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What voltage are you guys getting from your test?

Managed to get max reading of 250mV with no resistor in the wire. Got long way to go to get to 600mV. Blade was just scrap together without any design or care for efficiency. Done just to get some reading.

The moderator posted a picture of a cd motor unit. I tore apart a scrapped computer and opened up the CD/DVD drive. It is unusable.
I can buy a used unit on Amazon or Ebay. What is a good unit????
The wires in the unit that I tore apart are so fine that they are virtually unusable. With an external unit I might be able to use part of the main power cord.
Suggestions please.

retired1 wrote:The moderator posted a picture of a cd motor unit. I tore apart a scrapped computer and opened up the CD/DVD drive. It is unusable.
I can buy a used unit on Amazon or Ebay. What is a good unit????
The wires in the unit that I tore apart are so fine that they are virtually unusable. With an external unit I might be able to use part of the main power cord.
Suggestions please.

Goodwill is your best bet. Portable CD player or such. The wires are usually pretty thin in all of the devices to be honest.

Does anyone have any pictures or schematics for what they're using to test their devices?

I'm and event supervisor, and I'm in the same place. Tore apart two late-90's vintage CD-ROM drives. The motors have only ribbon cables going to them. This is getting to be pretty antique technology and even the 2nd hand stores won't take them.

Suggestions ?

Ward's Sci should be posting a Wind Power kit for sale any day now. Checkout: https://wardsci.com/store/catalog/searc ... navCount=1

Note you can also just get a basic DC motor like this: https://wardsci.com/store/search/search ... searchForm

And a CD mount hub like this: http://www.docfizzix.com/products/parts ... 00df.shtml

With regards to the tiny wires on the CD motors I've seen people just rip them off. Usually there is some sort of bigger tab / solder connection directly on the motor itself that you can connect directly to.

I am coaching for this event. I bought use Memorex and Sanyo portable CD from e-bay. Each can be had for less than 10, including shipping.

Ripping the unit to get the motor out can be daunting. Be careful not to dismantle the cable.

Once the motor is out, your challenge to build housing that snuggily fit motor leaving the spindle outside so that the disc can be mounted. I use PVC pipe along with tripod to get this working.

Remember whatever the motor you have, your only need for your own testing. During the event, we will be subject to whatever motor provided by the event supervisor. Hopefully, it's something compatible.

A few things I have learned about salvaged CD motors....

- With an ohmmeter, look for two leads that have a resistance of 5 ohms or less between them. These are the leads that will have the generator voltage when the motor is spun. Since these are 3-phase motors, you'll actually find 3 leads that have < 5 ohms between them. Choose any 2 for your generator voltage. On my two CD motors, they were the 3 leads at the far right or far left of the ribbon cable.

- The motor generators will be putting out AC voltage, not DC voltage. Set your VOM accordingly.

A CD motor should be provided at the competition, right?

If so, I know that it would still be a good idea to have one for testing purposes.