I took my generator back to B & B this morning to make sure I was testing the voltage output correctly. Yes, I had been measuring correctly and it does take a lot of drill speed to generate 4 or more volts. You can view the drill test in the movie clip below. Thank you to my husband for simultaneously running the camera and the drill.
My questions for the day are:
1. Will I be able to generate enough voltage to charge a motorcycle battery? Should I use multiple generators? Do I need to find a way to step up the rpm's of the generator shaft so that it can generate more voltage with average pedaling?
2. Should I abandon the battery and just connect the circuit directly to a charger? In that case, there will be no stored energy and only one cell phone can be charged at a time. Maybe this is what I need to do for the first model. I could work on increasing the voltage on a second version.
3. I could get more voltage by using an alternator. Today a friend showed me instructions for how to build an alternator. Should I build an alternator instead of using a generator? Could I build a generator that would do the job?
1. Will I be able to generate enough voltage to charge a motorcycle battery? Should I use multiple generators? Do I need to find a way to step up the rpm's of the generator shaft so that it can generate more voltage with average pedaling?
2. Should I abandon the battery and just connect the circuit directly to a charger? In that case, there will be no stored energy and only one cell phone can be charged at a time. Maybe this is what I need to do for the first model. I could work on increasing the voltage on a second version.
3. I could get more voltage by using an alternator. Today a friend showed me instructions for how to build an alternator. Should I build an alternator instead of using a generator? Could I build a generator that would do the job?