Accomplishments so far this week:
1. I was curious about the weight of the treadmill motor. It weighs 12 pounds.
2. I have been considering what to attach to the end of the generator shaft to prevent the belt from sliding off. What scrap pieces of smooth metal do I have around my house? Peanut butter jar lids! Last night I purchased some JB Weld and affixed a lid to the shaft.
Challenges for the week: I am learning about how to construct the circuit part of PedGen. I know I need a regulator between the generator and the battery, but what size regulator? What size wires should I use? I e-mailed a friend, Charlie, who is an electrical engineer and he advised me to measure the current output of the generator. The difficult part of measuring the current is that I have to include a load in the circuit. I do not yet know how to do this. I checked out some electronics books form the library and found a schematic diagram for measuring current, but I do not know how to construct that circuit. I will do some research (watch some YouTube videos on how to measure current) and then try to measure my current output on Friday. Then I can find/purchase the components I need and hook up a battery.
1. I was curious about the weight of the treadmill motor. It weighs 12 pounds.
2. I have been considering what to attach to the end of the generator shaft to prevent the belt from sliding off. What scrap pieces of smooth metal do I have around my house? Peanut butter jar lids! Last night I purchased some JB Weld and affixed a lid to the shaft.
Challenges for the week: I am learning about how to construct the circuit part of PedGen. I know I need a regulator between the generator and the battery, but what size regulator? What size wires should I use? I e-mailed a friend, Charlie, who is an electrical engineer and he advised me to measure the current output of the generator. The difficult part of measuring the current is that I have to include a load in the circuit. I do not yet know how to do this. I checked out some electronics books form the library and found a schematic diagram for measuring current, but I do not know how to construct that circuit. I will do some research (watch some YouTube videos on how to measure current) and then try to measure my current output on Friday. Then I can find/purchase the components I need and hook up a battery.