Newman now runs its 7500 pounds motor solely on solarcells !

[hartiberlin]

Oh, one of the people helping him said he couldn't turn the rotor, but Newman turns it quite easily in the video. (But then again, the windings weren't shorted when he turned it  )

Exactly,
that was, what I was wondering too.
So it seems he has no iron in the stators,
when he has the rotor full of permanent magnets.
So it is sure, there is no cogging and he can
turn the motor very easily by hand, he just only
have to overcome the inertia of the flywheel.

So from this short sequence, where he turns the rotor via
the flywheel with his hands, one can guess, that the friction
force is not very high.

A selfrunner would be convincing - pumping water isn't.

You are right, if at least the water would be going like crazy,
but this low volume is a bit a pitty...

So not a very convincing demo.

He really should have optimized the motor for the electrical
output via RF power and light up several incandescent light bulbs
in series with the motor coil.
That is in my view the only opportunity of such a big motor.
The mechanical output is not so strong,
otherwise he would put a generator to it and run it selflooped.

[Dingus Mungus]

I agree these motors are not made for intense mechanical power unless you are using a low ohm coil and a much higher amperage, but think of it this way: If the pump can sustain the back pressure of a 5" in diam by 10 foot hose filled with water(15kilosBP), then it should be able to turn a 100w alternator. Unless of course the vacuum of the water coming down the tube creates a syphoning effect and removes some of the load from the pump. I can't really tell in the video, but it appears that the exit volume is not sufficient to create a vacuum on its way down.

~Dingus Mungus

[Dyamios]

Sounds to me like Joe here seems to have forgotten something called inertia. Sure even a small 20-30 watt motor can spin a 7500 lb flywheel (given the right friction), but it will take a hell of a lot of time to get it up to speed. Once the flywheel is up to speed, it will continue to spin at this speed for a LONG time on a small load, even when the power to the motor is switched off.

I don't think Joe realizes that all he has created is a HUGE mechanical "capacitor" which slowly builds up energy trickled from solar panels. Its not magic, its not a mystery, its just a misunderstanding.

His challenge is pointless. Spinning a flywheel proves nothing with regards to efficiency as it poses no permanent load. Once the flywheel is spinning up to speed, it continues to do so and it takes little energy to keep it there (all one needs to do is supply enough energy to overcome heat loss to friction and pumping 10-30 watts worth of water). Hell, I'll go over there and use my own two hands to spin that flywheel myself and keep it going all day easily. Does my body count as a motor?