangement on the stator. I just had them laying around for a while and decided to try them. Someone asked if my coils were round. yes they are. The inside diameter is 1 inch and the outside varys by wire gauge and number of turns. I have built a rig that will allow me to change out coils and also change the position of the coils on the stator. I currently have them placed so that the north pole of one magnet is on the right leg just as the south pole of the next is hitting the left leg. Is this how they should be placed on the stator?

[Flux]

You give little away to gain any idea of how well you are doing.

You give no idea of the number of magnets, speed or anything else. There is not much power available from a few magnets and coils at low speed. it takes a fair sized alternator to give a few hundred watts with neo. With ceramic you will need something about the size of the 12"  machines described here to get several hundred watts at 200 rpm even if you use ceramics as efficiently as possible.

If you don't have return iron circuits then you will get very little.

Your coil set up seems about right.

Flux

[asheets]

Most of the time when I see beginners have problems, the issue is that they don't move the magnet against the wire in a way that the magnetic poles change in relation to the wire.  No pole change=no current.

Take a look at these sites:

"http://amasci.com/amateur/coilgen.html">http://amasci.com/amateur/coilgen.html

http://www.creative-science.org.uk/gen1.html

http://www.creative-science.org.uk/gensimple1.html