A Generator built from a Stepper Motor and Supercapacitors
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video I'll show how i used a NEMA17 stepper motor as a hand-cranked generator to charge a supercapacitor bank, which can then be used to power all sorts of things like lights, radios, or even start a fire for a survival situation.
I found that using a stepper motor as a generator was far more effective than trying to build my own with magnets and coils. With a 3:1 overdrive on this small NEMA17 motor, I could easily generate 15-20V open circuit, or sustain around 2 watts of output without much trouble.
The generator uses a pair of parallel bridge rectifiers (one for each coil set on the stepper) to charge a supercapacitor bank to 5.4V. It takes about 130-150 turns to fully charge a 16.5F capacitor bank, which can be done in under one minute, and keep the main light on for close to 10 minutes.
To protect the capacitors against overcharging, i built a circuit using an op-amp comparator to turn on a MOSFET when the capacitor voltage goes above 5.3V and short the capacitors to prevent overvoltage. I found this to be a more effective solution than simply using a zener diode.
Notable Hardware:
-NEMA17 Stepper motor. Exact model doesn't really matter (i found mine in a junk drawer).
-GT2 belt & Pulley, 60T and 20T:
www.amazon.com/Zeberoxyz-Sync...
-470F / 2.7V Supercaps are Illinois Capacitor model# DGH477Q2R7
-3.3F / 2.7V Supercaps:
www.amazon.com/MCIGICM-Capaci...
-Bridge rectifiers were GBU808 harvested from random scrap devices. Really any bridge rectifier should work for this application, though.
STL Files:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:524...
Music Used:
Kevin MacLeod - George Street Shuffle
The improved microphone quality is greatly appreciated!
There's nothing wrong with the microphone I hear him clearly why be so picky over something that isn't a issue
Happy to be part of the first thousand subscribers to this channel. The material is meticulously planned, fun and includes documentation- it’s greatly appreciated! Thanks for spending the time putting these together and sharing.
thanks man
I just subbed...interesting projects
@@wadebrewer7212 me too
I've used stepper motors as an alternator, rectified to DC, but your circuit is very helpful, thank you for taking the time to explain it all. Nice little package you've put together there.
Nice to see a hearty working project with practical use - sure beats the hell out of those waste of time, phoney free energy projects I keep seeing, kicking around…. 👌👍👍👍
I made a similar device years ago. The charge protection I used was similar to yours but I used an LED instead of a zener or a stack of diodes as the reference and as a side effect, I got my charge indication for free. When the LED lights it trips the protection circuit.. I used a small signal transistor instead of an op-amp. I also used a high-side p-channel mosfet that passes the charge current to the caps. This way I am not ever shorting out the caps.
That's smart. Given how low the charge current would be it should be very easy to handle it with a mosfet
@@clonkex I would share this design with you but I don't know how on YT. Seems pretty restricted. It is easy enough to be represented with ASCII art but I am not that talented. LOL I would gladly share my design (of course, for free) if you know of a good way to do so.
@@ybtech URLs outside YT usually work but sometimes the comment disappears. But don't worry, I'm in the process of renovating and my workshop is a total mess. I have no time for fun projects anyway :(
Can you please share detailed info? For us, not electrical people
@escorpiuser I am having problems finding a working copy of my Eagle files. I will post as much detail I have as soon as I can find a good copy for ya'll.
Love it. Hand crank is something missing from prepper/bushcraft situations
That situation is exactly why I clicked on this video instantly.
Very nice, compact design criteria. I like the machining aspects of the box, nice work.
I get excited to see your thumbnail pop up in my subscriptions, and great content as always! I can also hear a big improvement in the audio quality here.
Keep it up, man!
I built someting similar a while back, only i used a dead HD container, blades from a microwave cooling fan, a bit of trickey with plumbing gear. All linked to a stepper, charging circuit, a tiny volt meter and a usb. Inserted to my water mains just by the toilet. So everytime you flushed the bog you could charge your phone. Works a treat.
Love the trick with the indicator LEDs
Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting.
Exploiting the different foward voltages of the LED lights for rough power indication is a great Idea. Thank you. UV/Purple ones are even higher then Blue as a heads up.
The TL431 can be found in most switching supplies. It's a precision 2.5V adjustable voltage regulator. And if there is a voltage divider between the cathode, anode and input pin, you can set it at any voltage.
TL431 is not a "zener" 🙄
@@MadScientist267 It sure is not a diode spot on
An LED could do the job too.
@@tinu5779
The LED does not have the stability of the TL431. As the temperature changes, the voltage across the LED changes, causing poor regulation. It would be better to use a zener diode.
@@acmefixer1 of course there are many parts that do better jobs but sometimes you just have to take what you have.
I have flashbacks of when I was a child finding one of those old school hand cranked alternators for electroshock therapy... that thing had such a wild kick.
I learned something cool in the first 1:41 minute of this video. Soldering the resistance directly to the LED feet and covering it with shrink tube
Pretty cool design and explanations, thanks
Dude, sensational work.
I just love the way you talk and explain things as if you are Afrotechmods brother(really miss him tbh) but keep on doing what you are doing!
Some theory and some thought process behind the idea plus the building process all fits nicely together, seems well balanced :)
Nice job,
Enough space in the casing to use both the 470F supercaps and the 3,3F caps in there with a selection switch for Different situations.
Exactly what I've been looking for to make a detonator for model rockets and explosives
Awesome build. I would keep the larger caps myself. I love me some super caps
Nice project
Nice project! I like the trick with the colored LED’s.
Cool project but I have two thoughts. One is that if you were only generating 2.5w power going in and as you said it was still easy to turn I definitely would think a higher gear ratio to the steeper motor is in order to get more power in less time.
Also the super caps could still be great to use but maybe in connection with a boost circuit. I know they are not as efficient but it would let you be able to get much more power out of them to much lower levels.
Even a basic Joule Theif would work for the leds. And what you very much could do is have a toggle switch to run lights directly off the caps above a certian voltage then switch to the boost circuit after it.
Or even just having the circuit for the lights be run off a buck boost and forgoing the resistors to the lights by keeping the voltage slightly lower then thier max.
Thereby saving a lot of the power losses in the resistors have at higher voltages. And keeping the lights running much brighter or even full brightness at lower levels.
First video I seen by you. Thanks for sharing.
As always AWESOME.
Modular generator, cool! Make a few modular engine options. For example, make a PVC water turbine with a modular shaft to fit this. Install it in the water line in your house!
Awesome. Useful knowledge.
Thanks for sharing
Cool project! I wasn't aware of how useful steppers are as generators, and am definitely going to have a play around with them. Just a thought (It might ruin the "bare bones" design philosophy somewhat), but it might be worth using a cheap ebay DC-DC converter module to improve the charging efficiency and double as a voltage limiter for the caps (eg LM2596 to charge the caps from the stepper). You could also use a similar module (boost or buck depending on the arrangement of caps) to provide a regulated 5V out for charging USB devices.
They probably exist already but i haven't looked....a universal or multi output dc dc buck boost converter would be ideal for any generator. I assume something exists already due to products like solar generators etc that have many outputs...12v car...120v household outlet, usb outlets, and maybe others. 12v is good for being able to jump start a motor and or charge from the alternator. Inverter is obviously needed for 120 and is the least necessary but more useful if there. Having an 18v (20v) output to charge tool batteries would be good. Maybe 52v and everything below could be useful for some kind of electric vehicle like a bike.
So useful. Thank you.
GREAT JOB!
just love your diverse content.
This is a ealy cool project, especially for people who enjoy going out camping. I think 20min of cranking while in the wilderness won't really be much of a bother.
nice job
clean print too
Congratulations from Brazil.
Great build! I see promise in building some small wind turbines with this approach! Might do the hand crank generator too. :-)
7:14 an led between vcc and the drain of the mosfet can be placed to indicate overcharging
It would be cool to have a switch to go from one mode to another mode so that you can charge for longer periods of time. In other words have both banks of capacitors in there and have a switch.
small tip, for LED lights add buck converter that powers Joule thief, feed LED's with it, this will drastically extend time for LED's light
Cool video
Wow i like that. I need to make too you.
Nice video, thanks for sharing it :)
You get very easily 220 volt out of the stepper motor, if you can put more RPM to the stepper motor. I have same kind stepper motor, and by keeping the motor axle next to bicycle rear wheel, while same time give rear wheel some spins. Usually stepper motor have three output at the same time. I made few simple tests on my stepper motor some time ago.
this is awesome project
i think you should work on market level product this will be the hit product (kickstart)
I made a super easy hand generator using the turntable motor from a microwave. It has gear reduction that you can run in reverse built right in. You must put a crank on the out put shaft. Then run the power leads to a bridge rectifier. Mine generates verge a bout 35 volts and up to say 60 -70 vac. Barely moving te crank lights up some decent leds and will heat a single strand of copper wire bright red in a few seconds.
Lots of further experimentation could be done. By you!!
cool!
BTW makhonea, have you become a flat earther yet?
This is good base to crank replace some sort of wind "turbine".
great video, would've loved if you showed schematics so we can really understand how its all wired
Holy shit this is cool. I am going to replicate this for a school project to impress my teacher.
Круто! Я тоже собирал нечто подобное. Моя цепочка была следующая: nema17, диодные мосты, step-down mini 360 до 2.4v, один ионистор+ от него же step-up(me2108a, 3.3v, хорошая штука работает уже от 0.4v), а после светодиод через резистор.
Китайский ионистор на 3 фарада при нагрузке в 3.3v 5ma отработал 10 минут
Другой ионистор на 30 фарад при тех же условиях отработал 60 минут. 30 фарад сложновато зарядить через шаговик, но думаю что 80-100ma он сможет в течении 5 мин предоставить.
Pretty good
You can replace the mosfet with relay that has normally open and normally close state and redirect the power another led indicator that the bank is charged when trying crank.
So did you end up installing the smaller capacitors in series? Great content 🍻
Nice!!
Soo cool!
As a electronic hobbyist myself. Good job I notice you work.
Dude this is brilliant to watch. I'm only beginning to learn about this stuff atm so this is way above my head but I'm learning at a faster rate than I actually thought I was capable of.. I am going to attemopt building my own CNC Router over the Xmas holidays. It's the wiring of the motors, drivers, etc to the Arduino and Shield.. Do u have any tips for that process or is there a video u could give me a heads up on that goes through the whole thing in detail bcos most ppl just gloss over the elctronics part of their build.. That's the real shame in a lotta these types of videos bro. Not saying ur like that bcos ur videos go into detail but most ppl fly through the electronics bcos they think it will bore the life outa everybody but not me..
It';s the electronics parts of the videos that I'm more interested in and of course the software.. I would very much appreciate a heads up on any channels who walk ppl through the wiring details of any CNC build. That's where I really need help man.
Another brilliant video from ur good self man. Keep up the great work and have a lovely Xmas and all the very best in 2023 bro and that goes for everybody in the comment section as well
Other creators skip through a lot of the finer details to save their behinds. Most don't want to show a huge amount of detail for two fairly commendable reasons.
First being that if they build something and the average person copies it but copies it incorrectly for whatever reason and either harms themselves or others because of it lays the groundwork for a lawsuit with incredibly long drawn out lawyer sessions....
Second I think is also a big one in that these people (the ones not creating fake click bait vids for money) have spent an enormous amount of time and effort to learn the theory and probably had if not still have a boatload of student loans to pay.. So why go through what they did just to give that knowledge and experience away to others who aren't going to go the distance in learning all the history and "Laws" that is absolutely mind-blowing (IMO) amount of information. Perhaps it's another way for us diy/weekend warrior fiddling with a stereo system or a faulty television to actually dive into literature and get frustrated enough to quit or press on and find those particular details on our own.
I've been mucking around with low level electronics for just over 2.5 years now. A corner of my apartment unit looks like a tornado hit it with partial projects to take apart, ones to put back together, and ones I'm trying to create on my own.....all of which are somewhat covering dime sized to a small pizza dish sized burn marks from electrical fires or shorts. I keep pressing forward, not to be an electrical engineer but because I love learning. There are a shit ton of free pdf books online to download on how to build projects in a vast amount of subjects/fields of expertise. Who knows by reading more about what you want to build the information might stick and not taking the easy path might make a person feel good about what they built...or caught on fire...either way it's yours and not some monkey see monkey do project even if it still ends up looking similar it'll be from your own hands and mind.
@@supersteve1224 Look bro I hear what ur saying. I've never looked for an easy path and to say ppl are taking lawsuits?? against creators on here is mental. I never realised that shit was going on.
That's very sad to hear that is happening. I read a lotta stuff online. As far as anything electronic/electrics I try to not build anything without somebody around who can give me proper advice. Last thing I want is for a bloody fire to start in my workshop bcos it's connected into my home.
Thanks for the reply man.
Interesting idea but I can't help but notice the high tech use of stepper motors, super capacitors, 3D printing and then using masking tape to insulate the connections.
For 6:47, you may have been able to achieve similar results with a diode clipper and a transistor or two...or if you applied the clipper to the AC output you could do it with just a diode alone.
The belt is a very simple way to connect the handcrank with the Stepper motor but you would definitely have to crank a lot less if you add step up cogwheel gears that give you much more spinning momentum per crank. Just ONE rotation of the crank would give you much more juice instead of the belt gear.
Might make for a great portable spot welder.
That poor little switch on the banana jack terminals... Ouch...
The one for the white array is probably hurting too lol
No more corroded or swollen batteries. Nice.
Would adding a 2kg flywheel to your system significantly reduce hand crank time?
To get most charge ot of a set cranking time you should have lower charge voltage but higher amps on the input to the cap bank.
So a buck converter could be nice here, charge a "small" capacitor at 10 or 15 volt and buck converter to get it down to about 5 volt.
That is like a cheap diy MPPT converter since now you're "shorting" the stepper motor and loosing lots of watt since the voltage is so low
Neat! I would use the max voltage out, and use a buck converter to charge the big capacitors faster.
The maximum voltage at the output of the motor is pulled down by the capacitors charging. You lose efficiency by adding a buck converter. The problem of high voltage output is only there when the capacitors are no longer at a low enough voltage to drag the output of the motor down below its maximum.
@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse The converter is there to prevent overvoltage to the supercaps.
Makes me wonder if a hybrid solution would be most efficient, i.e dump 600 volts or something over a small resistance into the supercap until we reach 2.5V, then switch over to the buck converter for the remaining bit.
I dunno if that's safe though for the supercap. Any advice?
@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse Pretty sure I understand this well, but just to make sure, if the caps had a really high resistance (or there was in-series resistance somewhere before the caps) would that allow the voltage to stay higher? It's just because the current flows so easily into the caps that the voltage gets dragged down that far, right?
If you really need ample charge with low RPM, use Airconditioner indoor BLDC and remove its circuitery. Hook 3 wires on 3 AC terminals and add rectifier and smoothing capacitor. You can easy glow 12V bulb just rotating shaft with your fingers. Adding gears would triple the voltage.
exactly, BLDC is the way to go, he could use BLDC from large printer or hoverboard.
The way you short the caps to prevent overvoltage, is that a normal way to do this? From what I understand, the shorting goes through the MOSFET, as the gate is open when the overvoltage happens, and the potential heat gets dissipated there up to a 175°c limit. But what would happen if you really cranked hard on that handle? Would you run into problems eventually or no?
I have not seen any sort of voltage protection before so I have no idea how else to do it, I mean the way you do it here makes sense, it just seems a bit "counterintuitive" to short the caps to protect them. Could you maybe explain this a bit more?
You can look at circuit called Buck Boost converter and it will automatically get the voltage
this is awesome. I cant cad to save my life... is it possible to fit like R8 bearings in the crank?
Question, couldn't you just use a buck boost converter to limit or raise the amount of energy generated from the stepper motor?
Dang 20 minutes to charge those caps! They look just like normal capacitors
Very nice project. I think you lose quite a large portion of energy by choosing 100ohm resistors with the LEDs. You might want to consider using different LEDs and a smaller series resistance.
Yes, definitely. I think the most efficient approach would be to use the minimum resistance possible for current balancing, and then have a switching converter maintain a constant current on the LEDs & run them just above their threshold voltage. I wasn't willing to get into that level of complexity for this project, but in a future iteration i might
Hey i am generating 1.5v does thus enough for this circuit to charge.
My friend why to use stepper motor, bridge rectifier if you could directly put gear dc generator of 12v. It could reduce your charging time to 3 min and also decrease the size of overall setup. The discharging time could be 3hours if use 3 (1watt) bright white leds in series.
Just an idea for your reference mate, i have perfected a hand crank generator simple in size of 3inch *2inch with 12v geared hand crank generator with two 500f supercapacitor. Try it yourself, it really works.
I wonder if you could just use a a suitable high voltage led cob to protect the cap bank from over voltage. Much simpler for beginners to just have a led cob in parallell with the cap bank. A voltage booster that works from 0.8V lets you drain the capacitors much more so you save money on capacitors and one gets adjustable voltage from a 3USD ebay booster circuit. Then wasted energy is less before the cap bank reaches a high enough voltage for the step up booster to work. Then the crank time is much less before you get light :)
Great thanks you realise my idea)
Verry verry goood👍🏻👍🏻
Would it be possible to add a switch that switches if from charging the caps to charging a removeable AA or 18650 battery?
I think if you could use the LEDs for a lot longer if you put a little buck converter in there... Then you could get higher voltage super caps. Also, if it were a boost-buck converter, then it could juice out every last joule from those caps at a constant brightness.
Joule thief circuit would be even better.
Would a ac there phase motor with neodymium magnets will be better for this application ?
Would a shottky diode be better for a full wave bridge considering it drops less? They can sustain over 2 Amps of power.
my test on a 23 nema did 39v 1A on one coil, using a cordless drill 18v 1.3mah 1k rpm
One 3 watt led might have been a better option than 10 smaller leds. It certainly would have made the wiring less complex and time consuming. Still it was a good video.
Great! There is little that I'd change. Use an LED driver to drive these white LEDs or use a high power LED module. You are wasting most of the energy in the resistors. Given the time effort to charge the caps, it is painful amount of waste. Maybe add a USB charger module to it?
How much was this project?
I really like the video.
I have tried to look on Google but I can't seem to find anything on these things.
What type of motor would you recommend on a dyi gravity battery that can output maybe 600w
3 phases brusholess motors are even better !
I fucking love radio.
niiiiice!)
I like the project, but I'd suggest it be limited to just emergency use. I used a stepper as a wind generator and after a few months the stepper's magnets had pretty much died. Something about the magnetic material and physical form just weren't optimal for long-term generator (alternator,) use. I don't understand exactly why that was. It didn't seem like it got hot enough for the Currie temperature of the magnets to come into play. Perhaps there was a strong wind one day when I was at work and it did overheat. Perhaps it would have helped to have the rotation reversed every hour. I don't know. But that's what happened.
it was probably thermal degradation of the permanent magnets. Magnets gets gradually demagnetized due to high temperatures. Steppers are designed for low rpm and low duty cycle.
@@kalinkaata In that case it would be a better choice to for a brushless with gearboxes? DC motors can have their brushes degraded also.
@@ivanbukac4618 definitely the right choice. however you must consider how much voltage it generates. usually you can find it in the datasheet as V/1000rpm. It can be as low as 2V/1000rpm which would be probably too low for you
A super capacitor is a cross between a regular capacitor and a battery
7:56 hah, you said "compacitor." that's a cat - a capacitor of compassion.
O.o is good 😌👌
I am curious, how did you get the outer box?
Я б увеличил передаточное число, так как много энергии теряется на диодных мостах, собрал бы батарею ионисторов вольт на 16-20, после этого использовал бы понижающий преобразователь под свои нужды
Would it be worth it to run the light with a joule thief circuit?
The original one with the big caps seems pretty cool if you got lost in the woods but those caps cost too much for me to build
Instead of 4 diodes, just use an LED for the reference voltage.
You'll get 4x better temperature coefficient...
Nice project, only advice is that if you want to play with high current (when you short circuits) then you may need larger and better circuit breaker - the small one you use is rated 0.25 A.