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Checking in from Southern Indiana

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:34 am
by Mason DeLisle
Hey guys/gals thanks for the add. I earned my A.S. in product design 2 years ago, and have since spent the majority of my career designing aftermarket components for off-road vehicles. I like to spend some of my free time inventing simple inventions that would make life easier and would be open source. All have been failures so far, but an example of a recent device was during the "Fidget Spinner" craze and I attempted to develop a system that would safely charge a phone and was able to harness that energy using magnets. Other hobbies are making anything go fast whether it's Cars, Bikes, or even RC vehicles. Hopefully I can get some help on future projects, and I would also like to offer my help if anyone needs any CAD/Mechanical Drawings. Also, I have a somewhat decent 3D printer I built if anyone in the area needs some quick run prototypes for free (within reason). Just let me know.

Re: Checking in from Southern Indiana

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:30 pm
by Doug Coulter
Takes a lot of fidgeting to charge a phone...they're power hogs - anything wireless is, phones stand out even among those.
One way a lot of pseudo science articles set off my BS detector is by claiming some new CPU tech is going to give phones some fat X (x=4) more battery life. How you gonna do that if 80%+ is the screen backlight as is?

I had someone living here who was a TV addict (I can't stand the things). I'm off grid solar, and wanted to use the power draw as an excuse to cut it back (on air was fine for her, cable stinks here anyway). So, I fixed up an exercise bike, a tiny tv with about 10-15w power use, a small battery, and a 90% or so efficient generator. If not pedaled for 10 minutes or so, no TV.

Now, this is using more or less the biggest muscles on a human in the most efficient way there is...and she hated it. (worked for me, in other words, and no need to cheat).

Most athletes make 1/3 hp or so when doing their thing, the exceptional guy who pedaled an airplane across the english channel could peak 1.5 or so, could average 1/2 to 3/4hp - a superior physical being. 1 HP at 100% efficiency is...745 watts.

I don't have a cell phone, what do they draw, 5w? You'd have carpal tunnel in an hour of putting that into a hand crank. No kidding, get a good DC servo motor, permanent magnet brush type, which are usually really good, set up the load and meters and do 5 watts.
Now do it for the hours people sit on their butt and play with the phone. Oh, you need fingers for that too, and they're busy now.
You could work this out in foot pounds per time units, you get the same result - it's lots of work when you also measure how wimpy humans are.

I'm just having a bit of fun at your expense, I shouldn't do that, but it's important to have a sense of scale. ;)

I used to go as fast as possible at every opportunity. Then things got faster and I got older. The Camaro SS (latest gen) I had was actually faster than I could react, and while it was cool to be able to lay 50 feet of rubber at 90 mph just by slapping the throttle in 3rd...fishtailing at that speed isn't fun and if you turn on the "keep me alive" computer, it won't do that (I don't think the automatic trannies will do that ever). So, I had to sell that car as I was going to likely kill someone, and frankly, it was boring to be out there in an F-22 when everyone else was cessna. Oh, you wouldn't die, that thing was a tank, that other guy, not so much.

Now I like my Volt, it's actually more fun to win a race on our twisty roads in a car no one thinks of as quick - old age and treachery know all the best lines through the corners and so on. 1/2 mph edge wins every time, and very convincingly on a 9 mile course.

Sure, I think there are a few like minded here that would love to help. I run up a lot of miles on my off road toys here - I've got lots of land and not much lung left, I use one just to go to the mailbox (admittedly that's 50 yards and uphill).