Sean Andreassen constructed a magnetic generator between February and April 2012. He built the base, wound magnet wire, lined a wheel with magnets and iron fillings, and tested the generator's operation. Sean struggled with winding the wire and attaching magnets to the wheel. He also found the wiring challenging due to his limited electrical knowledge. After meeting with his administrator, Sean was able to fix an issue and get the generator producing a maximum output to charge devices. However, a portion of the wiring later caught fire, requiring Sean to rewire the entire project.

1. Product Work Log
Name__Sean Andreassen_______________________________________ Date_4/11/12_____
Product ____Magnetic Generator__________________________________________________
Date/Time: Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
2/18/12 I constructed the base of the generator Drilling into the bottom
of the boards was
12:00-12:30 Commentary: difficult though overall
this was fairly
For this I used wood to build the straightforward.
bottom of the board first, and then I
added arms to support the wheel. I
used wood because it has no magnetic
attraction.
2/26/12 Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
12:30-4:30 I wound 20 and 23 gauge magnet wire This was very difficult
together on a spool. and time consuming. I
would have the spools
Commentary: set up next time. Also,
counting to 900
I tried to wrap it one way, though this required a lot of
did not work so I had to lay long concentration while
sections out in my yard, twist them carefully winding the
together and then wrap them on the wire.
spool.

2. Date/Time: Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
3/3/12 I set up the wheel on the base and lined I had to line the wheel
it with magnets. I also filled the with tape, glue them on
1:00-4:30 magnet spool with iron. there, and then tape
them down. The force
Commentary: of the magnets on the
spool often pulled them
Getting the magnets to stay on the loose so I had to keep
wheel was not easy because there is taping them.
very little area for them to stay on.
Also, I cut and fit iron welding rods
into the pool to attract the magnets.
3/18/12 Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
2:00-4:00 I used the magnet wheel and the spool This involved minute
to find the optimum speed and distance movements to best find
that it would operate at. the distance that the
wheel should be to the
Commentary: spool, and how long it
would take to reach
I had to test the set up before finishing standard operating
the product to ensure that it would speeds.
work.
3/31/12 Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
11:00-3:00 I studied the schematics for the wiring I did not know much
and began to work on this. By the end about wiring or
of this time I had the wiring set up as I electricity before I
saw it on the schematic. started this, so I learned
a lot by doing this part
Commentary: of the product. I also
know now that I do not
There are many different schematics want to be an electrical
that can be used so finding a suitable engineer.
one was not simple.

3. Date/Time: Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
4/3/12 I finished all of the wiring as it was With my limited
said, and began to test it. knowledge in this area
1:30-3:30 I struggled to find the
Commentary: problem so I met with
my administrator.
I had to drain the batteries in order to
test that the generator is working. The
voltage out of the generator was not
what it should have been so I had to
troubleshoot it.
4/6/12 Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
3:00-5:15 After meeting with my facilitator I was I enjoyed working on
able to fix an issue in the wiring and this, and I am now able
get the maximum output from the to charge electronic
generator. devices with very little
effort in a power
Commentary: outage.
This required using a voltmeter to
measure the output.
4/14/12 Activity: Comment/Suggestions:
2:00-7:00 After one of the tests for my project, a I know that I need to
portion of the wiring caught on fire, so watch the transistor to
I had to rewire the project. ensure that it does not
become overloaded by
Commentary: the batteries or the
magnets.
This was a surprise, though when I
rewired this the lengths of the wires fit
much better together.