[modeleng] Re: Electric Motors

You can sometimes find car dynamos, but even these are not suitable for
traction use.
Unless very lightly loaded, they burn out far too quickly to be viable.

A reasonable dynamo used to produce some 50 amps PEAK at 12 volts, or 600
watts, which = 3/4 hp.
Normal running gave some 25 to 30 amps, or 3/8 hp.
When used as a motor, they will give about 50% to 75% of that.
(All that is from memory of the Lucas C10, I think it was. Might not be
quite right, but probably close enough.)

It really needs motor designed specifically for traction purposes.
Invalid cars, golf carts, and similar vehicles, as have been mentioned.

Battery lawnmowers also have decent motors in them.

The ones I am watching, is the motors used in some of the re-chargeable
tools.
With the range now including mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers etc, and the
drills increasing in power, the motors used are quite powerful. As they are
scrapped, perhaps due to dead batteries, or general mechanical faults, the
remnants might be worth a close look to see what use they can be put to.

alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

www.alanstepney.info
Model Engineering, Steam Engine, and Railway technical pages.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "georgecoles" <georgecoles@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 7:26 AM
Subject: [modeleng] Electric Motors


Hi
Does anyone know if a car alternator can be modified to a motor.
I'm looking for something cheap for a small 10.25 inch gauge loco (if you
can have such a thing), and I thought of using an old car dynamo, but
alternators are the standard fitting these days, so easier to get hold of!
Al,  how about that for a new topic?

Regards
George Coles

MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST.

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, 
modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Other related posts: