Video #33, "Rick's Pipe Dream" Magnetic Motor-Generator

[marthale7]

The trouble is the frame rate of the recording of the video.. There is professional software that will give you a timeline on your video. An idea is you could put a laptop next to your wheel and have it run at the same time you are recording the video and then run the timer at the same time. That or a stop watch triggered by a reed switch or optical switch. I think you could also use the spokes triggering an optical switch. Just some ideas...

[TheRickoff]

@marthale7 Yes, my camera runs at 30 fps, so it can't actually capture each 1/100 second on the XNOTE STOPWATCH counter. I don't see that as a problem, though, because the 100ths go by so blazingly fast that it won't be noticeable. In any event, the actual elapsed time of the test will be shown accurately, as will the snap time results. I plan to simply place my monitor next to the prototype while using my camera, so that the live video will show the counter.

[TheRickoff]

@TheRickoff I wanted to use reed switches to trigger the XNOTE STOPWATCH software counter, but Radio Shack is the only electronics store nearby and they didn't have any, so I settled for 2 mini lever switches while waiting to receive a pair of reed switches that I ordered from Spark Fun Electronics. The lever switches work pretty good, but of course they can induce a small amount of drag on the rotor briefly at each of 8 trigger points, which I would prefer to avoid.