I used this 18 volt cordless drill to make a simple hand held generator.
You could probably also use this for water (hydro) or even wind. (small wind turbine)
What makes this setup nice is the fact that you can just loosen the end like where you would put a drill bit into it and simply add a hand crank and tighten the chuck.
You could use a threaded rod from Lowes and bend it to make a nice crank for it.
Okay now I just know there are those of you out there that would love to know what is inside of these hand crank generators that we see all the time on ebay and in stores huh?
Well, I bought one of these just to tear it a part so we can all see what is inside of one these.
The only thing I think is strange about this flashlight is the fact that it stores the current from the crank handle into a capacitor instead of into a battery bank.
Here are some screenshots of the movie I took while tearing this apart to see what was inside of it.
A battery bank would make the amount of current you generate with the crank last alot longer then just dumping the current to a small capacitor. Usually when you crank the handle on one of these the energy is stored into a small battery or a small bank of batteries which makes that energy available to you for a longer period of time.
One of the very nice things that this one also offered was an outlet that would allow for you to charge your cell phone by plugging in a wire to the side of the generator and the other end to your cell phone.
Very nice thing to have in your car when you need to make a call and the damn thing is dead cuz you forgot the plug it in to charge it;-)
At any rate at least they work and are not hard on planet earth. Plus its always ready for light when you need it. No batteries!
Just crank it a couple of times and you got light or a cell phone charger or an AM-FM radio.
Here are some pics of the extra Wind Gen I bought from WindBluePower.com
I resized these pics to only 25% of their original size and they are still absolutely HUGE!
If you are on a dialup connection, do NOT attempt to download these!
You will still be downloading them when Bush is replaced by a president that cares about things other then oil;-) You have been warned.
This is the back of the alternator. There are 2 different types of connections that are offered here. The bright red nut allows for you to run the wire right from the DC connection straight to your battery bank.
You can also use the 3 phase connector on the back that puts out AC from the unit. You cant connect both at the same time though.
Here is the front of the motor. It comes with the nut and spacer needed to secure your blades or prop to the motor.
Here is a side view of the motor. As you can see from the pic it also comes with the bolts needed to secure it to the frame.
Another pic of the back showing the red (DC connection) as well as the 3 phase (AC connection)
Ditto;-p
Here are some more pics of the Wind Generator that I got online from WindBluePower.com.
Here (above) is a front view of the generator laying on my floor of my basement. With the costs I have into this you would think I would take better care of it….But nope.
Above is the collar that spins on the shaft. They even included a nice plastic ring so that the frame does not rest directly onto the pvc pipe. I decided not to use steel pipe as I used to work in maintenance and I know how strong PVC sch 80 pipe is….Its very strong. It simply will not break.
Above: Another shot of the thing laying on its side. The ground here in Michigan is frozen right now and it has snow on it otherwise this pole would be in the ground right now and not laying on my basement floor.
Above: Here is a pic of the blade design that came with the generator for this unit. I must say that although I am not impressed with the look of it, in all fairness I have not tried it yet either. Still waiting for the ground to thaw.
Above: A pic of one side of the prop. It uses a single prop (blade design) that acts as 2 blades with the mounting hole in the center.
Above: Here is a pic of the center.
Above: Another pics from the other side of this blade design.
Above: Another view of the generator showing the DC wires not yet connected as I am not sure yet if I want to use the adapter for the 3 fase (AC) output or connect direct to the DC connection on the back.
Above: Another shot of the connections on the back of this “windBlue”
