I'm stoked. My cheap ornamental windmill lit an LED. Ok, it's not on the same lines as F=ma, but it's cool.
I bought a small, cheap windmill in hopes of generating power. Here's the first
half of the story Story here
I got output rated in millivolts with the first go. It was discouraging and embarrassing. PHinker, a friend and co-worker (and a more experienced head with these things) wound a stator, cast it in some resin and presented it to me. Well, it worked. Since we're all visual sorts (admit it), I'll get to the pictures.
From a distance:
The windmill stands about shoulder height. Version 0.9 found me making several new guy mistakes, such as not enough windings and not backing my magnets with ferrous materials. This is version 2.0, which has
- 7 inch saw blades for ferrous backing
- 3 phases of windings wound using Ed's method of winding coils
- A bridge rectifier ($1.99 at Radio Shack
- A 1000 mf capacitor (also from radio shack
Yesterday, in the stiff wind we have here in Boulder County, my wife commented that she noticed a red firefly in the front yard (she didn't know I'd set it up in the yard).
Here's some closeups.
From the back.
Notice the LED
I got about 5 volts depending on the wind. My next step is to build a little "LED voltmeter" for lack of a better term. The more wind, the more lights. I am also going to wind another stator as I nicked the stator for one of the windings and it does not conduct. I also am using ceramic magnets (cheap, cheap), and I want to step up a bit.
I really do have a life. Honest