PLEASE NOTE: If you had an account with the previous forum, it has been ported to the new Genetry website!
You will need to reset the password to access the new forum. Click Log In → Forgot Password → enter your username or forum email address → click Email Reset Link.
Anybody have any experience with a Wimshurst machine? Radial dirod? Bonetti?
These electrostatic generators appear to produce a lot of power with little input. Free energy? Let's just say Cheap energy. Hopefully. In my quest to find a way to power my off grid system when the solar is in short supply (wintertime short days, usually cloudy and long nights), I'm now looking at a wimshurst machine. Many videos of them on youtube. Most of those folks are just thrilled to get a spark. To me the spark is just wasting power. I want to charge batteries. Turn it with a low power motor, step down the very high voltage and get a usable current out.
At least a couple of the folks experimenting with them seem to be trying to get something usefull out of them, and that's what I'm looking at. One guy appears to have been successful in stepping down the voltage and getting some usefull current out.
Looks promising. Anyway, would love to hear of some real world experience, as the you-tubers are never accessable directly.