hixidom wrote:Quote:This is an amazing find I might consider using some of these in the future if available commercially...
How hard can it be to make? Buy a small motor to use [in reverse] as a generator. mount it to something, wrap a rope around the axle, and hang something heavy from it. Attach some LEDs to the outputs of the generator (inputs of the motor) and that is it.
A few things to consider-
A) The right motor to get you a dc signal, fused and filtered by a properly rated capacitor if you want to run it without a buffer/battery.
B) you need drivers for your leds, or you will just burn them up instantly hooked up to a (potentially) high current source like a dc motor "generator". Also consider the voltage produced by the motor, and the rpm.
C) much easier with a buffer supercap bank after the motor, and a voltage regulator. Then hook your drivers up to a fixed voltage source thats been filtered. Or, do the same with a small sla battery and a cheap solar charger controller.
You can't just slap it together without considering the type of power generated (some motors generate ac iirc), the rpm and power output (voltage & amperage) of the motor, and the fact that if you give the led's too much current they will burn up real fast, you will almost certainly need a driver, and ideally some kind of power buffer bank like some big caps in serial/parallel, or a lead acid battery (can be real small, like 12v 1ah or so), and a battery charger that can take the raw input from your motor and charge the battery to a float voltage.
Or like i said, a couple big caps, and a voltage regulator, and a driver for your led.
Then do the math regarding rpm, and what voltage that gives you. Will your pulleys/gear ratio give you the desired voltage to run a led or charge your caps/battery?
Finally, always use fuses. Especially when working with cap banks and batterys. And NEVER run a led from a raw input from a dc motor generator, or charge a cap bank/battery unless you've done your homework and wont destroy/catch on fire whatever you are powering/charging.
Its not too complex in terms of diy electronics though. I have a diy 10w led lamp run by a buckpuck brand driver, that can take a wide input voltage. You can run it off a lead acid battery, solar panel under 24v, any battery under 24v, just fuse it.
The voltage regulator, and cap bank would give you a clean dc signal of a fixed voltage, hence less design necessitys on the load side (what your powering). Always need drivers for leds though.
B)
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