steam powered cell phone charger

Thread Starter

Jibaro

Joined Dec 25, 2015
10
I just took delivery on a "Jitterbug" USB line filter.

I have a breadboard, a five volt voltage regulator, an ammeter, a voltage meter, wires, and solder.

Is it safe to assume I only need to supply the Jitterbug with a positive and negative feed in order to charge a battery?

Also got a great old compressor that you can hardly hear. The tank is made from a section of ten inch steel pipe that is half an inch thick! They were kind enough to throw in a pressure cooker with a nipple sticking out of the lid. It runs a much bigger engine just fine, so it can serve as a boiler for the Stuart 10H no problem.
 

Thread Starter

Jibaro

Joined Dec 25, 2015
10
I started a thread last Christmas, which see.

Turns out there is nothing new under the sun; the British used a steam powered battery charger called the "Firefly" to charge their field radio batteries. The engine portion was made by the same folks who made my small engine.

They come up on eBay now and then and generally fetch 1,00 pounds or so.
Thanks for showing some interest- got some good ideas from my original post.

Will try and post some pictures.
 

Thread Starter

Jibaro

Joined Dec 25, 2015
10
Charging a cell phone with steam makes sense?
No, it doesn't really, but that's not the point. It is truly a thing of beauty, at least to me.
I hooked it up to a pressure cooker today on my kitchen stove and it worked beautifully. It maxed out at 12 volts or so with no load, which translates to 5300rpm. At five volts, it was not breaking a sweat.

I hope to finish up the wiring soon. Between the voltage regulatorr and the Jitterbug, I'm hoping the current is clean enough to be accepted by the cell phone.
 
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