Ken, There is so much room in our world for appropriate technology and you are taking this thread in a fascinsting direction. Another highly simple solution that ocurrs to me is to actually peddle the bicycle that goes along with the generator, since not everybody has the wind to operate a windmill. If one attachs the bike chain to a flywheel, placing the generator on the other side of this, then a 12 volt car battery can be charged. This car battery has many options for what it can power, including fluorescent lights, a CS generator, etc. and so forth. The benefit of getting the heart pumping on the bike may be among the best of all. Reid
Ode Coyote wrote, An alternator requires an outside source of power for the field windings [a battery]. My bike gen [25+ yrs old] uses no battery and has perm magnets to supply the field. [magneto?] Outputs a DC signal. The faster you pedal, the brighter the light. No pedaling..no light. Maybe this has changed in modern times. One cool thing to try is to use a bike generator attached to the same rotational force as an alternator to supply the field current for a larger alternator on a wind mill so when the windmill isn't getting much wind, the field voltage drops and the alternator outputs less power. If the wind isn't blowing at all, there's no drain on a battery supplying field current to an alternator that isn't spinning. When the wind picks up, the field increases, the alternator provides more resistance while generating more power, acting like a governer. A zener diode [from an old Brit motorcycle] in the battery case does voltage regulation and helps keep batteries warm. Ken -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
