My humingbird died...

[AndreasK]

no the little motor is blank...oh an sorry for taking so long to reply my pice of crap computer borke

[paulvalente]

Rubbish Humming Bird electric Pick!!!

I found the instructions to make this thing at:

http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/lock ... rview.aspx

How disappointing!!

The bloody thing ran for about 30 seconds and then got very hot and died.

I was so pleased with myself as well!

It does strike me as odd that you'd run a 1.5 volt battery off 9 volts but i'm no electrical engineer. (Mechanical one actually)

Anyhoo, here's a picture of my poor dead Humming Bird.

Worst thing is I cut up one of my treasured picks to make this evil thing.

[op-sec]

While it is true that I = V/R, the current draw by the little motor is going to be limited by the available supply of the 9V battery. I haven't done any research into the hummingbird but, most of these little things run on NiCAD or NiMH batteries vs standard AA or AAA batteries. A NiCAD / NiMH is going to supply a LOT more current than a 9V transistor battery.

Higher voltage and lower current will do the damage as well though. It is a result of the heat caused by the resistive load of the motor.

Take a constant current power supply and connect 1.5V to a resistive coil and measure the heat generated. Then, do the same for the same current at 9V or for that matter, 1/6th the current at 9V.

I'll have to look at the original document for the pick project but, it should be trivial to substitute a 2-way or 4-way AA/AAA pack for the 9V. Not only will the batteries last longer but, the little motor will last a lot longer running at 3 or 6V vs 9.

[Th0r]

I have talked to friends who say using an electronic shaver is much better than using an electric toothbrush...