Ways Get Gen Coil to Drive My Pulse Motor (Many Different Tries)

Hook

I had this crazy idea: since we got one generator coil hooked up making 60 volts of DC, why not clip it straight to the drive side and see if the gen coil can keep the rotor spinning? Turns out there are many different ways to get gen coil to drive (or fail to) and I tried most of them on camera.

Watch this experiment

I grounded the black clip, spun the rotor, and watched the multimeter climb. At first it looked promising — 25 V, then 50 V — but every time I connected the gen coil it sucked the energy right out and the speed died.

What you'll learn

You’ll see exactly what happened with one coil, three coils at 120°, tighter air gaps, capacitance thoughts, and swapping a gen coil over to drive duty. Real numbers only, no hype.

From the bench

Started with the single gen coil grounded. Multimeter showed 25 V picking up nicely, then I pushed the speed. When I tried turning the power off it looked like it might stall because the hall effect sensor needs juice. Left the power on at about 5 V for the sensor. Voltage hit 50 V, speed seemed to increase for a second, then the meter dropped to zero. Strong draw — saturation got sucked out of the coil. After the initial blast we only saw about 1 V steady. Hall sensor was blinking, rotor shaking. Applied 15–20 V DC to the coil and saw zero increase in speed or torque. The coil had become a load.

How it works / what we changed

I figured grounding completed the circuit and turned the gen coil into a load. Tried to jerry-rig it so the circuit thinks it’s complete but the energy gets recycled. No luck on that first setup. Later I removed the core, changed the air gap so all coils sit really close, switched to terminal blocks even though the 50-turn coil leads were too short. Got the rotor up to 650 RPM at 20.1 V and 2.1 A, generating 58 V. Still, as soon as the gen circuit closed it loaded the rotor. Switched a few things, tried three generator coils at 120° spacing. Same size, same dimensions. Even considered hooking the generator coils as drive coils — 22/32 gauge, single strand, one transistor. The moment it started slowing it stopped generating and plugging it in braked the rotor hard.

Get gen coil drive

I wanted to generator coil load the main circuit without killing RPM. Every time I clipped the 60 V output straight in, the initial blast happened then the power got sucked out. After that the rotor couldn’t stay fast enough to generate more than a volt or two. Even with the hall sensor powered separately it wouldn’t keep going. I don’t see any difference in speed or torque when 15–20 V is applied back. The coil simply becomes a load.

Gen coil drive the

The generator coil load main drive coil idea sounded good on paper. In practice, once the circuit completed the saturation left the coil and speed dropped immediately. I tried leaving the power on for the hall effect sensor, turning the main voltage down, then back up. It reached 50 V but the meter went to zero right after. Strong draw every time. Later with three coils it still pulled power instead of feeding it back usefully.

Coil drive the main

I hoped the drive coil load rotor circuit could somehow recycle the energy. Grounding seemed to be the problem — it turns the generated voltage into a real load. Without completing the circuit we don’t get steady voltage. I wondered if there’s a way to trick the circuit into thinking there’s a ground so the energy just flows through and gets reused. Tried it with the single coil and again with the triple-coil 120° setup. Never got the self-perpetuating motion I was chasing.

Gen coil

The gen coil put out 60 V open circuit and 58 V under the 650 RPM test. When I grounded it and clipped to the drive side it immediately loaded the rotor. One volt steady after the initial collapse. With three gen coils at 120° and a closer air gap we still saw the same behavior. Even swapping one gen coil over to act as a drive coil (single strand) braked the rotor. The hall effect sensor kept blinking but the mechanical speed couldn’t sustain generation once loaded.

Coil drive

Any coil drive arrangement I tried turned into a load the moment it connected. Whether it was the original single coil or the later three-coil setup, the draw killed the RPM. I tested the trigger coil to make sure it was hooked right — it was. Applied 15–20 V back through the coil and saw no extra torque. The rotor would slow, generation would stop, and it never bootstrapped itself. Self-running from this kind of setup is highly unlikely.

Builder checklist

• Check hall effect sensor power stays on (about 5 V minimum).
• Measure open-circuit voltage on gen coil before connecting (we saw 60 V).
• Set air gap close but watch for physical contact at speed.
• Use terminal blocks only if coil leads are long enough.
• Have multimeter on DC volts and amps while testing.
• Verify trigger coil wiring before every change.
• Keep rotor balanced — shaking makes readings jump.

Troubleshooting

If voltage collapses right after connecting, the gen coil is acting as a load. Try removing the ground first. If speed drops and hall sensor blinks erratically, the rotor isn’t fast enough to maintain generation. When swapping coils to drive duty, expect immediate braking. If you only get 1 V steady, the initial saturation has already been sucked out. Capacitance might help smooth the initial blast but didn’t solve the load problem in my tests.

Safety

Keep fingers clear of the spinning rotor — 650 RPM with neodymium magnets can pinch hard. Watch for hot transistors when running at 2.1 A. Don’t short the gen coil output directly across a low-impedance drive circuit without a resistor or diode. Work with voltages under 60 V DC but treat every connection as live once the rotor is turning.

FAQ

Will the gen coil ever drive the main coil by itself? In all my tests it added load instead of helping.

Does grounding the gen coil help or hurt? It completes the circuit but turns the coil into a load and kills speed.

What RPM did you reach? About 650 RPM with the triple-coil closer-gap setup.

Did adding capacitance fix the draw? I thought about it but never saw it solve the saturation collapse.

Can you swap a gen coil to a drive coil? Yes, but it brakes the rotor and generation stops.

Related on this site

• How to Build a Pulse Motor: Parts, Coil Gap, First Spin
• Pulse Motor vs Bedini Motor: What's the Difference?
• Understanding Back EMF in Pulse Motors
• How to Maximize RPM on Your Pulse Motor
• Pulse Motors and Free Energy: What's Actually Going On?

Watch this experiment on YouTube

• ▶ Watch full on YouTube