Look at this bogus ebay scam.

[Marco Polo]

Have a look at this listing:

"DC wind generator"

That is NOT a generator. That is a battery-operated electric fan that's missing its casing and handle. The orientation of the fan blades, as well as the shape of the fan blades, makes this patently obvious. The fact that the permanent-magnet DC motor will generate current when rotated is purely incidental; it will generate current but it isn't designed with that in mind.

The listing says "3000 rpm". Good luck putting that on your house and getting it to turn at 3000 rpm, are you f---ing kidding me??? You would need hurricane-force winds to even have a chance at it. Even if you did, in some alternate universe, the bearings and brushes would shit themselves the moment any water got into them.

This kind of scam pisses me off. I think "green energy" is a worthwhile concept, sure, but the average Joe Q. Sheeple doesn't know enough to question and evaluate a lot of the claims that are being made, and a veritable army of crooks has lined up to take advantage of them. They need to be run off of ebay and not allowed to continue pushing such nonsense.

Legitimate alternative energy has enough trouble selling the concept to a skeptical general public. I can't imagine that ripoff artists like these ebay sellers are doing much to help the cause. I wonder how many people are buying these things only to find out that it won't work and that they were had. Don't even get me started on the numerous "HHO" fraudulent devices being listed. I thought fraud wasn't allowed, but I guess it's fine if ebay makes money from it.

 

[alessnilsen]

Maybe it worth for a science fair project, or just use as a fan.

 

[mojo_1234]

Would say: "Lost in translation". In many other languages the word "generator" also has different meanings:

In German a "Wind Generator" would be a machine producing wind. What's wrong?

Guess this is far far far away from beeing called "scam". Also can't find any word about green energy.

Take some anodyne and relax. Are you perfect? Everyone is making mistakes...

 

[chipdouglas]

i see an led at the end of the leads... its clearly a toy. why are you so worked up over this??

Michael.

 

[Marco Polo]

Maybe this is yet another reason I need to move elsewhere. I live in a community where alternative-energy pseudoscience and anti-oil propaganda abound, and apparently I'm over-accustomed to debating with the eco-whackjobs. They haven't caught on to "over-unity" yet, but the bullshit is still pretty bad. When you can have an at-length "discussion" with one of them about "radioactive hydrogen sulfide" and they agree with you, absolutely, 100%, that "radioactive hydrogen sulfide" is a reason to ban oil drilling, it really makes you wonder.

It was also late at night so maybe that had something to do with it

Still, if it's a toy, the listing should say it's a toy. It's not even a very good toy, because sustained operation would require a hurricane, or high-speed ram air like a leaf blower or shop-vac exhaust. It just doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Actually, both the shop-vac and leaf blower make better toys themselves, and if there's a hurricane outside... I don't know, rig up a hang-glider using a bed sheet and some tent poles and see if it flies. It would be a more interesting way to die than standing outside trying to light an LED with a shitty little fan motor.

Common DC motors aren't good for wind energy regardless, not if you want anything beyond a few shits and giggles. I have a few decent-size 24 volt motors (Dayton 4Z144B) and they'll put out multiple amps at 16+ volts, but they have to spin fast to do it. Driving them with gas engine or another motor works fine, but to use wind power you would need either high-speed ram air, or else a big turbine and a step-up drive.

I'm making too much of it, but I'm bored, and I dislike sloppy advertising. *shrug*

 

[Dr_Evil]

Calm down. lol

For that price, it's a toy. It may or may not require much air to spin at 3000 rpm. Another thing, that should handle 3000 rpm with not problem.

 

[icecruncher]

Ok, I have a true generator from the inside of a Mas-Hamilton auditcon safe dial - and it looks identical to that.

There is a remote chance that is what it is. Kaba Mas (formerly Mas-Hamilton) makes military grade safe locks that have a self powered unit, no batteries.
Starting with the X-0 series that were originally government only!

It generates power by turning the dial on the safe combo, back and forth a couple times. The dial is gear driven and drives a small gear on a self-contained generator that looks just like a dc motor.

Doesn't generate much power, but enough to run the electronics in the unit and power the bolt back.

Although for that price it would be a steal, it would not be able to easily be wind driven. But 3000 rpm would be about right

However, it doesn't mean its not possible

http://www.kaba-mas.com/kaba-brand/products/906098/x-10.html
http://www.kaba-mas.com/kaba-brand/products/360092/auditcon-2.html

 

[Alaskan]

Here's another suspect ebay scam, the price seems a bit low for 1watt at 405nm, has anyone purchased one of these?

1000mW 1W 405nm Violet Waterproof Burning Focusable Laser Module | eBay

 

[Pi R Squared]

Here's another suspect ebay scam, the price seems a bit low for 1watt at 405nm, has anyone purchased one of these?

1000mW 1W 405nm Violet Waterproof Burning Focusable Laser Module | eBay

Well the eBay seller probably isn't trying to scam anyone but yes it's a cheap Chinese made laser that's almost certainly much lower power. I think it's just a case of someone buying cheap lasers wholesale on dhgate.com and reselling them. The eBay seller in California is reusing the dhgate sellers photos, the photos are marked with the dhgate sellers name "beyond2013" so I tracked down this laser on dhgate.com. If it's really the waterproof version then this seller is paying $42.05 - $62.50 for those lasers depending on quantity purchased:
405nm 1000mw/1 Watt Waterproof Focusable Blue Purple Laser Pointer by China Post Air Online with $42.05/Piece on Beyond2013's Store | DHgate.com
Scroll down the page and you will see the photos are the same as those on eBay.
If it's not the waterproof version as claimed then it's a scam in my opinion. Here you can see it sells for $284.10 for a lot of 10 lasers or 28.41 each with the price going a little lower for multiple lots of 10:
1000mw 405nm High-power Blue-violet Purple Laser Pointers Online with $24.08/Piece on Beyond2013's Store | DHgate.com
Again scroll down the page and you will see the photos match those the eBay seller is using.

I spent a few minutes looking through the lasers on dhgate and found hand held lasers claiming to be as powerful as 5KW. :crackup:
Here's one for only $31.82 and it runs on only one 16340. :crackup:
Powerful 405nm 5000000mw Focusable Violet/Blue Laser Pointer Torch Adjustable Focus Burn, $26.18 | DHgate.com

Alan

 

[H2Oxide]

W
I spent a few minutes looking through the lasers on dhgate and found hand held lasers claiming to be as powerful as 5KW. :crackup:
Here's one for only $31.82 and it runs on only one 16340. :crackup:
Powerful 405nm 5000000mw Focusable Violet/Blue Laser Pointer Torch Adjustable Focus Burn, $26.18 | DHgate.com

Alan

I bought one. Wouldn't recommend it though. I buy a laser for the power it's advertised at, and this one was waaay overspec. It LPM'd at 5143921mw. :wtf:

 

[Killer Waves]

The seller is from Shanghai China, it says clearly at the top of the page. The Chinese word for fan translates to wind generator in English. Why get all worked up about this? It's not a scam at all.

Have a look at this listing:

"DC wind generator"

That is NOT a generator. That is a battery-operated electric fan that's missing its casing and handle. The orientation of the fan blades, as well as the shape of the fan blades, makes this patently obvious. The fact that the permanent-magnet DC motor will generate current when rotated is purely incidental; it will generate current but it isn't designed with that in mind.

The listing says "3000 rpm". Good luck putting that on your house and getting it to turn at 3000 rpm, are you f---ing kidding me??? You would need hurricane-force winds to even have a chance at it. Even if you did, in some alternate universe, the bearings and brushes would shit themselves the moment any water got into them.

This kind of scam pisses me off. I think "green energy" is a worthwhile concept, sure, but the average Joe Q. Sheeple doesn't know enough to question and evaluate a lot of the claims that are being made, and a veritable army of crooks has lined up to take advantage of them. They need to be run off of ebay and not allowed to continue pushing such nonsense.

Legitimate alternative energy has enough trouble selling the concept to a skeptical general public. I can't imagine that ripoff artists like these ebay sellers are doing much to help the cause. I wonder how many people are buying these things only to find out that it won't work and that they were had. Don't even get me started on the numerous "HHO" fraudulent devices being listed. I thought fraud wasn't allowed, but I guess it's fine if ebay makes money from it.