MOEPED #3 is mechanically stable and more than half of the onboard 110 VAC systems are on line.
MOEPED stands for MObile Experimental Physics Educational Demonstrator. It's my project for one repeated credit at the community college Seminar and Project in physics, PHY 298, with Dr. Majewski. It is a 2004 Lightning Cycle Dynamics
First, there is the tandem crankset. Providing a 51 tooth cog on the left side lets me drive a modified Surplus Center
Second, the rear hub has been replaced and relaced with an 8 speed disc hub,
7 cogs, a spacer, and a Big Cheese spider to carry chain rings on the left side. A 48 tooth cog drives an Ametek servo motor from C&H salesThe bike has been fitted with an ESGE dual leg kick stand, *backwards*. Lighning has accepted this recommendation for their customer tip file. I have not seen it in print. The bike stands on its own, and a bit of wood underneath with two pocket holes captures the legs when you want to pedal and prevents spreading of the kickstand legs. Two extra long spokes will soo n be fitted to the stand legs to snag the chain stays with the spoke heads, and wing nuts will tighten the spokes to lock the stand, allowing seated pedaling. It will take five minutes to set up once parked.
To proof the power generating ability of the system I plugged the motor into the inverter and went for a ride. As expected, it was a dynamic brake, but nothing blew up. The system could generate say 20 watts all night long while riding and you'd hardly notice it. I've run a fluorescent lamp from the inverter. I could run my laptop from it but I don't have a padded case yet.
My question to the readers of alt.engineering.electrical, rec.crafts.metalworking, sci.electronics.design, and sci.electronics.repair is:
Given this is an impedance protected ceiling fan motor with many turns of fine wire, and I have invested four years of effort, and the system is stable, is it now time to rewind the stator with fewer turns of thicker wire to optimize generator function, as it is not likely that this motor will ever be stalled, or should I continue to try various cap combinations, driving the AC motor/generator from the DC motor in reverse, or should I run a sweep to find out what is going on and *compute* an optimized cap? I'm leaning toward rewinding the stator. It seems like an idiot proof motor would make a lousy generator.
The motor run cap is currently 5 microfarads. The self-excitation cap is currently 30 microfarads. Currently the motor runs right as a motor, but only generates 0.1 VAC at best speed when patched as a generator, even when I "whack" it with DC while cranking as described in Lindsay's "Alternator Secrets". I suspect there's just too many turns of wire in there. I have an audio amp and can download Daqarta again for a sweep. I have a Tek 541 scope with CA plug in. Soon all these and the bike will be under one roof.
Yours,
Doug Goncz Replikon Research Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394