Elon Musk lives out of tiny 375-square-foot prefab trailer

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Some outlets have gone dead, but the place hasn't burnt down. [shrug]

I may have a buyer for the VW Dasher, I'm thinking seriously about immediately sinking the proceeds into an Ecoflow DELTA. It would be the nucleus of a 1260 watt-hour
edit: Here's the Ecoflow DELTA: us.ecoflow.com/products/ecoflow-delta-portable-power-station.

My outlets typically go bad at the wall connections. Turn off the outlet and install a new one. I believe the '62 were first generation push ins. Since you're in a trailer, any chance the boxes are on metal studs? Then all you have to do is ground the trailer and attach new GFCI outlets that ground to the box (if they are in a box, trailers didn't necessarily meet code) Use a neon tester to check.

Like the mini power station but the comments are way past gushy to trust. Need. More. Research.

[freebeard]

I hadn't read the comments. But I did watch reviews. www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ecooflow+delta

Since you're in a trailer, any chance the boxes are on metal studs?

More like the outlets are screwed directly to the aluminum wall.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I just have an unused utility pole. I also have an air compressor tank that I could paint black and wrap a fresnel lens or two around.

Since you already have some material available, it may be worth a try.

[freebeard]

The alternative would be a vertical axis wlndmill.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

There is an avenue in the northernmost part of my hometown where I used to see a lot of those wind-powered air exhaustors at many commercial venues, and everytime I passed by while going to my grandmother's house I lurked about adapting a car alternator to use it as a vertical-axis wind power generator.

[freebeard]

I know, right?

They don't move a lot of air. It would have to be big to generate any reasonable amount.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

They don't move a lot of air. It would have to be big to generate any reasonable amount.

To provide electricity for an entire household, both an oversizing of the device and decreasing the electrical load would be a safe bet. Yet if I were going to do it, would be most for the sake of the experience.

[freebeard]

The ventilators are fabricated from uniform strips that gather at the top and block air flow. Done for structural and fabrication reasons.

If you are looking for the experience, I'd start with a piece of timber bamboo somewhat longer than the height you want and split it into three staves. Find a tree trunk or water heater tank or something the right diameter to wrap them around. Wrap them side-by-side in a helical spiral. Clamp the ends and let them dry.

Then take them off and carve the inner face into an airfoil profile. Mount them on a vertical axle and you'd have a very high-performance rotor. Gang two alternators together on either side of the final drive gear or pulley. That arrangement can be structured as a harmonic dampener to prevent vibrations. I think an alternator would work backward, but [shrug].

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I think an alternator would work backward, but [shrug].

IIRC the magneto of some 2-stroke motorcycles worked OK if they were kick-started in a way which turned them on the wrong sense of rotation.

[Piotrsko]

Electron flow is created by moving a coil in a magnetic field, afaik, doesn't say which way you have to move it for the flow, BUT, polarity may matter since you use the right hand rule of flow. Magnets make useable power at low speeds, alternators take some speed to self excite. Not as valid if you externally excite the field but they do trade efficiency for current flow.