keller36

The bulb won't light without the transformer either. My coils are a fair amount of thick wire (from another high voltage transformer, the coils where the low voltage enters) and the magnets I used are from the magnetrons out of two old microwave ovens (the strongest magnets I've ever handled). There's about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch between the magnets and coils when they are closest together - but, my alternator has no iron cores on the coils - which I don't know if that makes a difference, or not.

Hi, I'm Kyle, Here is my question; I have built a small alternator (as a hobby science project) which can generate enough electricity to cause pain when in contact with the terminals, yet not even a 1.5 volt flashlight bulb will light when connected. The alternator has four magnets on the rotor (alternating and placed at 90 degrees apart from each other) and four coils on the stator which at every 1/4 of a turn all four coils and magnets are lined up. I am only powering it with a power drill for now before connecting it to my 5hp engine. I also placed a 120v to 2000v microwave high voltage transformer on it, which leads me to believe that maybe there's just not enough amps to light the bulb, but I don't really know for sure. Thanks in advance for any answers.