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Tiny wood cook stove that charges cell phones


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Any rocket stove or source of heat is a potential candidate of generating power from a thermogenerator. a thermogenerator in reverse is the same thing that chills many portable 12 v coolers and fridges. applying electricity to it it will get cold on one side and hot on the other.

I had an Idea to mount a few thermo panels in the bottom burn box of the toy's propane furnace; pointing downward. thus the furnace when on would recover a residual of energy back to the battery. after thinking harder about it i think i will just coat my Ammo Can stove with them and install the stove. I was thinking of putting a nice tile on the wheel well and mounting the stove there then making a custom plenum for the sliding window.

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here is a link to the cheapest prebuilt fire charger.

http://tegpower.com/pro8.htm

personally I think it would be way more fun to construct my own from the high heat TEG panels, some old computer heat sinks; the old dielectric thermal paste I have from my A+ IT days and run them into my solar charge controller. I wonder if I would have to diode them or if the controller does that for me...

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interesting... 5.x volts for $130. not a bad little gadget to get a phone going.

the one on TEG power will do Marine batteries but costs $309 and outputs 15 volts.

Now I know exactly how they are doing this; one high temp panel kicks out 5 volts. three in series with small cooling fan and you have the 12 volt charger. I wonder how much parasitic loss there is on that computer fan.

My favorite demo of one of these was a piece of ice generating power inside a house as it melted. I'd like six of them two banks of 3 in series then those assemblies in parallel. That would make a formidable plate at 13 x 10 inches but would kick some serious amps.

I would mount it right on the bottom of the ammo can stove cool side facing down against the wheel well (which will be very cold...maybe would add heat sink and fan but probably wouldn't need it.

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i would simply set it on top of my ammo can stove plate. warm air rises; the fan acts as a blower pushing heat horizontally out.

not sure its meant to be a turbo for the fire...

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  • 3 weeks later...

that one would only be good for outdoor use.. I am building my own and will post the instructable as soon as its completed. Total parts cost for mine was $205 (not including the ammo can stove). Mine should be kicking 40 volts at 1 amp, I will then be using a Boost Buck to convert that into 14-15 volts and more amps than just 1 (not sure what's going to happen). The device should in theory charge my battery (1 marine grade deep cycle) almost identically or as good as my harbor freight solar kit.

I am praying all materials get here before Nov 15. I plan on using it on my hunting trips all off grid in deep north michigan. It is 25 degrees at this posting at the southern border of michigan...

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Here is some serious math for Peliter junctions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_ I have one running right now on my wood stove my experience so far with them in a cooling/heating (solid state fridge) application has not been stellar yes they work but are a bit of energy hog. They need fans to be effective and they can over heat as in on a wood stove. The concept is sound but I’m wondering how many it would it take for them to be viable? Would a wood stove look like a wort hog?

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Lol, that's anything but serious. There is a huge difference between TEC and TEG modules and the 10 I ordered are 30 x 30 mm each and I will mount 8 of them underneath two aluminum block GPU processor coolers that will be cooled by a PC radiator filled with automotive antifreeze. The pump is a processor pump (6 volt 600ma) and the 4 x 4 inch case fan will also draw 6 volt 600 ma. Each will get a dedicated TEG that runs 5 - 6 volt at 1 amp. The other 6 TEGs will be wired in series. 30 - 36 volt at 1 amp going into the boost buck. Stepping down to 14 I should get 2-3 amps. This is the same charging capacity as my hf panels into my mppt controller.. We will see. With the huge delta of 25 f outside and a stove surface 200-300 Celsius on the stovetop I should be around 7 to 7.5 volts and maybe up to 4 amps. Much will depend on how cold it is outside. In Michigan I'm not too worried...

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Man, if you are going up to the UP in

that one would only be good for outdoor use.. I am building my own and will post the instructable as soon as its completed. Total parts cost for mine was $205 (not including the ammo can stove). Mine should be kicking 40 volts at 1 amp, I will then be using a Boost Buck to convert that into 14-15 volts and more amps than just 1 (not sure what's going to happen). The device should in theory charge my battery (1 marine grade deep cycle) almost identically or as good as my harbor freight solar kit.

I am praying all materials get here before Nov 15. I plan on using it on my hunting trips all off grid in deep north michigan. It is 25 degrees at this posting at the southern border of michigan...

Man, if you are going up to the UP, wouldn't you need a little more that that to keep warm? I grew up in the lower and I know what it's like up there after October. You better insulate that Sunrader while yer at it. :cold:

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No, we only go up to traverse interlochen area at most but it won't matter, we'll be COLD. I insulated it when I did tongue n groove siding but the windows are the killers. Need long drapes, learned to wall off the cab also. The ammo can stove gets Really hot, I plan on installing the remaining Teg or two to making a blower out of one more case fan. Will be fun to see how this all goes and report back or maybe report char black... Lol

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No, we only go up to traverse interlochen area at most but it won't matter, we'll be COLD. I insulated it when I did tongue n groove siding but the windows are the killers. Need long drapes, learned to wall off the cab also. The ammo can stove gets Really hot, I plan on installing the remaining Teg or two to making a blower out of one more case fan. Will be fun to see how this all goes and report back or maybe report char black... Lol

It used to be really nice up there, but now I hear that Traverse is huge. It's been a long, long time since I've been back to Michigan (almost 14 years), so I have no idea how things are there anymore, only what I hear from my friends.

I used to spend time up around Lewiston in the summers. Used to own a piece of land just outside of a small town named Meredith, about 12 miles south of Houghton Lake. Always meant to build the cottage there, but events conspired to take me away from home.

For insulating the windows, I would think about getting some of that -foil backed, bubble wrap stuff from the Home Despot. You could cut it to the size of the window and use velcro around the frame of the window to attach it. I got the idea from somewhere else on this site, and it sounded like a winner.

Bubble wrap is a very underrated insulator. Might be worth experimenting with.

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your friends obviously don't seem to be aware that Michigan population has declined significantly from the recession.

its on a comeback but still is not even close to the pre 1991 levels. One of the worst economic states in the union, they pretty much were almost at the point of stopping people at gun point from leaving. Homes in Michigan are practically free in some places and hunting land can often be had for less than the cost of a car.

Just not true on Huge. I got married there in 2002; half of the places we used to enjoy are boarded up. Its a ghost town compared to its hay day (1991)

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&idim=place:2680340&dl=en&hl=en&q=traverse+city+population+trends

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Oh I know, out here we call ourselves the Michigan Diaspora. You can't go anywhere in this country without seemingly tripping over someone who has left the state. The economy there is simply too erratic for most people to make a good life for themselves.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have a small wood stove in my Toyota Odyssey (use it as my sole source of heat in Alaska year round). I also sell these stoves (called a Kimberly wood stove). I have info and videos on my website below

www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

The inventor of the Kimberly just finished 2 thermoelectric generators (one sit-on-stove one and one clip on water cooled one, that put out 20 watts & 50 watts respectively).

Timmy

post-6327-0-69769800-1340234231_thumb.jp

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I am currently building a water cooled TEG also that houses an out door (mounted outside the vehicle) radiator for liquid cooling.

My setup costs were fairly high with the TEG modules costing the lions share of the prototypes costs.

The cost to build a stove top enclosed air cooled unit are VERY high due to the nature of Bismuth Telluride wafer chips only producing significant electricity with a fairly large temperature Delta. The more efficient the TEG modules the higher their cost also. Pushing 20 watts out of a stove top air cooled unit is NOT easy.

I am curious, could you further comment on the Kimberly inventors generator units?; are they for sale or just prototypes... could he compare costs?

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  • 5 weeks later...

wow thats pretty pricey for them. I'm in the assembly process right now after completing testing of the closed antifreeze powered cooling block system.

The only thing left for me to decide is whether to do a permanent mount to my stove or try a set on top approach. The TEG modules actually recommend a bolted torque setting to squeeze the TEGs against the hot surface.

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no because I haven't installed it yet. I am working on a removable window plenum that fits in the side window to vent the flue. It will also have the TEG radiator mounted to the plenum.. I don'ty anticipate ever needing this device unless I am in deer camp or extreme boon dock/ survivalist mode but if it works well and is easy maybe I will consider permanant mount. I'm just not keen to cut into the roof of the sunrader any time soon. stoves may be purchased where I got mine at

http://ammocanstove.com/stoves--gear.html

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