Hi Guys,
I was experimenting with a stepper motor and a nearby ball magnet was attracted to its metal case. By chance it landed on the "Sweet Spot" My U tube movie shows and tells all. Maybe someone can tell me whats going on?? Try it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bHyJDbd9og&feature=channel_page
Tom
Looks like you increased the magnetic field that the rotor cuts through, increasing the output.
Was it harder to turn the shaft when the ball-magnet was in-place than when it wasn't (might not have been that noticeable with an LED load)?
I found that turning a 400 step motor is like turning a very fine tooth mechanical thumb ratchet. With the ball magnet on the motors casing the turning felt not so very fine toothed but offered the same resistance?? I am now going to see what a 1 inch sphere magnet does. I just hope I dont ruin the stepper motor in the process.
Something inside the stepper motor is latched onto the ball magnets energy field and that is very apparent ???
Tom
You won't hurt anything if you're just turning it by hand.
Now, if you were to drive it with another motor (like with a flexible shaft-coupler) rather than turning it by hand and you had a low-resistance load on it, you could, conceivably, burn the windings in your stepper-gen.
Try that (the motor-generator thing) with a couple of cheap radio shack dc motors (you can try the external booster-magnet thing on them too).
Tony