Make your own Forever Lite from a 5-1/4 floppy drive motor.

I like the idea of LED flashlights that have no batteries, so I built this little unit out of an old 5-1/4 floppy drive head servo motor. Most any older units have these... Most all of them generate enough juice to run 4 Nichas with out trouble. (Note: the harder it is to turn the motor when removed means the magnets are stronger hence, the brighter the LEDs!)

The voltage coming out of the motor is AC so a diode makes things more efficient (although you don't need it.)
I call it the "Bud-(flash)light"

I hooked the output coils to a full wave rectifier (4 diodes) and converted to full DC. From there, connected in parallel two Memory .047F 5.5v capacitors (to store my hard earned labor.) and then to the white Nicha.
I also attached another led directly to a different pair of coils for an instant light while charging.
Top it off with a glob of hot glue and your ready to shine.

Twist the rotor for about 20 sec and you will be rewarded with a Bright slowly diminishing light.
It gives decent light for about 1 min 30 sec and stays visible for 10-15 minutes more.

Another pic...
The servo motor on the right is a really old one and is powerful, it drives 4 Nichas direct and requires your constant attention. (note my blurry fingers on the right)
And its also extremely addictive.

Cool!!!!!!! I've got a bunch of those, always wondered how they would work. I'm wondering - are those servo motors, or stepper motors? If they're steppers, it're really cool, as it's the first time I've heard of anyone using a stepper as a generator. Makes sense, though...PM motor...

Again, very cool!!!

Also try the motor at the bottom of the drive.
You will have to take apart the motor to gain access to the 3-phase wires.
BTW, the motor you talked about is a stepper, not a servo.

Yes technically you're correct...
Stepper motor is probably a better term to use.
The stronger the steps as you turn the brighter.
I have never found one that overdrives but several that don't drive enough. most 3-1\2 floppy motors are too weak. I suppose you could use stepper motors from several different devices... just have to experiment and see.

I guess I should go to the trouble of building one of these in a nice package.

Cool idea!

Now that deserves some sort of conservation/recycle/innovation award! Well done.

You're right darell. That's the best use of a recycled beer cap that I've seen yet. Just remember folks, never light and drive.

Awwww - and I just trashed some old 5-1/4s!

NEAT mod! I really like it when they don't need batteries. I have some old CD-ROM drives around - maybe those things will have motors strong 'nuf...

An old CD-ROM drive has a fast spindle motor, a tray motor(just a miniature motor), and a strong stepper.
Don't forget the laser diode(they are fairly descent).
Try using info from www.laserfaq.net to get your laser to work(and make a laser pointer to impress your friends).

I suppose you could theoreticxally use any motor from a disk drive, CD machine or VCR to generate your current. There are millions of these motors ending up in landfill rubbish dumps... here is a practical way of making better use of them!
Send details of your torch to Eco House in Leicester... they may be very interested in it.
......................................
Here's another idea... how about a wind-ppowered torch? I'm sure it would be possible to get one of those miniature 5V or 12V fans and see if you can generate power with them!

could you tell me which old 5.25 drives i can get these motors?

Thanks, Mike

I don't have any particular models to recommend... Per say, but as EMPOWERTORCH said it, almost any good stepper motor that moves anything substantial is a good start. A trusty volt meter. (a spare loose Nicha helps too)
If you start to look in old electronic surplus you could probably find what you're looking for.

But alot of the old 5-1/4 floppy drives are perfect.

I am also working on a Russian military generator flashlight with a squeeze handle and I'm curious how it does with LED's.

We're well on the way to making the world's most environmentally friendly torch here. We just now need a way of housing the mechanism into a torch body and find n efficient way of getting human power to the generator...there could be a potential to recycle thousmds of miniature motors from obsolete vcr's, disk drives and hi-fi equipment that would otherwise end up in landfill!
The Human-Powered-Torch (HPT for short) would have applications in situations where batteries are not readily available, such as the developing world.
HPT's are a practical and safe alternative to candles in the tinder-dry enviromnment of Africa and the like!

Matt

Dont overlook old printers. I've made it a point over the years to do some harvesting from any old gear I'm throwing away. I have several heavy duty steppers from printers, some of them quite hefty. If there is one thing that every office has stuffed in a closet somewhere it's old broken printers.

I've used a stepper to light LEDs, too. I think the stepper I used was destined for an 8 inch floppy drive (gues that makes it about 20 years old). I have used up to 4 LEDs, two on each stepper winding with opposite polarity. To run it I just grab the shaft and spin the LEDs like a lasso. Makes nice circles of dotted lines in the dark.

What about a laser pointer with parts from an old CD-ROM drive and a supercap(the stepper motor charges the supercap that powers the laser diode)?

I have modified one of the Russian made dynamo flashlights wit the "squeeze handle" and it works fairly well with three LEDs soldered into a small "screw" bulb base. The LED assembly is from an "LED hobby kit" from C. Crane, but one can also crush and de-glass an old bulb abd roll their own, with three white Nichias in parallel.
The generator produces AC, and will light the LED cluster directly, but as white LEDs have a rather low reverse voltage tolerance, I chose to rectify and filter the DC. Currently I use a small FWB and a 1000 uF 6.3 VDC cap, will upgrade to a "supercap" as large as I can fit inside.

I have experimented with using stepper (and DC PM) motors as generators, with varying degrees of success. This particular application looks great, I'll have to try it out!

/ed brown in NH

You mean like this Russian flashlight???

I modded a few of these about a year ago.
This one has three Nichas in it.
I need to put a good supercap in it however.