USB voltage / Amp tester not working on Hand Generator?

[tomadom]

I have a few of those USB voltage / Amp testers used to test output power of various usb devices.
They all work fine but I'm having an issue with my hand cranked generator. Originally they all worked on this device, but recently none of them work at all. They don't even light up.

The USB testers work on everything else, but on the hand cranked generator the display on these devices doesn't show any output at all (when they did before). As mentioned, the screens on these testers don't light up now.

So I'm assuming something has gone wrong inside the hand generator to stop this from happening. If I connect the hand cranked generator up to my phone and use a Amp Meter app, I can see the output from the generator there, but not on the USB testers.

Any clues as to why this is? All the testers I have are rated up to 28 volts and I'm only testing a maximum of 6 volts.

Thanks

 

[Bluejets]

Crank harder...???

 

[tomadom]

Crank harder...???

Haha! Well, that's always a possibility, but what I'm saying is this worked before but I can't get any output for the USB tester to work now. I thought I may have burned something out in the generator.

 

[Harald Kapp]

I thought I may have burned something out in the generator.

Then how come this works?

If I connect the hand cranked generator up to my phone and use a Amp Meter app, I can see the output from the generator there,

One possibility I can think of is that the output of the generator is not smooth enough to power the USB tester (the tester may be sensible to ripple). Try an additional smoothing capacitor (e.g. 1000µF) across the USB '+' and '-' connection (power, not data!).

Your generator may have such a capcitor inside which may have broken lose or may have lost capacity due to ageing.

 

[73's de Edd]

Can you disassemble for inspection and confirm exactly what is being inside.
Like Sir Harald . . . . I HIGHLY suspicion there to be a rechargeable battery or a SUPER capacitor inside
for creating a more uniform power output. The battery family could have deteriorated due to atrophy, while
a SUPER E cap is VERY less likely.

 

[tomadom]

I think you both make a good point and I believe that is where this is heading. I will try to open this up as I truly believe an internal capacitor could have something to do with this.
Thanks for the feedback on this, It's been very helpful!

 

[Harald Kapp]

I will try to open this up as I truly believe an internal capacitor could have something to do with this.

You could try an added external capacitor first, before opening the charger.