Nikola Tesla: How To Generate Electricity Out Of Thin Air (View, Download, and Keep)

Dex: Thanks for the link. I remember this same schematic in "Popular Electronics" many years ago.

I knew of this concept from 35 years ago, but don't count on it to charge your phone or run anything to be of any practical use.

The video is edited to show an immediate reaction of the phone but in reality you have to wait several minutes until the capacitors "charge up". The phone will suck the energy in storage in a few seconds, and the cycle will continue. The 2.04 DC volts output has barely any amps (current). Also, you have to be relative close to a transmit tower to get those 2 volts.

We built one of this in high school (1974), to prove that an Amateur Radio broadcast (typically over 100 watts) has enough power (current) to be detected and stored from the airways. A good am radio station will output up to 500 KW, but in order to capture the most power you have to tune the antenna into the exact frequency and be close to it. I am sure that the FCC has a rule to prohibit this as you will drain the output from the station rendering it useless.

Tesla wanted to transmit electricity wireless from one tower to the other using a variation of his Tesla Coil but his ideas were too advanced for the era. Tesla Coils are being re-invented today to be used in similar applications. Since copper is so expensive now, the idea of transmitting current with no wires has become a viable enterprise.

My 2 cents on this.

Tony

Interesting, Tony...it looks like the man that was hounded to death by the progenitors of power for dollars might have to grudgingly declare him their "savior" yet. Thanks for "plugging" that information into ths seed. 'DeX'

Most people think that Tesla was hounded by detractors. Maybe so but it was Tesla's idea to pursue alternating current. Today's gadgets and appliances mostly operate on direct current but because of transmission cost of DC we use AC to transmit power. Some will decry this bit of information because they think if you plug it in the outlet you are using AC. Actually, most AC is changed over to DC before it provides any work.

If the electrical growth in the US had continued as DC there would have been a more decentralized ownership of energy in this country. There was a time when many of our grandparents had what is called a Delco system. A small gas engine drove a generator which charged batteries which powered our tools, lights and appliances. Because of the cost of sending DC long distances, AC came into being. This allowed conglomerates and government (TVA) to monopolize the production of energy across the land.

We are now entering a period where some are beginning to understand the whole system has been a waste and has led to degeneration of our ecosphere. Now an individual can create electrical energy directly from the ultimate source (sun) and reduce both transmission losses and poisonous emissions to zilch. The changeover will be difficult and expensive but in the end we will have a better place to live.

This allowed conglomerates and government (TVA) to monopolize the production of energy across the land.

It also allowed towns to have power decades earlier, without having to build their own power plants.

reduce both transmission losses and poisonous emissions to zilch.

Unless you count the cost to produce your solar system.

Rhep, local electric systems were in many towns and cities. There are a few cities that still own their systems. The availability of grid electric overshadowed these generators. Consolidation of services, whether it be utilities, finance, schools, trash, sewage, water supply has not been entirely beneficial. BUT that is food for another article.

The cost of a solar system is inversely proportional to the education, understanding and willingness to participate of the individuals who install it. If you don't understand it, don't want to maintain it, don't want to receive the benefit of self sufficiency then don't install solar, it will probably be too expensive for you.

I am aware, my dad worked in a town that had a power/water plant that would fit in most farm sheds.

I also happened to grow up in a town that would have needed one where it not for AC, even though I we lived about 20 miles from the nearest power plant.

All of the farmers in my area would either need their own power supply or have a small plant to share between them every few miles.

DC-only might work in cities, but it wouldn't work in rural Nebraska. ;)

The cost of a solar system is inversely proportional to the education, understanding and willingness to participate of the individuals who install it. If you don't understand it, don't want to maintain it, don't want to receive the benefit of self sufficiency then don't install solar, it will probably be too expensive for you.

My price was for a self-installed system.

There is an interesting shift in thought around power transmission and losses.

Power Transmission: Where the Wind Blows (economist.com)

HVDC current transmission as the ones currently used in some countries and in the USA for electric railroads and subways are not without disadvantages. Its main safety advantage is that is does not flow to ground as AC does. So you can touch one line making ground and electricity will not flow. You need to contact the return line, but be aware that DC cooks the body from within instead of flowing to earth, so the effects can be far more devastating than AC.

The disadvantages of HVDC are in cost, conversion, switching, control, availability and maintenance.

HVDC is less reliable and has lower availability than AC systems, mainly due to the extra conversion equipment. Single pole systems have availability of about 98.5%, with about a third of the downtime unscheduled due to faults. Fault redundant bipole systems provide high availability for 50% of the link capacity, but availability of the full capacity is about 97% to 98%.^[16]

Sun cells output DC so it presents a challenge to distribute long range. I am sure someone will come with an better solution in the future as the technology evolves.

Ah, well...I believe the idea was for someone to try it and report back. Of course, if $2 worth of parts is too much of a challenge for someone, they'll have to rely on the anecdotal evidence of someone who had the two bucks, some computer tools, and a little ingenuity to forge ahead and report back. (Though I believe that's what the guy in the video was actually doing...)Besides, it was not so much about that it worked so fantastically, but that it worked, and the plans had been around unused or tested for decades.

Ah, well...I believe the idea was for someone to try it and report back. Of course, if $2 worth of parts is too much of a challenge for someone, they'll have to rely on the anecdotal evidence of someone who had the two bucks, some computer tools, and a little ingenuity to forge ahead and report back.

Says the guy who hasn't tried it...

Besides, it was not so much about that it worked so fantastically, but that it worked, and the plans had been around unused or tested for decades.

Gee, I wonder if there's a reason why people wouldn't do something that they can easily deduct would not work or or at least be 10,000% less efficient than a $2 solar cell, or that takes up so much space for the 1/28th of a watt that it generates that it would take 100 billion planets worth of space to generate as much power as we use.

Yep...that reason is called making big money. The Power industry which uses a standard of A/C, came into being primarily because of the efforts "The Wizard of Menlo Park", our actual appliances run on D/C. ( see Comment # 1.3)

By the way, how do know I haven't tried it-have you been slouching behind my bushes & peeking in my windows? At this point I wouldn't waste time telling if I actually have or not...I'd rather let you enjoy the suspense.

You don't actually want to know anything factual, anyway-and YOU aren't going to try it, as the people who "encourage" you to wallow around on seeds like this, wouldn't be very happy with you if you did-right?

Edison started HIS experiments with a battery and some tungsten wire in a glass tube-look where that went when enough folks started "getting it".

They say "necessity is the mother of invention", well the means to generate enough power the old ways is fast being exhausted. This is just one of many ideas being looked at by even some of the more forward thinking energy corporations.

You keep "wondering", while the rest of us keep looking for and trying new things. The reason we would do such a "crazy" thing? That's called survival instinct. It beats a slow descent back to the caves.

I'd rather drop $5k on a good solar/wind system to power my whole house all the time than spend the $2 so I can try to pirate radio waves in the hopes of powering my cell phone (my phone uses a lot more power than the one in the video).

It isn't "free" power in any sense of the word, btw.

Don't even get me started on "water powered" cars.... You can't violate the laws of thermodynamics no matter how much you want to.

but I liked the video because anything that is innovative is a-okay with me. :)

LOL

dungbeetlemania, you are absolutely correct. BUT this device does help provide an understanding of what is and what could be. Going solar and DC would preclude much of the present inefficiency.

I have no argument there, but I do have an argument with people claiming that there is a conspiracy keeping this knowledge from the public, and that this video will be "taken down soon".

Tomas Edison lost the "War of Current” to George Westinghouse over 100 years ago; the main reason was that Niagara was too far away to provide DC which cannot be transmitted over one mile without substantial degradation. The power grid of the USA could not exist without AC.

Although is correct that modern electronic gadgets run on DC, items like washing machines and dryers (or anything with a big motor on it) still depend on AC.

Houses converted to sun power have to run converters to power those appliances. It is done right now, but is still costly to set up, unless you do it yourself.

The reason for a power grid as the one in USA is to use power from all sources and distribute to all places no matter their location.

Just saying some facts for those not familiar with ac/dc current.

tony, all good, accurate facts. It is also a fact that ac motors became the standard only because of loss of having to take ac off of the grid. Solar/wind/other advocates should never decry or belittle the ac grid. It is absolutely necessary to provide a unified and nearly indestructable energy system. Placing locally produced energy on the grid will insure that distribution would continue even if part of the grid were damaged due to weather, maintencane or terrorist action.

In hind sight we should have backed Tom Edison for the home and Westinghouse for long distance transmission. Between the two we would now have a much more sophisticated and secure system. Also it would have allowed individuals to develope energy generation as well as consumption. Thanks for being here.

Thank you oldfogey, its good to have you too.

Makes a lot of sense Edison/Westinghouse ideas used as you suggest. Human history is full of things that today we know can be done better, but too expensive to correct.

Tony

There are several ways to go off grid. One of them will be to use a generator (diesel, propane, natural gas, gasoline) but it will cost you more than using the grid. You can search "off grid" and start from there.

Want to go off grid?