I have an Idea, can anyone help me :)

[Jonboy83]

Hi folks, for a while now I have been researching and toying with alternative energy, I want to make a wind/waterpower generator. (For topping up mobile phone running a small led lamp etc)
now from what I have seen you need a ruddy great fixed magnet motor just to get a few volts, so I left it on the back burner, Until today .
Sorting through some junk under the stairs, I came across my push bike dynamo, and it got me thinking could this be used to make the turbine, to charge a 6v SLA battery and then use said battery to charge phone or run a lamp etc. So before I go hacking things apart, are there any electrically minded members here that could point me in the right direction ?
Cheers
Jono

 

[welchyd1]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3ONp0qyFt0E&desktop_uri=/watch?v=3ONp0qyFt0E

http://www.brighthubengineering.com...generating-electricity-from-a-bicycle-dynamo/

 

[mrcharly]

Most (but not all) bicycle dynamos output AC, so you can't use them to directly charge a battery. You need some sort of rectifying circuit to convert the AC to DC and moderate the voltage.

 

[sandbender]

"...I want to make a wind/waterpower generator...."

Some useful links here...

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/03/wind_turbine

...along with quite a clever design for a simple vertical axis wind turbine.

Post some pics and let us know how you get on.

 

[General Strike]

Old Sturmey Archer Hub dynamos are prized for building wind turbines with. if you are very lucky you can even find the old 12V ones from the 1930s sometimes. A bridge rectifier can be easily made from 4 diodes or you can buy the rectifier from Maplin. You shouldn't need to worry too much about regulation either - hub dynamos don't blow bulbs with the regularity that sidewall dynamos did, for reasons that I don't entirely understand.

If you can't find a Sturmey Archer at a good price, you can get a new Shimano hub dynamo for as little as 20 quid.

 

[DaveBromley]

watching this with interest!

something like this would be a great idea!

might be worth looking at a wind up torch as this will have similar tech i would imagine

Dave

 

[Jonboy83]

Thanks folks I have plenty of Ideas now will get cracking and post some pics asap