On Sat, Mar 25, 2006 at 07:39:32PM +1200, Russell McMahon wrote:
> > I've got a project on the backburner that would involve a flat disk 
> > with
> > embedded murcury tilt-sensors and solar-cells to run everything. I'd
> > throw in a bunch of super-capacitors for night operation. Just gotta
> > find a way to get sufficient power, it'd need a radio link to
> > communicate with a similar module inside, and super-capacitors just
> > don't store much energy.
> 
> Inductive power transfer.
> Essentially two transformer halves.
> Resonating the receiving side allows quite magical separations.
>
> Photocells (as you've noted).
> You could cheat and drive them with IR at night.
> 
> Mechanical movement to drive an internal alternator (eg rock it to and 
> fro or shake it :-)  )

Well they are designed to be outdoors and exposed to the wind! The whole
point, is that the tilt switches are arranged in a circle on the outside
module, and the inside module exactly reproduces the pattern of on and
off with LEDs.

If I can make a transmitter that can operate off the power of a single
slight tilt I'm set, and propably eligable for some sort of prestigious
award...

Use the switches to switch inductors/capacitors in and out of a resonate
circuit? IE I'd transmit RF at it, and listen to what the otherwise
passive device produces in response? Like those little silver anti-theft
devices, but longer range. I seem to remember hearing about a soviet bug
that worked that way...

> Ultrasonics.

Combine the outside part with a squirrel feeder, and use the rocking of
the squirrels and their ultrasonic noises to generate power?

Heck, eat the squirrels for power?

-- 
pete@petertodd.ca http://www.petertodd.ca
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