Bedini Schoolgirl

[hydrymoron]

Re. Diode query

This is the diagram of the transistor I used for connecting. If this is right (and I've seen the same elsewhere) then I still don't see where I've gone wrong. As the meter was obviously putting a small voltage on this part of the circuit, I tried hooking up a 1.5v battery across the same areas, with the same result. Any ideas?

[hydrymoron]

Just to say I sorted it out eventually. The circuit was fine, it was just a combination of tired battery and loose core. By using an old hammer head as a tight-fitting core and a new battery I got it to run just fine. Now for the charging circuit...
Thanks for all your helpful suggestions everyone!

[gabriolaman]

heres my sg i cant belive the camera got a still of the rotor it is spinning :O

[Jetijs]

why is the neon flashing?

[gabriolaman]

its running thats why the camera was able to get a still of the rotor some how

[hydrymoron]

Just a quick question. Is there anything else apart from a neon light that could be used as a safety device on the charging circuit? My local electronics shop doesn't stock them for some reason.

[Jan H]

gabriolaman
The neon should not flash, it's a safety device. is the output disconnected?

hydrymoron
neon bulbs are in a lot of AC power switches, just rip one apart. You know the red 1/0 ones that are found in "power distributors", i don't know the word ehmm. Those boxes that allow you to put more plugs on one ac outlet
they are also found in "tension checker" screwdrivers.

edit:
these are the switches im talking about

[gabriolaman]

in that pic there was no output hooked up
you mean like a charge battery?

[hydrymoron]

Found one exactly like your pic Jan. Thanks a lot!

[gabriolaman]

well i doubled the magnets, 8 instead of four it doubled the speed to around 2500 or 5000rpm i dunno if i gotta divide the freq by two first because the drive pulse and spike on the scope then by 8 im still confused on that part nor do i know if the scope freq is true as its not a real scope, also a noticeable charge rate change at least double the charge speed running only 150 ma on a digital multimeter little upgrade big return also oiled the bearings cant wait for supplies to make a larger multi coil unit

[Jetijs]

Nice work
Keep experimenting!

[gabriolaman]

im gonna add a second coil but could use some info on what to do about it
does it gotta be exactly the same as the first coil cause i got no idea how many turns is on the first should i just make it like the same resistance ?
should i have it with its own trigger my magnets may be out of alignment slightly but i dont think there that far out if there out at all any advise will help ?:/

[Jetijs]

It is not important how much turns your other coil has, it can be more or less, it will still work as long as you use it as a slave coil and trigger it with the trigger winding from the primary coil. But if you use a separate trigger for your second coil, then the coil should have so many windings that the voltage/current induced by the magnet passing is enough to trigger the transistor. Usually that is somewhere between 400 and 1000 turns

[gabriolaman]

well here it is using 250 ma, rpm unknown
in the pic she is moving i dunno how my camera gets stills like that

kinda messy the circut but it satisfies me haha

[Jetijs]

Nice work
Do you see any improvement in charging speeds now that you have two coils?
BTW you probably have a too short shutter speed setting on your camera, that's why the wheel appears to bee still in the pictures If you are using the "auto" setting, try to take the picture without the flash
Jetijs