Super caps are expensive as well. 5V 1 Farrad caps will set you back 9 bucks. Damn nice though, I modified a cheap hand crank LED flash light to use a Powerstor one instead of a battery, charges in only a few seconds of some stiff cranking, ESR is pretty high on the one's I got (1.5 ohms at DC) but they make much better ones. I should have bought a lower ESR one myself but they were an impulse purchase, still have a couple kicking around.

Originally Posted by Boncuk

I suggest to use an electric motor on your bicyle. That way you won't have to use any body power.

Don't say that - he'll stick a dynamo on his bike (via a supercap) to feed the motor.!!!!!

(I've discovered perpetual motion - cough cough)

There will be so much metal on his bike he won't need lights because when a Hummer hits him at a traffic light - the Hummer will come of worse he! he!

Serously - listen to people here (well the ones not PLEADING for help with their homework) there's ways of doing things..
At the end of the day you want light - LOTS OF LIGHT you need to feed your LED, Lamps, Bulbs, Hallides, Plasma injectors whatever by batteries. I would strongly suggest you use the dynamo to 'top up',(ish) batteries - Lithium Ion. Work on a battery boost when you brake - but use batteries, worst case scenariou you take of at home and charge them.

Matt

Originally Posted by Dotnet

Don't say that - he'll stick a dynamo on his bike (via a supercap) to feed the motor.!!!!!

(I've discovered perpetual motion - cough cough)

There will be so much metal on his bike he won't need lights because when a Hummer hits him at a traffic light - the Hummer will come of worse he! he!

Serously - listen to people here (well the ones not PLEADING for help with their homework) there's ways of doing things..
At the end of the day you want light - LOTS OF LIGHT you need to feed your LED, Lamps, Bulbs, Hallides, Plasma injectors whatever by batteries. I would strongly suggest you use the dynamo to 'top up',(ish) batteries - Lithium Ion. Work on a battery boost when you brake - but use batteries, worst case scenariou you take of at home and charge them.

Matt

Hi Matt,

I've absolutely no problems generating electric power pedal driven. Grandma sits on a byce (without wheels to save weight) 12 hours per day and generates the necessary electric power the kids require to watch their fancy TV-shows.

As soon as Grandma falls off the byce unconscious there is no electric power for the TV and the kids go to sleep.

Don't be worried about Granny. The entire area around the byce is well wadded so she won't get hurt.

Granny might be considered a "perpetuum mobile" since she generates 1.2KW daily with little food.

Boncuk

Those SuperCaps are not manufactured in China, but in Germany! Never heard about German precision work?

Yea I've heard of precision German work. That Hindenburg worked real well!

So did the WWII tanks that got their butts handed to them by the crappy American tanks we admit that we half assed built!


I am also starting to see that the few hundered dollar build price I mentioned is not looking to be that far off now!

Amost makes a guy wonder if I didnt do some practicality research relating to ultra caps as power sources at some time.

Granny power huh? Why not make the kids do the work for their shows!
Then they will go to bed sooner!

Originally Posted by tcmtech

Yea I've heard of precision German work. That Hindenburg worked real well!

Didn't you see the very fast British destroyer ships in the South American Falklands war? They were made of lightweight magnesium and caught on fire like a match. Maybe they were hydrogen powered too.

I didn't think solid magnesium would burn very well?

Believe me when you get it hot enough in one spot thick magnesium will burn very well! And then it will just keep going!

I have had a few locals bring me "aluminum" parts for vehicles and farm equipment over the years in order to get them welded.

About ten seconds into the weld is when it becomes clear that its magnesium and not aluminum!

I just keep the welding helmet on and watch it burn!

When the Argentine missles hit the British magnesium destroyer ships then the ships burned with a very hot white flame.

That's about all you can do with magnesium, it doesn't like to be put out.

I occasionally do some magnesium welding but when I do it I absolutely go nuts with the shielding gas flow! And after I stop welding I keep the shielding gas flow on it until it cools down.
Its when I dont know its magnesium and just assume its an aluminum alloy of some type that I jet the uncontrolled burn going! By then its usually to late to run over and turn the shielding gas flow up.

Is it even possible to put Magnesium out once's it's going? It's self oxidizing right?

Originally Posted by Sceadwian

I didn't think solid magnesium would burn very well?

It really does. BMW-engines consist of an aluminum-magnesium alloy. Once the engince catches fire (engine overheat or spilled fuel by a broken fuel pipe)there is almost no way to fight it.

The radial engines of the Convair420/440 consisted of aluminum-magnesium, too. With an engine fire (causing dense white smoke) you better prepare for a parachute landing.

Fire extinguishers will fail fighting a magnesium fire and water makes the flames higher.

The only way of extinguishing the fire is letting it starve by lack of oxygen.

Boncuk

Well, thing of it this way, if any part of the engine survives the crash you can use a sharp knife to scrap a block of what's left of the engine to make a fire starter =P Just add a little bit of iron oxide and you can't even starve it for oxygen =)