pedal power

[Magluvin]

Well Doc, maybe it was 1.21 gigawatts that did it.  Its possible the shunt burned. But I might think it would be noticeable. 50 amp fuse blow can be heard quite clearly, of which the shunt in a 50 amp meter should be able to handle more. Bang.

Look at the "Wattsup" meter. Ebay or RC hobby and a few other places on line. For your application, I think you would be very happy. It even tells you peak amps, wattage. Im very happy with mine. I use it for my ebikes and to test other projects.

What are you not happy about with your generator?

Im just finally finishing up my version of Lasersabers EZ spin motor. He said the 42awg will test your patients. Well, I have quite a few bobbins that the wire broke before finishing 3300 turns.    One of the issues is maintaining winding speed/rotation or the wire can get tugged by the weight of the large spool. Soldering my coil(24) leads(48) to terminal pins tonight. Check out Lasersaber on YT    EZ spin motor if your interested. I should be set to do a vid on mine soon.

Mags

[totoalas]

Mr Delanco's VAWT on a thread by Kyle Karrington  in EF deserve a second look 
If somebody can draw a circuit will be better
If youre tired on the bike ..... then this it    lol

[Dr]

Hi Mags: That meter wasnt bad after all, It was meant for 50 AMP AC not DC, the guy at the surplus store straightened me out,  apparently AC amps has just a _ straight line under it while a DC amp meter has  first a straight line and then a dotted line under that. I looked on a digital volt meter and there it was, I felt pretty foolish in that store with everyone looking at me and someone even said " you didnt know that!" Well I am too damn old to get embarrassed anymore so I just laughed and said nope!!! But anyway I swapped him out and the new one works just fine! But I didnt need anything close to 50 a 0 to 5 would be just fine. I hooked up an old used car battery today and I was lucky to get 4.5 AMPS at 18 volts, But once again I was very surprised at how easy it was to maintain that speed and  power level once I got it there. Hey I am 63 and in terrible shape, Imagine what a 20 year old in eccellent shape could do!!

[Dr]

Totoalas:I will check that out I got most of my information from "HUGH PIGGOT" wind turbine books, They are chockful of useful information. And no I am not tired of pedalling my generator heck Im just getting started, Havent had this much fun in years. The first time I saw the needle move on that gauge I thought WOW how cool is that. I know its a small step, but I am going to keep fine tuning it till I get some decent returns on my sweat equity!!

[Magluvin]

Hey Doc

Cool. But still, 50A on the ac meter is strange. 

That old battery is receiving 4.5a 18v?   That battery is bad.  Try a good one and see if there is a difference. A new battery will take quite a while to get to 18v at 4.5A. Actually 18v is too much, so if a good battery were allowed to get(charged) to 18v, the battery would end up bad soon enough.    So dont rely on that test as a conclusion.    I have some bad sla batts that will take on 25v at very little amps. Once they do start taking on a charge of any kind, that voltage will drop and current will increase.

Also you could try some other loads. You said you tried an automotive light bulb. Well try more. Like more together in parallel. Connect 1 and test. Then 2 and test. Then 3......   Putting them in parallel of course. This would give you a good definition(measuring V and A) of what the machine is capable of.

Can you do a vid of it in action. Everybody likes a movie. Id like to see that big wheel spinnin.


Mags