D
Dogboy
When I was a child one of my favourite toys was a home made contraption
which I dubbed "Plane on a pole". All it consisted of was a power source
running to one of those slot car racing controllers and then along
the ground to a wooden base with a pole attached to it.
The electricity ran up the pole had a bearing at the top and a little
arm which could spin around horizontally, from the arm ran a few meters
of wire which was attached to a model plane with an electric motor and
propeller.
The "pilot" would control the speed of the electric motor, allowing the
plane to take off, land and do a variety of (up and down) tricks around
the pole. The plane didnt actually fly as such, but the centrifugal
force of spinning lifted it up into the air. (I learnt this one day when
the plane got too close to a wall and snapped off its wings but still
"flew" perfectly well).
When I was young the power source consisted of either a smaller 6 volt
lead acid battery or later on a car battery (which blew up a number of
small electric motors, but they were cheap from the model shop anyway).
Charging and finding new batteries was always the main problem and I
have recently thought about re-creating this toy to run purely on solar
panels.
Since I have only a passing knowledge of electronics I have a few
questions that need to be answered before I start this project.
My main concern is that the "slot car controller" will damage the panels
I use to power the plane. They are the type that has a long coil of
wire (which acts as resistance I think) with a slider that goes up and
down the coil depending on how hard you press. Should I worry about that?
I dont remember much about the battery powering the whole setup except
it was lead acid and 6 volts. All dimensions (width x height x length)
were about half that of your standard car battery, later on we did use a
standard car battery but it blew a lot of motors until I found one that
could handle it.
I would like solar panels that produce electricity similar to the 6 volt
battery but a little more is fine, less wouldnt be desirable though.
Any idea on how to accrue enough solar panels to produce that sort of
output on the cheap? I see electronics stores sell "educational" solar
kits with a cheap looking panel and a electric motor, I currently have
one to play with. The panels themselves look pretty low quality but
they can be easily wired up and I am thinking maybe 2-6 properly setup
might be enough to get the output I need. Im going to borrow some gear
to see how much output they actually do produce and do some more
research on that bit.
Failing that where else can I look for suitable panels? The main points
to remember is that I am only powering a small toy electric motor and
I want keep costs low.
On a scale of one to ten my electronics knowledge is probably about four
so with that in mind are there any pitfalls or traps I should watch out for?
If you have managed to make it to the end of this post, congradulations
and thanks for your help.
which I dubbed "Plane on a pole". All it consisted of was a power source
running to one of those slot car racing controllers and then along
the ground to a wooden base with a pole attached to it.
The electricity ran up the pole had a bearing at the top and a little
arm which could spin around horizontally, from the arm ran a few meters
of wire which was attached to a model plane with an electric motor and
propeller.
The "pilot" would control the speed of the electric motor, allowing the
plane to take off, land and do a variety of (up and down) tricks around
the pole. The plane didnt actually fly as such, but the centrifugal
force of spinning lifted it up into the air. (I learnt this one day when
the plane got too close to a wall and snapped off its wings but still
"flew" perfectly well).
When I was young the power source consisted of either a smaller 6 volt
lead acid battery or later on a car battery (which blew up a number of
small electric motors, but they were cheap from the model shop anyway).
Charging and finding new batteries was always the main problem and I
have recently thought about re-creating this toy to run purely on solar
panels.
Since I have only a passing knowledge of electronics I have a few
questions that need to be answered before I start this project.
My main concern is that the "slot car controller" will damage the panels
I use to power the plane. They are the type that has a long coil of
wire (which acts as resistance I think) with a slider that goes up and
down the coil depending on how hard you press. Should I worry about that?
I dont remember much about the battery powering the whole setup except
it was lead acid and 6 volts. All dimensions (width x height x length)
were about half that of your standard car battery, later on we did use a
standard car battery but it blew a lot of motors until I found one that
could handle it.
I would like solar panels that produce electricity similar to the 6 volt
battery but a little more is fine, less wouldnt be desirable though.
Any idea on how to accrue enough solar panels to produce that sort of
output on the cheap? I see electronics stores sell "educational" solar
kits with a cheap looking panel and a electric motor, I currently have
one to play with. The panels themselves look pretty low quality but
they can be easily wired up and I am thinking maybe 2-6 properly setup
might be enough to get the output I need. Im going to borrow some gear
to see how much output they actually do produce and do some more
research on that bit.
Failing that where else can I look for suitable panels? The main points
to remember is that I am only powering a small toy electric motor and
I want keep costs low.
On a scale of one to ten my electronics knowledge is probably about four
so with that in mind are there any pitfalls or traps I should watch out for?
If you have managed to make it to the end of this post, congradulations
and thanks for your help.
