Steam-powered iPod charger
Talk about the many ways to charge your iPod. Forget wall outlets, you computer, or car chargers. Go back to the Industrial Age with some good old steam power. Yup, that’s a chock-full of James Watt goodness in this nifty contraption. And look, it has a Lego dude posing on the rig! Lego dude kinda looks like The Stig too. (Sorry, Top Gear reference.)
Inventor Thomas, shares:
Hi, thought you might get a kick out of my latest project. I coupled a Lego Technic Motor to a Jensen #75 steam engine to make a crude generator. From there I built a 5V regulator circuit and soldered in a female USB connection to power any USB device. Since I wanted to use it to charge my iPod, I put in a diode and a .5 amp fuse to provide some circuit protection. Attached are some pictures of it and here are some links to videos of it in action. Unfortunately you can’t see the charge light on the ipod, But as you can hear, the iPod really loads the engine. I was somewhat surprise it could hack it.
For a video of the project, check out the YouTube video after the cut.
