It seems fair to say that hamsters are a somewhat divisive pet, between their fluffiness, high-strung nature, short lifespan and incessant squeaking that sounds like some electronic device is trying to tell you something. With that in mind, maybe that having these fuzzy little critter take up some of the daily slack will help endear them to more people. Something like helping to charge mobile devices by converting their frantic exercise wheel time into electrical power. Cue [Flamethrower]’s hamster wheel-powered generator.
Due to the irregular pacing of the hamster on its wheel it makes sense to treat it as an energy harvesting problem, for which the common CJMCU-2557 module – featuring the TI BQ25770 – is a pretty good option. It covers a voltage input from 0.1 – 5.1 V after a cold start minimum of 0.6 V, with a maximum current of 0.1 A.
The modules come with a super capacitor to store collected energy, but you can further charge a connected battery, for which [Flamethrower] used salvaged 18650 Li-ion cells. After letting the hamster do its thing for a night in the – admittedly far too small wheel – there’s enough power in the cell to at least start charging a smartphone, though sadly it’s not mentioned how much power was harvested.
Hopefully the hamster in question will be overclocked with a larger wheel, along with detailed measurements of how many hamsters it takes to charge the average phone.
I wonder if the added drag on the wheel will result in a particularly ripped hamster? It’s now running up a (simulated) perpetual gradient.
As long as he stays in his wheel, you incur no roaming charges
No, no, no… This has got to be animal cruelty or enslavement?
Go home pita, mankind has ethically harnessed animal power for thousands of years
Pita? Like the flat bread?
well you better not look over here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnspit_dog
For real
Next, scale it up to this size: https://hackaday.com/2014/09/19/finally-a-hamster-wheel-for-the-rest-of-us/
Maybe a cat wheel would generate useful power?
The word “useful” should never appear anywhere near the word “cat”, at least with respect to the domesticated indoor housecat. Having once owned 5 at the same time, their usefulness was limited to (1) testing cleaning products, (2) testing wire coverings, and (3) testing patience. A cat would only run on a wheel if it believed that damage to something/someone would be the outcome.
Lol I mean they are quite lazy
I predicted years ago, that Hamster Power would take over the world! People laughed… soon they won’t laugh…
Today, a phone
Tomorrow, a house
Next week, a city
Next month, a country
And then soon… THE WORLD!!!
Is that you, Snowball?
if you are still up to slaving pets, please at least buy a bigger wheel… the one used in the video is for a dwarf hamster at best
You’re right: we should let unemployed people work for their benefits – payment per KWh
Every gym should generators attached to each machine and members should ranked (paid) by the number of watt hours the produce.
We actually did a project like that years ago here
I’ve heard that wild mice will naturally run in wheels should they come across one – Who will be the first to set up hundreds of these in the backyard, sprinkle some cheese around, and get ready to cancel the utility bill?
That hamster is living 25 years in the past, and as someone who takes care of dwarf hamsters, it’s hard to look at this one. The cage is outdated pet store-grade habitrap, there’s not enough bedding to burrow (8″ minimum is the modern standard for a dwarf), it’s got those stupid ramps/stairs going up way too high, and the wheel is an ancient design that’s far undersized. Note how the hamster’s back is arched — not good.
That said, in a proper, modern enclosure, with a correctly sized wheel with nice ball bearings, I’m sure you could get that thing wired up to a motor without imparting much noticeable friction for the tiny little hamster. They really do love to run, mine goes a few miles in a 24hr window.
Tl;dr: animal cruelty. Not what I want to see on HaD.
We just need to convince the US government of the urgency of addressing the Hamster Gap with China.
Am I the only one who is missing evidence that the battery was actually empty and got actually charged by the hamster enough to add any useful charge to the phone?
If you account for all the losses, especially in the final step-up converter to supply the USB charging plug, I seriously doubt that the hamster contributed to any charging of the mobile handset.
The charge probably originated from the (previously charged) battery cell.
I never saw any measurements. I don’t think the motor turns fast enough to generate the 0.6V that the energy harvester requires to start. A small stepper motor would have made a better generator. They can produce quite a bit of voltage when turned by hand.
So the hamster converts food energy into electricity. Sounds like a pretty convoluted way to do things.
Like putting four people in a modern car to transport them uses less energy than having them burn food calories to go the same distance.
I wonder if simply burning the food to run an engine would be more efficient?
Or is the real conversion actually turning hamster food energy into yourube views?
You should try using electric eels:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguille_%C3%A9lectrique