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I want to build my first wind generator and i have found a stepper motor from an old photocopier. Its rated output is 8.4vdc 0.8amp. I well aware that its not good to charge a 12vdc battery. But I intended to use it to charge a 6vdc flashlight battery and to run sercurity lights at nights. is the 0.8amp enough to regharge the battery.Where I am there is plenty of wind day and night.Edited by Mountlouisa 2007-10-17Regards
Tom
Gill Senior Member Joined: 11/11/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 669
Posted: 10:44am 16 Oct 2007
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G'day Tom,
Welcome aboard.
I think it unlikely to put out enough volts or amps to do either of those jobs. Then again 'a bird in the hand' What have you got to loose.
My first attempt at wind power generation was a little stepper like yours. The performance was dismal yet I had fun trying and learnt a bit in the process without busting the bank.
Give it a go and see what you get. It 'll set you up a bit better for when you try a F&P. Now that will do the job plus some.was working fine... til the smoke got out.
Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ
KiwiJohn Guru Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691
Posted: 06:56pm 16 Oct 2007
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Hi Tom
I would not abandon your idea on the information you have given though it may not run the security lights for very long.
That motor is rated at about 6 watts which is what a lot of bicycle dynamos were rated at so you can get an idea of the amount of power available to you.
Thank for your reply, the stepper has 5 wires Regards
Tom
KiwiJohn Guru Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691
Posted: 05:00am 18 Oct 2007
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If you stepper has five wires I believe it will have four coils, one wire for each and a common connection to all on one wire.
Having four coils gives a bit of flexibility on how it is connected, I would say make the wind generator then measure what voltage you get between the common wire and each of the othe four. You can identify the common wire by measuring the resistance between pairs of wires, the common wire will be the one with the same, low, resistance to each of the other wires.