Revamping My Scooter with 12V LED Neon Sticks & Axle Generator

[oldunion]

I have a scooter, which looks like this one http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gsra3eng9zq.jpg

and i have two 7.2 volt battery packs to run two 12 volt led neon sticks that would sit underneath the deck and light up and look cool . Well this works, but i think the voltage fried the sticks...anyway that's a different story. What i think would be cool, is if i could yard the battery packs altogether and just run the neons from some kind of axle powered generator.

This scooter may not look like much, but it has a top speed of 50+ and INCREDIBLE acceleration, dangerously so. Hell, i was thinking just to wrap up the axle in some copper wire and see what happens with magnetic creations i could design, but then i realized that i don't really know what that means .

My concern is that 12 volts of energy is more than could be generated through this.

Nummer Zwei: this engine spits out a two stroke exhaust, which has oil and a good bit of unburnt gas. wouldn't it be epa friendly, and extremely cool, to make an afterburned that could sit right at the exhaust port?...yes. This concept i believe to be much more feasible because all you would need is a spark to jump a gap of a 1/4 inch. I have a tazer and i saw if the fuel would burn, and it does ignite a bit which is all i want, just a short little burn as the fuel exits.

I took MEGR for one year, am now doing poly sci, so i have limited electrical understandings...but I've dabbled in coil gunning and basic circuitry...so lay it on me.

 

[oldunion]

someone else is looking into something like this as well, and at 3/4 throttle, the coil was putting out 4.8 volts. My engine is bigger and more powerful, and i imagine puts out more voltage. i believe i will try making mounts for 2 coils, excluding the one that is powering the engine now.

but...once i have all this voltage, what kind of battery should i run it to, what else will i need, and is there a way to not use a battery at all? I have no problem making a breadboard or silicon circuit to make this work.

 

[Cliff_J]

If you could attach premanent magnets to the rotating object, you could then have them pass by coils and create current without requiring any type of battery.

You could use diodes to rectify the waveform, just like an alternator does in a car.

You'd also likely want a linear regulator that can flow enough current for your lights to keep the voltage from going too high as that will likley burn out the lights.

 

[oldunion]

If you could attach premanent magnets to the rotating object, you could then have them pass by coils and create current without requiring any type of battery.
You could use diodes to rectify the waveform, just like an alternator does in a car.
You'd also likely want a linear regulator that can flow enough current for your lights to keep the voltage from going too high as that will likley burn out the lights.

Cool, now we are getting places. I would use multiple coils I've decided, that i can position around the rotating flywheel (which has magnets on it) to generate my energy.

Could you get more specific on what i would need though, maybe a website for calculating how this will work, specifics on what i need...? thanks

 

[Cliff_J]

I answered a similar question about generating electricity here:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=100166

In short, let's assume you can generate more than you need.

Now you need to regulate it, and a linear regulator would be easy and cheap. How much current do your lights need? If less than .5A (or 500mA same thing) then you could use a 7812 and it is simple to hook up.
http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM341.pdf

Page 12 has a diagram, use the TO-220 format, and bolt a small square of aluminum to the tab to act as a heatsink (or a real heatsink). If it overheats it will shutdown but it all really depends on how much current you need.