Gravity Light - Making and Enhancements (version 1)

How to make a gravity light/gravity generator that powers an LED using the force of gravity with two falling masses turning a generator. Now with an 8 minute run time for a 2 1/2 foot / 0.75 meter drop. Raising it to the ceiling would give 15 minutes. The enhancements in this video include a circuit with rectifier diodes, capacitor and resistor that increase the LED output, along with more LEDs.

See also:

Gravity Light - a Homemade/DIY one (version 1)

Gravity Light (v2) Homemade/DIY

How to Make/Build a Van de Graaff Generator Part 1 (Homemade/DIY)

For the webpage I mentioned with calculations, go here:

Follow behind-the-scenes on:

Music used:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
ISRC: USUAN1100873

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
ISRC: USUAN1100772

[RimstarOrg]

Here's how I made my Gravity Light, plus the enhancements that increased the run time from 2 minutes to 8 minutes. Plus, lots of construction tips. Thinking about it, the drop distance is only 2 1/2 feet/0.75 meters. If all I did was raise it to the ceiling, the run time would be 15 minutes! Enjoy!

[lordofthebeltsthereturnoft]

Wow you went to great lengths for such a thing. You certainly are a cool youtuber in the tech section. You explain things well and clearly have a good understanding of things. I have thought of things many times and quite a few times ended up stumbling onto your channel. Certainly cool ideas.

[MongrelShark]

Well done. This has come a long way in one week. 2 min up to 8 min with more brightness is awesome :D
I'm uploading a video about cordless drill motors as I type.

[makerj]

Very cool invention and some very nice improvements!  Thank you for posting!

[billporter]

I love what you have done here. I replicated it and found that using a rubber tubing like for a Slingshot is a great nonslip belt.

[USWaterRockets]

Good work on the rectifier circuit. One question: is the shaft on the microwave motor made from plastic? That seems like it will eventually break from the weight. Another thing to consider would be to use a water filled inner tube for the belt. You need to put the water in under pressure to expand/lengthen the tube. Water doesn't compress so it will keep the tube from crushing, but it will conform to the pulleys better and have more contact area.

[deathkeys]

Amazing!  just amazing, I have no words for this idea and your work. I really enjoy this!

[AzCowboyOne]

Since you added the bridge rectifier, consider using an escapement mechanism
to considerably adding to the time the mass will fall.

[meditationregeneration]

Great work done🎉
Can we lift the same weight by providing power to the same weight???

[bakupcpu]

Awesome invention my friend :) I love it! Thanks for sharing!

[chedderburg]

This is awesome, just one question why didn't you leave the bike frame intact and attach the weight to the peddles Axel, than you could use the gears and there switches and brakes to adjust the energy output?

[Wavefront]

Very nice improvements and runtime.  Did you measure the output?

[Pile_of_carbon]

Cool idea with using an electric motor as a generator. I really hadn't thought about that. Could that work with any electric motor or are there special properties that I should look for?

[haungoTube]

Man, I LOVE this stuff..  Thank You & Congratulations!  

[eXtremeDR]

What's your next step? Low friction generator or make use of the gyroscopic-effect on the weight side? 
Very inspiring - thanks for sharing! ^^  

[power-max]

To avoid having the thing lean over, reducing efficiency, have supporting poles so that the wheel is between them, eliminating the need for the copper pipe and plastic. Then more weight can be added! Also, since the motor has resistance when unloaded, it is very lossy. It would make sense to use a separate gear system that is less lossy (larger gears, fewer of them) and a generator/motor that has good bearings. If possible, have the voltage output be high and have 4 Cree power LEDs like XPG's (more efficient) connected the in a full wave bridge configuration, with the "output" of this bridge shorted. Alternatively, you could just have any even number of LEDs connected so that a few are in series in one direction, and a few in the reverse direction. This eliminates the need for lossy diodes that, in that configuration, are only god for >12V stuff, since it will drop almost 2V, wasting about (~2V x ~0.02A = ) ~1W of power! Good luck on continuing progress on it!  

[bazza]

an interesting experiment would be a planetary roller screw that is locked against rotation with a weight on it and using the downward force to turn the threaded shaft
and power the generator 

[narayanbandodker]

Since its been 8y, maybe you can do an update with some improvements:
- currently the tension of the pulley belt is handled by the motor and bearing. Maybe this can be offloaded by moving the motor elsewehere
- You can use a BLDC motor with some step-up gears to spin the motor fast, then you get 3 phase AC
- use dc-dc smps to transform the power from the motor to any voltage, and before, store the rectified 3 phases in a capacitor bank. The output can be stored in a battery

[waswestkan]

Would be fun to set up camp next to an abandoned unplugged oil well. About 3500 feet deep around here. Should give  long run time, but winding it back up might take awhile :(  This reminds me that I still have to experiment with a wind belt.

[Dadoo]

You could add a pulley system to lift the weight back to the top whilst sitting for a mild physical workout!