[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Lee Hart wrote on: >> ... a hood ornament that charges a battery from the wind... >> Of course it's silly; it's supposed to be. But what a wonderful >> ice-breaker when talking to people about your EV!
> I was apprehensive to get into this one for the sake of bandwidth, > but I think BOTH of you are onto something. > > And what about doing both a solar panel and a mini wind turbine? > > I have the panel already. Okay, for what it's worth,...count me in > too!! I'm not driving an EV, but what the heck? It's a dream we are > generating, and a real EV is still a bit of a dream for me. "Generating Dreams." There's another phrase I like! > Steve, give me some ideas on what I can use for a prop. It has to be > something I can find commonly, okay? My first guess would be something roughly 3"-4" in diameter that has reasonably well designed propeller blades (not something off a toy). A small computer fan seems like a good start. I tested a few computer fans that I already have. All of them can be easily spun with relatively low airspeeds, but they generate essentially no power as-is. I'm sure they have permanent magnet rotors, but the controller chips in them probably lack rectifier diodes. I'll have to take one apart and put diodes directly on the stator coils. Interestingly enough, I got more power from a 120vac fan. It generated AC as soon as I began spinning it. With a 1uf capacitor, it generated 2-3 volts AC in about a 10 mph breeze. I also tried putting a 4" cooling fan on a small 12vdc permanent magnet motor. This was the most successful; it easily lit an LED (1.6v at 10ma) with a 10 mph breeze. -- Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring 814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
