bigclive
patreon
Solar turntables are great
🕑 Added 2025-09-11 02:12:29 +0000 UTCThese things aren't just really nice to have for decorative purposes, but they have very interesting circuitry too. Literally a classic multivibrator with inductive coils.
It also turns out that you can change the speed by swapping gears, and I think the little strip on the main output gear might be for the rotating pendulum effect that makes it reverse direction at the end of each full revolution by simply hitting a pin.
I really should explore the little motor deeper with an oscilloscope.
Comments
Big Clive
Interesting. My old website is very lean, so could be suitable for a barebones server.
Paul Reid
Off-topic: is this something you would use/do? Google "Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape" on HackADay. Reminds me of my first public webserver, a cast-off 386SX, which delivered HTML a lot better than it rendered images.
Big Clive
The unit needs light and the solar panels out out very little current, so the LEDs would not be visible. If you used an external power source it could work though.
Major Holdups
What are the chances of integrating some led's into the main unit or will it be too much drain on the panels ?
