Thanks, I am finding this very interesting and I am actually starting to understand how it works. I also think the multimeter I am using is no good for this as it’s minimum AC setting is 200v. I will rewind my coil smaller and add 2 magnets so only 1 is acting on the coil at a time and see what happens. Thanks again.

Glad to hear you are making progress. Really understanding does at least three things for you. First, it lets you add or remove things for a reason, not because of a guess or because someone told you, or because you did it at random and it worked. You will be able to get rid of unnecessary things and

The DMM should be OK. You won’t have high precision but on a 200V range you should see either millivolts (thousandths) for single digit voltages (1.001-9.999) with hundredths for two digits (10.00-99.99), and then tenths (100.0-999.9), or in the worst case hundredths of a volt for single digit voltages (0.01)-(9.99). and tenths for two digit (10.0-99.9), and integers above that for a very bad meter.

By the way, you do realize that you have your magnets glued to a very nice motor‘s rotor. It’s a kind of motor called an outrunner because the rotor is the outside part. There should be three wires coming from the motor, you might be surprised what you find when you put the meter on any two of them…

 

Many Instructables and You Tube videos are fakes because the "generator" might be hiding a battery that does the generating.

 

I think you've already heard the most important facts: The wire must be insulated and the magnet must pass as close as possible to the wire loops. I'll just add a little more.

The challenge to light an LED is to generate enough EMF in the wire to exceed the forward voltage of the LED. It'll make a little light with very low current, less than 1mA. It won't be bright as a flashlight but you'll easily see it. BUT, you need roughly 3V to see any light at all, depending on the color of the LED. The EMF you generate per loop depends on the magnetic field strength, how quickly it passes, and how close to the wires it gets. In my experience, your coil appears more suitable to powering a low voltage (maybe less than 0.5V), "high" current load.

You don't need wire that thick to handle the tiny current of lighting an LED. What you need it MANY more loops of thinner wire to get the voltage up over the threshold.

Finally, you need to pay attention to the magnets' polarity. You have two opposed magnets passing the wires at the same time and it's crucial they act together rather than fighting each other.

 

I think you've already heard the most important facts: The wire must be insulated and the magnet must pass as close as possible to the wire loops. I'll just add a little more.

The challenge to light an LED is to generate enough EMF in the wire to exceed the forward voltage of the LED. It'll make a little light with very low current, less than 1mA. It won't be bright as a flashlight but you'll easily see it. BUT, you need roughly 3V to see any light at all, depending on the color of the LED. The EMF you generate per loop depends on the magnetic field strength, how quickly it passes, and how close to the wires it gets. In my experience, your coil appears more suitable to powering a low voltage (maybe less than 0.5V), "high" current load.

You don't need wire that thick to handle the tiny current of lighting an LED. What you need it MANY more loops of thinner wire to get the voltage up over the threshold.

Finally, you need to pay attention to the magnets' polarity. You have two opposed magnets passing the wires at the same time and it's crucial they act together rather than fighting each other.

Thank you for your comment. I appreciate all the advice I can get.