How interesting! Thanks for taking the time to post these
I'm wondering about that card one, the first one - if you did it with sheets of plastic, the sort of thing you get stationery folders made from, I wonder if that would be sufficient to do the same trickle thing? It looks like an easier design, I *think*.
Will google pico wind generators
I did think of that but because i'm a tight arse and i didn't have any old folders and or any kids windmills i just wanted to see if it actually worked !! and it did suprisingly ?
You know those little spinny-round things on the top of vans, I think they are there to trickle charge the battery for all the stop-starts they do. Correct me if I'm wrong. And I can't imagine those little things kick out that much.
Probably charge a mobile phone too, with the right circuit.
it's a shame about the design of fan because, if you could have the shaft spinning though several you would get a bit more out.
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i suppose the things on top of vans could be modded to do this , but they are just wind operated air intakes to keep the van cool..As for your diagram - great idea ,but drilling holes through them may be a problem! Gary
Bicycle light dynamos might be ideal for this sort of thing. There are many sophisticated, rare earth magnet, hub based ones now as well as the old fashioned kind that run on the tire.
Ebay has a lot of these both used and new. If one is patient I bet that a used dynamo could be picked up pretty cheaply. Either that or try the bike shops (they scrap bikes all the time) or the local recycling place.
Another option is to rip the stepper motor out of an old printer. These make pretty good generators as well. A google search for "stepper motor generator" turns up tons of info.