The Lifter needs a device associated with it to produce electricity. A PM generator can be attached to the Lifters output or as the videos here show, it can rotate a wheel that has a metal rim. The first video shows a small metal trash can lid being driven by the Lifter. Resting above the rim of the lid is a Magnic Light. As the rim passes the light it causes eddy currents to develop in the metal of the rim which causes the magnets in the light housing to rotate. This produces an electric current in the winding around the magnets producing enough power to light the LEDs. So that I could get a fairly fast rpm going I reduced the number of stages in the pulley system and also reduced the weight in the Carriage. The drop time of the Carriage increased to more than 1 ft. per minute. You can see that it really puts out a bright light at this speed.

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I wanted to get the drop time of the Carriage back to about 1 ft. per minute, so I added back in the final stage of the pulley system. This caused a loss of torque on the output so I added in additional weight to the Carriage. These changes got me very close to what I was looking for, but it was still a little to fast. I took a larger trash can lid and attached a thin strip of aluminum to the outer rim. This gave some additional weight to the lid and a better metal rim for eddy currents. My lid is fairly round, but it could be better, as I get some noticeable wobble and flicker from the light, but it still produced a really bright light.

These contact free dynamos are fairly new. They use some of the newer magnets available. Several companies have copied the technology and there are a few on the market. Larger versions should be able to power not only lights, but also charge small portable devices. Since they affect the rotation of the output wheel so little, one could put many of these around one or more spinning rims. It would be great to be able to separate the lights from the mechanics and bring the lights inside to a dwelling.

Update: A better test showing the effect of the Magnic Light on a spinning rim can be seen here Lifter Safety. The little light does have a measurable effect on a dropping carriage.