Originally Posted by harctan

I have a question that's been bugging me for the last few days. One of the things that I find interesting about the sg motor is how the input power reduces when it is loaded, which is opposite to the conventional motor behaviour. Having watched Electric Motors Secrets I deducted that it was because there was no back-emf or at least much lower than usual. But if I use a reed switch to trigger the transistor instead of the trigger coil then that effect is lost and the input current increases under load. I would like to know what is the difference in these 2 ways of triggering that creates so different results.

Originally Posted by Shamus

@Kevin: I would strongly encourage you to do it an hour at a time if you have to, and please post progress reports! And yes, I've gotten bit by the high voltage coming off the power coil more than once!

Well, since I'm kinda stuck at the moment waiting for magnet wire to arrive before I can finish building the current machine, I thought I'd post a few thoughts on it--even though only one coil is present, it's got a diode hanging off the collector, so it counts in my opinion. The schematic below shows its current state.

Yes, curiosity got the better of me and I've tried charging 1.5V AA cells as part of a 6V battery. It seems to work somewhat, though I haven't done any rigorous testing. I did notice that the rotor slows down when there's a battery in the charge position. Interesting! I know that you probably won't get optimum results using these types of cells, but it seems to me that if the negentropy process that Tom and John talk about in the provisional patent application listed in Free Energy Generation is correct, then it should be possible to charge these kinds of cells as well. Just a thought.

Another interesting thing that I've seen (er, heard) with this machine is what I call 'the hum'. One time, before I soldered the components in place, I had to re-hookup the parts because they had wiggled loose. Once I had them connected back together and connected power (without a charging battery hooked up) I noticed a fairly loud hum coming out of the coil! The coil wasn't heating up and the neither was the transistor, but it pushed the magnets of the rotor out of the way so that the coil was in the middle of two magnets. Interesting! The hum stopped immediately as I disconnected the battery. After I connected power again, the hum started again. This time, I tried to see if there was anything coming off the diode but the meter reading was inconclusive. Strangest of all, when I connected a battery to the charging position the hum stopped as well. Curiouser and curiouser...

After I disconnected the charge battery the hum didn't come back, but it did come back a while later. It seems to be a bit capricious, this hum. I did notice that it was much easier to get the rotor spinning up to speed when the coil was humming versus when it wasn't. It seems these machines are full of surprises. And maybe I didn't notice it before, but it seems that there's also a faint hum in the coil of the first machine that I built as well.

A question comes to mind about this circuit. In the PPA in Free Energy Generation it's stressed that the radiant energy capture circuit has to be separated from the drive circuit, but in the circuit below, this is clearly not the case. Also, I have strong reason to believe that the circuit below works well (I can elaborate if necessary ), although some changes in the resistor are probably needed for optimum operation. It could be that I'm missing something obvious--after all, I'm still experimenting and learning this stuff first hand and trying to make sense of it all.

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

The beginners handbook says to fill the core of the spool with sections of 1/16" R45 welding rod. Here in Costa Rica, I've been unable to locate 1/16" rods. Locally they only carry 3/16" rods and I'm pretty sure they're not R45. Would they be a suitable substitute? If not, I noticed Aaron's recent video about Paul Babcock using steel shot as a core material. That's not available here as such, but small magnetic bicycle bearings are essentially the same thing and I can get them locally. Would those work?

Thanks,
Jonathan

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

Thanks Aaron.

The bicycle bearings I’ve found are 3/16” in diameter (.187”), which is just under 2x the diameter of the #7 buckshot (.100”).

Apart from the magnet test - which I’ll do tomorrow - given that the ball bearings and rods are the same diameter, would you recommend one over the other? (I’m assuming that being “shorter” and having less magnetizable mass, the bearings will keep a magnetic field for less time than the rods).

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

Hi Aaron,

You mention that the (1" wide) magnets should be spaced around the rim 3" apart. None of the rim circumferences are multiples of 4 though (a 20" rim for instance has a circumference of 62.83" - theoretically allowing for 15.71 1" wide magnets with 3" between their nearest borders), so I'll either have to space the magnets a little closer together (using 16 in this case) or a little further apart (if I went with 15). Any advice about this? A preference for one or the other?

Also, I got the sense that the size of the rim isn't so important and picked up a 17" rim as it seemed better balanced. But...most comments in the book mention larger rims. Should I use a larger one?

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

Thanks.

Based on your comments, I think the answer to my other question is to go with the 1/16" iron wire in the core instead of the 3/16" ball bearings. I'll spray the wire with a little enamel beforehand to add a dielectric layer and slow down rust (it's humid here).

What's the advantage of the R45 welding rod coating (the copper) over regular 1/16" iron wire?

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

I thought the copper had some special benefit that I was missing out on. Now I feel good about the steel bicycle spokes I bought today.

I also got a plastic plumbing pipe to serve as the core for my spool. It's a bit thick, so I'm thinking of using my tablesaw (in an unconventional way) to thin it down a bit so the spokes are as close as possible to the wire.

Can you believe it, no more questions for the moment! Thanks again for the help up to this point.

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

I definitely want to do that as I'd like to try different core materials. What I'm picturing though is probably not "right", as it could even damage the coil.

I'm imagining removing the core from inside the tightly wound coil to swap it out for another core. Since the coil is tightly wound though I think it will either keep it's shape, or contract a teeny bit when the core is removed. If I'm wrong about that, this idea may be valid, but if it is too tight of a fit, there'd be no room to easily shove another core in and doing so might mess up the coil. I could try to reduce the friction on the new core by spraying some silicone, or putting some vaseline or wax on it, but I doubt that's the idea.

The other thing I can imagine is making a thin sleeve (a sm. cylindrical plastic bottle that either fits as is, or needs to be slit and adjusted then taped shut) to slide my core into which would allow me to easily remove it later. But I don't think that's the idea either, so please clue me in.

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

I've been moving slower than planned, but I'm getting there.

The base is done, I'll finish gluing the magnets on today or tomorrow, the coil core is in and I'll soon be cutting the wires and making the coil.
Then, though I know it's easy, I haven't ever made a circuit so I'm a bit anxious about it.
Looking at the photo of John's machine, I'm thinking of cutting a flat plastic lid or similar to attach the copper strips to - that the majority of the non-transistor parts are soldered too. Copper strips are not available locally, though I could probably get them if it's important, but I'm thinking of cutting open a copper tube, flattening it out and super gluing or hot gluing it to the plastic backing. Will that work? If so, is it better that the copper strips be thick (the walls of the tube are an 1/8" or so thick), or should I try to thin them out (I'd probably use a grinder and/or sander)?

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

I have a couple questions about the circuit shown in the photo of John’s machine.

Is the copper strip with the resistors on it just hanging in the air in front of the transistors supported only by all the wires connected to it, or is it touching the transistors or even attached to them (glued perhaps)?

In terms of copying the circuit in the photo of John's SG, any suggestions/tips about the order/manner in which to attach the different components?

Originally Posted by 2SeeMore

This will be the first circuit I've ever soldered together so I have beginner's questions. Some I asked in my last post in case anyone would like to answer them, but I have another one at the moment.

I'm using the photo of John's circuit as my guide (it's attached to my last post), and I can't tell how the transistors are attached to the heatsink. Can anyone clue me in on this?